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

It truly boggles the mind how unprepared and ignorant they were on this. Their arguments presented in court in defense of their amateurism "model" were so pathetically clueless that all of them should have been replaced. I can't even fathom the lawyers who agreed to run with these. And it's no one's fault but their own that we have gotten to this disgusting mess that we're in.

All of this could have been avoided with a few simple solutions:

1 - Allow the athletes to pursue independent endorsement deals. Gatorade, Powerade, Nike, etc. There's no reason that Tommie Frazier shouldn't have made a few bucks doing Pepsi commercials. You simply require the athletes to report all endorsement deals to the compliance office, who in turn can confirm that none of such deals are in any way connected to the school they attend (i.e., Alabama's quarterback can't be making $1MM endorsing Nick Saban's Mercedes dealership). Anyone caught taking under-the-table booster money is ineligible to play and gets reported to the I.R.S.

2 - Allow the scholarships to cover full cost of attendance. Tuition, room, board, meals, health insurance. And yes, a basic stipend paid to all athletes from the money generated by all college sports. If that meant coaches would make $8MM instead of $10MM, they'd have to figure out how to scrape by.

3 - Require the students to be academically eligible in terms of G.P.A. and tracking to graduate in 5 years.

4 - Allow a one-time transfer without sitting for a year.

It was plainly clear to everyone else in the country that things were changing as far back as 2014. I don't know why the governing body thought they could ignore it instead of being proactive. Instead, they planted their collective head in the ground and waited until lawsuits dragged it into the highest court in the land. What we have today NEVER would have happened had they simply followed the Olympic model.

Instead we now have THIS...whatever it is...

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Link: https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-colleges/s/ohio/

But, I suspect that as a condition of staying for whatever $$ they offered, Marcus also said that he needs a significant number of exceptions. No way the guys from Pitt, OR, and OSU are scholars, but they are some form of student.

Here's where I am at. I am hoping in the next year or two, ND pulls out all the stops, wins, and then gets out of this sordid business and goes back to being an educational institution first. Marcus goes and coaches the Steelers successfully for the next 2 decades, and I can die knowing I got to see one last NC.

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That said, you're free to do a U of Chicago anytime you want.

The change is in being more open to accepting transfer credits - how many and which credits Notre Dame will accept - not as changing Notre Dame’s core academic standards or rigor. This was seen this year in the number of undergrad transfers we accepted, whereas before most of our transfers were grad transfers. He specifically stated “You’re not going to change the standards of Notre Dame." He also made reference to the close relationship he has with admissions - calling out the Director of Admissions by name - and praised them for being very prompt with player assessments.

After all, ND was losing money on those credits allowed. Will be interesting to see if they maintain restrictions on main student body.

needs to succeed.

Clearly they are suddenly getting more marginal players. We’ll see how the graduation rate holds up. It will be interesting and enlightening. Clearly the bar has been lowered significantly for football players. Convince me otherwise.

changed. Or at least the courses accepted for transfer have.

Suddenly there appear to be very few hurdles to recruiting just about anyone Freeman wants. You don’t ever hear that “oh we can’t touch him because of his grades” anymore. What did some magical light bulb just go off?

where education is the 1st priority; there’s too much $$$ for the university to lose.

To be clear, the N.C.A.A. was wrong in that instance, too. She was a jock sniff who paid $50 to attend the Quarterback Club luncheon every year. Once the University got wind of the extravagant gifts that she was giving her boy toy on the team and his friends (with money she stole from an auto shop she worked at), they took a look and found her name on the list and opted to self report to maintain transparency. The freaking investigating Enforcement Staff reviewed the entire thing and concluded that was technically a secondary violation and nothing more.

Naturally, the Ivory Tower (formal infractions committee) -- who rarely gets a chance to flex their muscle -- opted to classify it was a major violation and slapped us with 2 years' probation and the loss of 2 scholarships. It was absurd.

Malloy -- who always hated that our football program was such a front-facing piece of the University's image -- decided to clamp down hard. Admissions standards were tightened (significantly), and the football program was held way back on the resources necessary to compete. He also made sure that we ended up with Tyrone Willingham instead of Jon Gruden.

The Holtz tenure proved that we could let guys in with lesser academic backgrounds and provide the structure necessary for them to play ball and graduate with meaningful degrees. Malloy refused to take chances on that anymore.

But, of course, they buckled under.

Hell, I used to go to those lunches for a while when I was around.

Probably sat near the crazy nympho once or twice...

That said, I look at how they manage the business of education and the Catholic thing seems secondary to the endowment thing, so maybe they do get comfortable with it.

Perhaps a bit overstated...but...that is still the course it's following....

Football revenue is a pittance compared to the endowment which is what makes Notre Dame what it is.

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They have had to lessen standards…there is simply no other way to compete in this.

What should have happened was colleges being held to true standards, perhaps a stipend for all the work being done and some form of insurance built in for those who are injured.

For those uninterested in academics at all…the almighty NFL should pony up for a true minor league…

Instead we get the ruination of College Football.

As you know, I agree with you. It’s gotten so odious so quickly, I’d put a time limit of 3 or 4 years on it now…even if no NC.

(Didn’t watch anything after Army-Navy game this year. Once upon a time College Football was king in my personal sports world…)

Have seen at least one game in South Bend every year for the last 46 years (save Covid). Starting to consider the possibility of other options for that time and money with my ND friends. Again…truly sad…

for some.

Glad too to see you have the balls to speak up about it as well. I imagine a handful of others feel the same way. I understand why the Subway alumni could care less; it’s just another sports team. I get that.

...University who want to watch ND follow the pack...I do not.

team is what gives our school the most camaraderie.

...in my view of course. Others may differ.

Hate to come off so pessimistic but believe it is being systematically and irrevocably destroyed.

What I preferred...less cheating and more true student athletes...never stood a chance...

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...for ND at some juncture.

But who knows...

and the fact that Fr. Dow is on their board of governors and Pete is on their management committee, and didn't have a problem with it, that was a little unsettling. A priest shouldn't be lending legitimacy to such a corrupt institution.

...until it is eventually time to move on...

My...probably wholly irrational...dream is that ND is in such a power position when they step back...that they rock the collegiate world.

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for that. We respect him because he answers every question in a way that blows them out of the park.