Things You Cannot Do
domer.mq
In an internet conversation in which I’m not sure I actually participated or just lurked, it was posited that the reason ND’s defense contained Navy so well in 2008 was because Navy had never seen the Brown/Tenuta approach to defending the triple option. Looks like they were right. And it serves as a really stark reminder that the current circumstances of the coaching of the Notre Dame football team sit somewhere between “completely unacceptable” and “drowning in fecal matter.” Nobody in major college football is looking out at the coaching landscape for a solution to their current head coaching problem and placing the name Ken Niumatalolo on their short list of candidates. And that guy and his staff just out-schemed the University of Notre Dame not with the “Spread,” not with the “Run and Gun,” and not with the “West Coast Offense,” but with the triple-option; an offense that’s nearly older than the game of football. Frankly, if you’re the HC at ND and that happens to you, then that’s when you admit defeat and go find something new to whittle away the hours.
Before we burry Charlie Weis, let’s honor Navy for a bit, because they played really, really smart football. For one, they adjusted their archaic scheme just enough to sprint out to a 14-0 lead (and by the way, any time a team makes a nuanced change like they did in their system, and then saves it for ND, you know the game is still a big game to them, regardless of what they’ll tell ya). But once they got that 2 TD lead, they also put the pressure on Charlie. They didn’t just make it obvious that they were going to “shorten the game” with their running offense, they pushed their loud speaker system to 11 and blared it across the field, “Hey, Charlie, you’re going to have about 10 minutes of play clock to overcome this lead we’ve got. Better abandon the run and throw it all over the field.” And so Charlie did. And that’s sort of the rough nature of a game between ND and Navy these days: Beat Navy, and nobody cares. On a weekend when the entire SEC plays directionals, you still get the typical, “yeah, but it’s Navy,” despite the fact that Navy has consistently played good football for a decade now. Lose to Navy, and you lose your job. At least, you should lose your job. You know. After it happens twice. At home.
Anyway, well done, Navy. It was an impressive and well played gambit.
Now, onto Notre Dame. I’ve sort of been watching the world move since the game ended. While the sting of the loss stung, there seemed to be a calm acceptance of the fate of the football program Saturday night. This was it. Charlie was done. No more wondering. No more politicking on either side of the argument. It was a bit like watching an ill patient realize there was no more hope for a cure. But then Sunday we all awoke with questions. Question 1) Why hasn’t the Notre Dame athletic department scheduled a press conference for today? Question 2) Who will replace Charlie Weis? Question 3) Have we called Urban Meyer yet? Question 4) Oh god, wait, are they going to replace Weis or not? Question 5) They’re not really going to call Urban Meyer, are they? F that dude.
It seems not 12 hours had passed since the game clock expired, and already the fans of Notre Dame are gripped with fears of the unknown. And with that, a resuscitation of politicking. Now the ugly stories are cropping up on the internet about Weis, the veracity of which don’t matter. They’re just an opening salvo being launched upon a dead horse. Just an indication that some fear that the crowds with pitchforks will lose their interest before the week is over if nothing happens on the front before then. Afterall, ND might go and beat a top-15 Pitt team on Saturday. Wouldn’t that be horrible?
Don’t worry. It probably wont happen, though the notion of a Wanstache lead club somehow managing to prolong the ND Fanbase’s anguish via the clever use of fail is darkly hysterical. Can you imagine if ND went 3-0 to finish the season? Against a #12 Pitt, a Stanford that just ran all over Oregon, and a UConn team that’s clawing and scratching at every opponent they can find? You could just walk around identifying ND fans by their twitching and terrible cases of Tourette’s Syndrome.
