UHND.com - Notre Dame Football, Basketball, & Recruiting

ND views athletic booster direct involvement in recruiting and player welfare as un-ethical and an infringement on their domain. It is a deeply held attitude that has existed among the CSCs all the way back to Rockne. I’m not saying they are right or wrong, but that is the way it is and has always been.

It is the same attitude that resulted in putting ND on a self-imposed probation in 1953 by limiting football scholarships to 18 per year and forbidding coaches from any off-campus recruiting. It was not because there was any cheating or academic fraud - there was not. They were embarrassed about being accused of being a football factory instead of an elite academic institution. That is why they were horrible from 1956 to 1963. When the CSCs realized that failing football fortunes was resulting in a decrease in donations and other revenue, then and only then did they restore the scholarship limit to 30 and ease up on recruiting restrictions. Same reason it took so long to improve athletic facilities and expand the stadium. The Holy Cross priests feel uncomfortable with too much success in football, so there is this cycle of easing and increasing restrictions that is inversely proportional to winning.