Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness

After decades of drought, I believed we were slowly on our way back. But never in a zillion years did I expect a totally transcendental  experience.

The years have been  painful and somewhat humiliating. However, I want to make it clear that my pain was not related to the players or the higher academic standards of ND. In fact, I would rather see them lose all of their games (which they almost did) rather than compromise on standards. My problems were primarily rooted in coaching and leadership in general.

Of course the media and NDs haters jumped on the bandwagon and promoted the spiral of destruction.

At the start of the season, everyone (I know, not everyone, but you know what I mean) piled on  ND. Quotes ranged from “they should give up their NBC contract” to “they should resign from Division One” to “they insist on high academic standards, they are arrogant and think they’re better than everyone and they’re getting what they deserve.”

Well look what happened!

As usual they were unranked at the start of the season. While USC, Alabama and the other perennials were at the top. And when the “elite” win, they stay up there. Notre Dame had to earn their way..clawing closer each week.

This is true even though they have the toughest schedule schedule in football. It may not always show up that way in the stats, maybe because some highly rated teams don’t always have a great year. But ND’s schedule is structured for difficultly and challenge. You have to beat quality teams to be a champion.

So don’t tell me (forget about a periodic down season) that Michigan, Michigan State, Miami, Oklahoma, BYU, Pittsburg, Stanford, and of course USC aren’t of the highest quality over the years. And of course, the lesser (but not consistent losers) teams play their hearts out when they face ND. Boston College players have said many times that if they beat ND it’s a good season no matter what else happens.

Also, you can’t tell me that there aren’t plenty of star recruits out there willing to accept the challenge of high ND standards. They just have to be recruited. They have to understand that even players who make the pros, might not last long…this makes the ND education an even more valuable asset. That’s why we see ex-players becoming lawyers, doctor, business leaders, etc.

Finally, Notre dame may lose to Alabama in the National championship, but they have shown again what they stand for and how wonderful the results can be with coaching, leadership and meaningful tradition.