I really wish I could write an articulate, thoughtful essay here about the demise of Weis despite all his effort. And I wish I could really share the disappointment I feel over seeing a fellow ND grad fail to bring Notre Dame to glorious heights on the football field, but I can’t. I can’t because you just can’t lose to Navy. That’s it. End of discussion. I can’t even consider hypotheticals wherein former legendary coaches of Notre Dame may or may not have been able to keep their jobs because of all their accomplishments being coupled with a loss or two (two!) to Navy. Because that never happened. Because it would be like prefacing a physics hypothetical with “pretend there’s no gravity or time.” You can’t lose to Navy! Twice! At home! On top of a 60% career win rate! A career win rate that’s identical to the one you’ve had the last season and 3 quarters! It’s times like these when the simplest explanation is the best. There’s no need for a great deal of analysis. No need to look at games within the games. No need to illustrate that Boston freaking College showed Navy how to slow down the ND offense so that it didn’t matter if Clausen threw for 800 yards, they still weren’t going to win.
There are just things you can’t do no matter the mitigating circumstances. You can’t steal your best friend’s wife. You can’t hit a road construction worker. You can’t be male and order a drink at Starbucks that includes any ingredients that must be hand-pumped into your cup without expecting to get razzed. You can’t cheer for Michigan and claim to value academics at all. You can’t trust a politician, and you can’t lose to Navy!
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35 Comments
DMQ–I’m sad to say that I agree with your post. One thing that I would add is that if ND had not lost to a bad Michigan team, and struggled to beat a bad Purdue team, and squeaked by a rebuilt train wreck in Washington, and barely survived a mediocre BC, I might be more inclined to adopt the “Navy is a good team that can beat anyone on any given Saturday” line of reasoning. You know that I’ve been a consistent proponent of patience with Weis, and honestly, on some level I’m hoping he survives and gets another year. But that’s just because I like the guy, not because I have any confidence he can get it done.
I honestly don’t know if CW will be fired. I think we have just as good a chance of beating Pitt as we do of losing to Navy. This team is really good when it’s good, and we’re really mediocre when we’re mediocre. If we win out, CW will stay, despite two losses to Navy, unless a coaching savior appears out of nowhere, which is hugely unlikely. My dream scenario? Weis wins out, but agrees to be demoted to Offensive Coordinator in the post-season, and we hire a solid defensive-minded HC. That way we keep all the talent and the momentum on O, but fix the issues on D, and we also keep most if not all of Weis’ recruits. Of course, there is a 0% chance of this because 1) Weis’ ego would never handle it and 2) No HC in his right mind would want that situation. But still, it’d be nice.
“Nobody in major college football is looking out at the coaching landscape for a solution to their current head coaching problem and placing the name Ken Niumatalolo on their short list of candidates.”
The Navy faithful hope and pray that you are correct.
EightyFiver, I’m sure you’re right. I was stunned when they gave Coach N the job, but now I get it. Dude can coach a football team.
My statement wasn’t meant as a slight against Coach N. Just pointing out that he’s hardly a hot commodity right now in the Coaching Carousel. And he whipped the ND staff.
Biscuit,
I really doubt ND will win out. I’ll put it at 10% likely. Read this.
http://bluegraysky.com/forum/index.php?id=8159
Some of your finest work. Well said.
And I know you like vanilla in your lattes.
I think the chances of it plummeted with Saturday’s loss. Even against those teams, this squad has a chance to win out if they believe. Because if you can put up 40+ (and this team can), you have a chance to win any game. But I agree, it’s not likely.
Awesome post, Q.
I’m a mocha man, JVH. Mocha.
Growing up I knew of two things that would happen every football season One that every saturday I would cheer for old ND and ND would kick Navy ass. And maybe the 43 years it happened in a row made me believe that would always be. I have yet to CW do something that made me sit back and say wow that was a good call or that was a well prepared team. Go back to the NFL and Tom Brady because that is the only thing that make Chuck look good. Bob Davie is starting to look real good about now
You know that Navy took Ohio State to the wire don’t you? Navy is a solid football team. And I don’t mean, “They’re pretty decent this year…for Navy.” I mean, they’re good. They’re legit. They’ll likely be 11-3 this year, with a win over a Big 12 team in a bowl game. They damn near took down OSU in the ‘Shoe.
