The Official Notre Dame Thread

[WrongIslander]

First season: 1887

Athletic director: Jack Swarbrick

Head coach : Brian Kelly

1st year: 4–5 (.444)

Home stadium: Notre Dame Stadium

Stadium capacity: 80,795

Stadium surface: Grass

Location: Notre Dame, Indiana

Conference: Independent

All-time record 837–291–42 (.733)

Postseason bowl record 14–15

Claimed national titles 11

(1924, 1929, 1930,
1943, 1946, 1947, 1949,
1966, 1973, 1977, & 1988)

Heisman winners 7

Consensus All-Americans 96

[WrongIslander]

So where do we go from here? This is as low a point on the field that I'm aware of in ND history (no offence to Tulsa and well played). I think we have the right coach despite the tide already beginning to turn against him but the question is will we be able to recruit the players we need to get us back to where we all want to be ?

Times have changed and the appeal for ND sadly isn't there thesedays. I can't understand it to be honest, the reason I follow ND is because if you are the best at ND you are the best you can possibly be.

Is the weight of history too much of a shadow for these new young players? How big a part do agents play thesedays? Is it a combination of all these factors and more?

Whatever the case drastic measures need to be taken (within reason) to attract these players back to South Bend and I believe Kelly can be part of that but he needs help.

[NYYankees12]

Until Notre Dame lowers their academic standards, they're doomed to be a sub par middle of the pack team. That and not playing in a conference will continue to kill them. Glad to see ND heads like to stick to their traditions. Im still trying to figure out where in their tradition it says they should suck for 20 years.

[WrongIslander]

Until Notre Dame lowers their academic standards, they're doomed to be a sub par middle of the pack team. That and not playing in a conference will continue to kill them. Glad to see ND heads like to stick to their traditions. Im still trying to figure out where in their tradition it says they should suck for 20 years.

ND won't lower their academic standards and nor should they, the conference debate is one that will rage on.

P.S. Where did touchdown jesus go from the first post?

[behindmydesk]

You aren't allowed to post pictures unless you are a mod, or someone doing a Game thread.

[Pinstripe power]

Until Notre Dame lowers their academic standards, they're doomed to be a sub par middle of the pack team. That and not playing in a conference will continue to kill them. Glad to see ND heads like to stick to their traditions. Im still trying to figure out where in their tradition it says they should suck for 20 years.

yea because its so much easier to get into navy.....

this team is heartless and gutless, thats the problem.

[WorldChamps1908]

ND has had three 4-star recruits for 2011 de-committ... Not good.

[steelcityroller]

Until Notre Dame lowers their academic standards, they're doomed to be a sub par middle of the pack team. That and not playing in a conference will continue to kill them. Glad to see ND heads like to stick to their traditions. Im still trying to figure out where in their tradition it says they should suck for 20 years.

That's the biggest problem. Notre Dame is all about tradition. Yet these kids they are trying to recruit have grown up seeing Notre Dame be an average program that has only 1 bowl win since 1995. I doubt many of these big recruits seeing all these players from Florida, Alabama, USC, Ohio State, Texas, Oklahoma etc. playing for championships and going to the NFL give a damn about what Notre Dame done when their grandparents were growing up.

Something is that Notre Dame used to have the allure of having all their games televised. Now pretty much every team worth a crap has all their games televised one way or another that's why there is so much parity now in college football. Players know that they can go to a Boise State or TCU and still get exposure to the pros and scouts but also have a better chance to play right away as opposed to going to say Texas or Oklahoma.

[BullsFan_1]

We had a pretty big ND thread stickied not too long ago...I don't remember what happened to it.

[NYYankees12]

yea because its so much easier to get into navy.....

this team is heartless and gutless, thats the problem.

And Navy hasnt been good since the Flexbone offense was "new". The point is simple. How many players does a team like Auburn, Oregon, Miami, Florida, Florida St ect have that struggled to even get into college. How many of them barely make a 19 or 20 on an ACT to get into school? You can run a 4.2 at 6'1'' 225lbs with a 19ACT score and a 2.0GPA at just about ANY college in the United States....EXCEPT Notre Dame. Im not saying that its right or wrong but Notre Dame isnt going to get those "athletes" with such high academic standards. Not at the numbers like other schools can.

[Mell413]

Stanford has high academic standards and they are winning now. I don't think that is the issue here. I think Brian Kelly can get it done there assuming they keep him around. Although there is probably enough there to fire him if they chose to go that route.

[metsbulls1025]

Not that much talent and a lot of injuries have killed up.

[steelcityroller]

And Navy hasnt been good since the Flexbone offense was "new". The point is simple. How many players does a team like Auburn, Oregon, Miami, Florida, Florida St ect have that struggled to even get into college. How many of them barely make a 19 or 20 on an ACT to get into school? You can run a 4.2 at 6'1'' 225lbs with a 19ACT score and a 2.0GPA at just about ANY college in the United States....EXCEPT Notre Dame. Im not saying that its right or wrong but Notre Dame isnt going to get those "athletes" with such high academic standards. Not at the numbers like other schools can.

I remember listening to a long interview one day with former Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson. He talked about that very issue and how it was so frustrating to have a kid that was a solid recruit wanting to come play for your football team and be unable to get them in because of grades and then have to play against that same kid a couple years down the road on a Tennessee or Kentucky.

[Pinstripe power]

And Navy hasnt been good since the Flexbone offense was "new". The point is simple. How many players does a team like Auburn, Oregon, Miami, Florida, Florida St ect have that struggled to even get into college. How many of them barely make a 19 or 20 on an ACT to get into school? You can run a 4.2 at 6'1'' 225lbs with a 19ACT score and a 2.0GPA at just about ANY college in the United States....EXCEPT Notre Dame. Im not saying that its right or wrong but Notre Dame isnt going to get those "athletes" with such high academic standards. Not at the numbers like other schools can.

again, that doesn't explain losing to navy, where they out weigh everyone by about 50 pounds to a man, and tulsa. this team is more talented than navy and tulsa, navy and tulsa just had more heart and wanted it more. Besides, what is it really saying about the school if they lower their academic standards. This is not semi-pro football, its college football. it kills me inside that schools like texas and florida bring in morons and criminals to win games. Notre Dame is one of that last schools that actually plays college football, and it is not something that should change any time

[Jerry34]

To me it's all about coaching plain and simple. Alabama hadn't won a NC since '92 but they get the best coach in the nation and win it all 3 yrs later. Notre Dame might not be able to recruit every kid in the country but they still pull in a lot of 4 star athletes with the occasional 5 star. They made 3 bad coaching hires in a row with Davie, Willingham and Weis. At least on paper Kelly appears to be a much better hire with actual successful head coaching experience. We should be able to get a good idea next season whether Kelly is really turning the program around.