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Beyond that he should stick to recruiting and the D Line
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What about Marv Levy?
I'd take Marv
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I remember when Davie got picked. He spoke of how he was "going to make football fun again."
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The worst coach ever chosen by a major program in the modern era. His first game, Tom Pagna, I believe, said on the air, "My God, he's coming out in a high school offense."
If they fire Kelly, they'll hire someone worse.If he comes back, ND will win 8 or 9 games next year. And every 3 or four years, they'll win 11 or 12 games. I doubt they'll win a championship under him. So I guess if that isn't good enough, roll the dice and place the choice in the hands of a system that has screwed it up 8 out of the last 12 hires, or, depending how you view Kelly, 9 out of the last 12 hires.
Given the coaches whose names I see bandied around here as plausible replacements, I have few doubts that it will be 10 out of 13 if Kelly is fired.
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He tried overtly when he fired Leahy, hired Brennan, and cut scholarships way back. But the young Father Ted didn't have the stroke to make it stick at that point. 25 years later, his status was unassailable, he was much cannier in the ways of bureaucracy, and he tried a back-door approach by hiring Faust.
Now, 35 years later, de-emphasis is more of an idea whose time is just around the corner. If the power five conferences agree on paying the players, I think people will be astonished at how quickly it will happen.
If you disagree, you don't believe in the very concept of "student-athletes."
I'd love to see ND form a league with other academically-minded schools and hire a disciplinarian coach who brings in smart, tough players and plays triple-option type football.
Sooner or later it will indeed happen and I will enjoy watching right-wingers here rationalize paying players, accepting some quasi-Marxist argument about these poor, exploited players who receive free college educations with all sorts of academic support.
But I agree a hundred percent, maintain "student-athlete"...it's what makes the college game special.
I think the people who run the place already squirm at the current brand of "amateurism."
I was on campus last week and got my first look at Crossroads. If you look at the stadium from 200 yards away from any direction but on campus, you might be justified in thinking the de-emphasis already has started.
And to anyone who is going to chime in with, "Football is what created Notre Dame," the University long ago established its academic cred. They aren't going to get rid of the football program and when the NCAA starts paying players, there will be a group of schools like ND that will refuse to do it. I will enjoy that clear delineation between the schools with some integrity and the vast majority without it. I also suspect we will see the sort of football many of us grew up loving. We might even see a fullback.
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And the suites will still be available for use, albeit at a reduced rate, for a schedule of true amateur football, which I think will prove more popular than many expect. After all, the league that MAS imagines will include many familiar names, including many of our traditional football opponents.
All the other popular aspects of an ND football weekend will remain the same...pep rallies, the grotto, tailgating, mass drunkenness, and such. It is the campus ambience that draws a majority of weekend visitors to campus, in my opinion. I was there last week and the stadium was packed, even though both teams are sub-par, football wise, the tickets are overpriced, and the team bears less and less resemblance to the overall student body with each passing year.
Of course, there will be the predictable howling, but I think the transition will be smoother than most people think.
Designed for ideally.
The schools I would approach would include: Stanford, Duke, Vandy, Northwestern, BC, Rice, Wake Forest, West Point/Annapolis/Colorado Springs.
Such as many of the ones you mention.
No, I don't think "rivals" like USC, Michigan, or MSU will come along.
They righted the ship with Holtz. The current run began with Davie. Kelly was the only choice who had some indicia that he could succeed. The current year has exposed him for good...