Losing to Navy, no matter how much you may dislike Weis, is not the embarrassment that people seem to think it is.
usmc53, I do understand that, but we’re not talking about the game in a vacuum. We’re talking about it among the context of JC at QB, Tate and Floyd at WR, a massive weight differential, and too many of our wins being close and no “big wins” to mitigate the loss. To Navy. For a 2nd time. In three years. At home.
usmc, i agree that Navy is legitimately good. I’m actually very happy to see it, and I sincerely think they’re good. But they also lost to Temple.
When you say, “There are just things you can’t do no matter the mitigating circumstances…and you can’t lose to Navy!”, it seems like you’re saying that, in a vaccuum, regardless of anything else, you CANNOT lose to Navy.
And when you say, “you just can’t lose to Navy. That’s it. End of discussion.”, it sure doesn’t seem like you’re talking about other games being too close, or the fact that there are no “big wins.” It sounds like you’re saying: Navy is inferior, end of discussion, losing to them is an embarrassment and the mark of ineptitude.
I’m just pointing out that losing to Navy is not the mark of ineptitude. During much of Navy’s history, it was. But not anymore.
I live in Mexico City (ND 1957-59)and try to watch every game I can on TV or follow them on “Game Tracker”.
All the games this year have been great and well played, you lose some and you win some.
I think Charlie W. is getting better every year and so are his teams, GIVE HIM TIME ENOUGH and soon, I am sure, ND will be in the top five year in and year out.
“i agree that Navy is legitimately good…But they also lost to Temple.”
Navy also scored more points against Ohio State than any other team has scored this year, including Penn State, Wisconsin, and USC.
Navy is the only team to gain over 400 yards against ND this year.
So Navy gave one away against Temple? Anyone can have a bad game, especially with their sophomore backup QB playing, and lose a to a team they shouldn’t lose to. The fact is, though, that Navy is a very solid team, and losing to them is only an embarrassment if you’re too blind to see that reality.
Some of you guys bag on Navy’s loss to Temple but should be reminded that Temple is 7-2 and will probably win the MAC and go to a bowl game. They have a really good defense and a freshman RB that would start for ND easy. They beat Navy in a close competitive game. They are not the doormat some of you assume.
usmc and calinavy, i’m not trying to bag on those teams. but if you had a team with as much talent as ND has, and you were losing these games, you’d be asking the same questions. because on paper, the talent gap is freaking HUGE. and not just with Navy. with Purdue, MSU, etc. which means there’s something wrong when ND needs last second wins to pull it out, or loses in a tight game. because it means that the coaches aren’t getting the production out of those more talented players.
Biscuit you do have point. Let me also point out that football is an ultimate team sport that requires a scheme/plan to be executed where all 11 guys on the field must do their job in unity. It’s not about having the most talented players as it is having the right players to execute a game plan.
The players must be “ALL IN” and committed to the system. No different from HS, to college, to the Pros. Blue Chippers are for sure great athletes, but not always the best football players. It’s hard to measure heart and commitment.
Tough, smart, and disciplined will most likely beat size and speed if the more talented athletes aren’t buying in and playing together. Sometimes it is coaching, but maybe it’s the prima donna athlete too.
If I were King (yea right!), I would recruit players that fit my system above all else. Whether it’s Charlie or someone else the system must rule at ND just like it does at Navy.
Just my 2 cents please don’t take it the wrong way.
I went to Michigan and attended the UM ND game this year in Ann Arbor. I am Catholic, an attorney and live in a Rust Belt city heavily populated with ND fans and alums–many of whom are close friends of mine. I follow college football closely and offer these “outside the tent” observations about your plight.
First, that’s a lot of analysis about Weis. It’s really much simpler than that however. He has never been a head coach in college before. Ever. I’ve never tried a criminal case, but maybe I should apply to be Attorney General of the United States. You just cannot give the HC job at the University of Notre Dame to a guy with no HC experience who consistently blames everyone else for his mistakes, just like he did when he sued his Doctor for malpractice. And let’s not forget why he had that surgery: VANITY—ARROGANCE’S first cousin. Instead of putting down the doughnuts and running laps with his players, he took a shortcut and went under the knife. And when it didn’t go right, he blamed someone else for his vanity and arrogance. He’s a whiny personal injury plaintiff, yet he writes a book called “No Excuses.” Right. Thanks Charlie.
