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Never forget two names: Aaron Hernandez and Zach Smith. Chris Doyle's past issues pale in comparison, but his hiring follows the same trend. That is, if Meyer thinks you can help him win, then he will overlook any and all character flaws.
Would ND have won a championship with Meyer as it's head coach? Possibly (he certainly would have had more wins than Weis in 5 years, but doubt he would have stayed at ND longer than Weis did and ND's rebuild probably needed 4-5 years given the state of the program in 2004).
Would ND's reputation have been permanently damaged in the process? Definitely.
Another take is that, with ND's culture and institutional controls, Urban would not have been permitted to run a lawless program. Florida was happy to look the other way so long as the results were stellar. Would ND have done the same? I'm doubtful.
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But I think Urban is who he is. His all-consuming will to win is what makes him great, but it's also why he gets himself in trouble. I think he would have done the same types of things at ND.
As you state, ND likely wouldn't have put up with it like Florida did, which would have either gotten him fired or had him looking to bail to a place with less restrictions as soon as that opportunity arrived. Either way, it never would have been a good fit at ND, despite his ties to the school. Since he wouldn't have been at ND long I don't think he would have won titles there and b/c of that likely would have done more harm than good...Specifically, I think the admin's counter-reaction to Urban would likely have really restricted the types of kids ND could bring in even though the problem at Florida was likely never the kids (other than a few bad apples like Hernandez), it was the culture.
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Jacksonville?
Seems likely...
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