The more important point is this: He has never held a head coaching job before and he had no business even being a candidate. It’s not Weis’ fault he’s the HC. If somebody was dumb enough to offer him the job, when he has no experience nor the mindset to be a HC, of course he’s going to take it. Your Athletic Department has been incredibly and inexplicably inept in its hiring practices—always taking fliers on guys like Davie and Faust and Weis—guys who have NEVER held a college head coaching position before. NEVER. Think about that. This is really pretty simple. Who is the best ND coach in the last 25 years? Holtz. What did he do before ND? He coached successfully at Minnesota and Arkansas. Thanks for playing. C’mon Domers.
By the way, as an aside, the Michigan crack is puzzling. That’s the first time I’ve heard anyone argue that UM is in essence a façade–great academics for normal students but when it comes to athletes they just use them and then throw the kids in the trash. Is that the implication? If true, hey whatever, the truth hurts. But it’s not true. An armchair psychologist can easily figure out the motivation for the complaint: M is supposed to be a good school but they’ve been more successful in sports the last 20 years than ND—so it must be that they use dumb athletes and hide behind their façade of academic excellence.
Just going by Federally released NCAA graduation rates for student athletes last year, let’s look at some good public Ivy type schools. Michigan is graduating 83% of its student athletes; University of Texas at Austin 72%; Cal Berkely 76%; University of Virginia 86%. Sounds about right.
Similarly ranked PRIVATE schools with power athletic departments, who are obviously not encumbered by mandates to admit a broader base of applicants and the graduation rates are understandably higher: Northwestern 97%, Notre Dame 98%, Duke 97%.
So, there you have it. Notre Dame is exceptional in this category. Kudos to them. So is Northwestern and Duke. I think one must conclude that Cal Berkely and Notre Dame are great schools. Just as Michigan and Northwestern are too. But when the schools are public, the grad rates are a little less. Again, I think the explanation lies in the mandated admissions policies of public instituions. Whatever. But to conclude that “You can’t cheer for Michigan and claim to value academics at all” is immature hyberbolic talk that can be run over as easy as ND’s D-Line. C’mon Angry Domer guys. You may have a higher graduation rate, but you aren’t too swift at statistics. If UM had a 60% or lower rate, then I’d listen.
If you would allow me to paint with a broad brush, your comment about Michigan’s academics is reflective of the collective minset that got ND into the coaching jam it’s currently in, namely shooting from the hip and reaching “it just feels right” gut conclusions without doing its homework. Stop doing this ND. Don’t hire people like Weis, Faust, Davie who have never had a SUCCESSFUL COLLEGE HC gig before (Willingham was a HC, but not what I would call successful). Hell, Weis has never even played football. Yet you give him arguably the most prestigous post in college athletics? His hire was so crazy.
Say what you will about Rodriguez–I still love the hire–but even if it doesn’t work out, no one can accuse UM for being stupid to hire him. He was an incredibly successful coach at schools with weak resources and traditions and turned them into world beaters despite anemic recruiting classes. Who wouldn’t hire Rodriguez? WVU had no business beating Georgia and Oklahoma but he did so with duct tape, no name 2 and 3 star Rivals rated players, hard, hard work and brilliance. If Weis coached WVU, he would never win and blame it on the fact that he can’t get good recruits to come to a rural University with a redneck rep.
I would humbly suggest that you get off the Meyer train too. Not going to happen. Brian Kelly is the only coach you can and should hire….and what do you know, he’s beeen a successful HC before. He’s an a-hole and will drive you crazy, but so is Saban. Make the Faustian bargain Domers and give Kelly the keys to the kingdom. Don’t go with Gruden—he has been a HC, but that would not be as good a move. Again, no COLLEGE HC experience. Although I do believe going from the pros to college is easier than the reverse. I apologize for my passionate defense and impatience with ND’s blindness. You guys are better than this.
WJK, University of Michigan 1990…one of the proud 83%.
This statement makes no sense: “any time a team makes a nuanced change like they did in their system, and then saves it for ND …”.
Navy makes adjustments in preparation for every opponent. They’ll make adjustments for Delaware this week.
And yes, Navy will tell you ND is always a big game from them.
Rob,
The statement refers to the fact that they changed their keys, keys they’ve used much of the season, and only changed them for ND. They did, and the Navy players discussed it afterward.
Also, one of their LBs said after the game that they treated it like any other game, and winning at ND was no big deal because they’d done it before.
Catholepistemiad, while we appreciate the effort in your comment, we find it puzzling that you went and looked at the “student athlete” graduation data, and glossed over the “Football player” graduation data also available in the same reports. And we find it troubling that you also further glossed over the “African American Football Player” graduation data for Michigan. If you want a great education and a great degree, go to Michigan. Just don’t be black and don’t play football at the same time.
And of course it’s childish. It’s a freaking blog about college football. Stop taking things so seriously.
Further, have you bothered to read anything else we’ve posted in the last couple of days? Get off the Myer train? We’re leading the campaign against the guy!
CaliNavy, appreciate the well thought out comments. And I agree. But I think all our guys fit at ND and fit the system well. I just think that the coaching needs to ensure that that talent, and that fit, results in a good product on the field.
And Catholepesimidadlalalala – I too appreciate the effort in your post. And i think you had a few main points. 1) ND as an institution sucks at hiring coaches – no one here would disagree. The college HC experience requirement is a good one that I’d agree with too. 2) UM grad rates/etc are good – You got DMQs response there. UM graduates one out of three (33%!) of its african american football players. That’s a disgrace. 3) Get off the Meyer train – you got DMQs response there too. Please look around on the site – I wrote a freaking book on why we shouldn’t take Meyer. 4) RR is a good hire – sorry, this is where we disagree, because he’s not only a scumbag, but a losing scumbag too. And who the heck can turn around the program he’ll leave a mess with 5′6″ dudes everywhere? Nobody. It’ll be 4 recruiting cycles after he leaves before M returns to respectability.
Gents:
I have never visited the site before. A friend of mine who went to ND cut and pasted DMQ’s post in an e-mail to me, so I checked out the site. So, no I do not have the historical perspective to understand that you are not on the “Meyer Train.” Forgive me. I find it a little comical to think that he would actually have you is what I was saying regadless of his rumored thoughts to contrary, which he has dismissed.
I also find it tragi-comical that graduates of Notre Dame are taking on the White Man’s Burden and holding themselves out as the last great protector of African American males. Really? C’mon guys. You did read that UM went all the way to the Supreme Court to defend its extremely proactive affirmative action admissions policies? You did see that didn’t you? Don’t make UM out to be Ole Miss circa 1964. I can’t think of another institution that has gone out of its way to be more inclusive of African Americans and Jewish students and so on. ND is a great many things to this world, but keeper of the flame of diversity isn’t one of them.
Michigan had 626 black men on campus out of 12,518 men overall. That’s 5%. 60 of those 626 black men were athletes or 9%.
Notre Dame by comparison had only 165 black men out of 4,444 or 3%. 32% of those black men were athletes.
So, 91% of the black men admitted to UM are there for academic reasons. Only 68% of black men admitted to ND for academic reasons alone.
Sorry boys, you cherry pick some great kids who happen to be black and play football well, while at the same time, you aren’t beating the band to get more young black men in the doors who don’t run a 4.4/40. I mean really. A lily white private school in conservative Indiana run by Irish Catholic men is keeping a lookout for America’s black men. I get it. You’re joking.
DMQ apparently wasn’t pleased with the generalized student athlete breakdown I did and wanted it limited to black men who touch pigskin. Ok. According to the same database that I used before, the national graduation rate for black males is 38%. That is attrocious by anyone’s standards. UM last year graduated 54% of its black football players which was in line with similar PUBLIC schools: Cal 53%, UVA 61%, Texas a paltry 38%.
At similar PRIVATE schools, ND graduated 93% of its black football players, Northwestern 91%, Duke 88% and Stanford 88%. That’s tremendous and laudable, but I do think there will always be a disparity between the public and private schools for the reasons I stated previously.
Nevertheless, UM’s incredible leading role in inclusive admission (whether you agree with the practice or not) prevents you from assailing it as some Cracker College that disposes of black men like trash. At worst, it’s in line with Cal and UVA. At best, it’s 14 percentage point higher than the national average.
And Biscuit: RR is a scumbag and a losing scumbag? Family man, married forever, a walk-on at WVU from a poor family, good student in college, has won more games than Weis will ever win at ND even if he’s allowed to coach the full 10 years. In 7 years at WVU he was 60-26 with 3 impressive bowl wins. Gastro Plaintiff is 35-24 during his internship. C’mon. His contract dispute was a mess, but not because of him, that was UM’s fault. They wrongly assumed that since John Beilein’s buyout was negotiable, so would the buyout for RR. WVU went nuts over him leaving. Why? Because he’s an incredible coach and he just dumped them for a prettier girl. My guess is that if Weis leaves ND…no one would be pissed. There you have it.
Give me three hail Mary’s, quit hating on UM and look toward your incompetent athletic department. Quit looking for the flying saucers in Area 51 and bitching about Armando Allen’s out of bounds foot. Hire a good coach, shut up and play ball. Because as your literary lion of a coach says, there are “No Excuses.”
Catholepistemiad, seriously, know your audience. We only bitch about AA’s out-of-bounds foot because he was, in fact, out of bounds for no reason.
Further, oh my God, spin much?
Hey, altar Boy, don’t use the Lord’s name in vain. So I address your uninformed innacurate slur against UM with facts and from your mother’s basement you type “spin much?” Great. You Domers are doomed to repeat bad history. Step outside your shell and realize your limitations, then do something about them instead of projecting your frustrations elsewhere by maligning undeserved targets. Look, I want ND to succeed. College football isn’t right without a healthy ND program. Plus, more great teams in the Midwest is good for UM. Burger King wants to build across the street from Micky D’s. But you’re program and your fanbase is not healthy. Thought I was trying to help. Go ahead and hire Eric Mangini for all I care and keep thinking you are virtuous while everyone else is scum. That’ll fix all that ails ND Nation I’m sure. I know my audience better than you think.
1) You give a pass to all public schools just because they’re public? Well that’s pretty weak. We didn’t claim to be the great protectors of anything. We’re just pointing out that YOUR comparison was disingenuine at best, and wrong at worst. You pick. And besides, how do you know what I do in my time? Maybe I AM the last defender of the black man, you have no idea.
2) RR is a scumbag. You’ll never get me to say anything else. A dude that’s married forever but that hooks up with cheerleaders is not impressive to me. The litany of scumbaggy things he’s done since his move from WVU is too long to list here, but just search “RR” or “DTK” on this site and you’ll get a bunch of hits. And if you call 3-9 and this year’s debacle winning, you should be all up on the ND bandwagon and our weak performance recently. If your only ammo is RR’s previous jobs then I’ll put CW’s 3 SB rings up against RR’s success at WVU any day of the week (and look, I don’t even want to support Weis here, I’m just answering your lack of logic with my own)
3) I will NOT quit hating on UM (it’s one of my favorite past times), but I can do that AND consider our Athletic Dept inept, can’t I?
4) You seem like a somewhat reasonable guy, and you’re pretty articulate and you actually do research, so please know that 99% of what we post on here is all in good fun and that we’re busting your chops (and reading you busting ours) with a smile on our faces. Just letting you know since you’re new here – some people get quite up in arms with our snarky attitude.
Biscuit: Grazzi. I get it. I read Brian Cook’s mgoblog which is excellent, but that too is prone like all blogs to food fights that are more about the fight than anything. This isn’t my first blog rodeo. But ND can’t go off on UM (and the hatred has to be interpreted as a compliment I guess) with this sanctimonous air about not caring about blacks. Look at the body of their work with admissions. I’m not giving them a pass. Is a 54% grad rate for black football players acceptable? NO. They can and should do better. But when you see similar great schools like Cal Berkely and UVA struggling with the same issue, I think a wider berth should be afforded. Private schools for some reason are able to address this issue better. I don’t know why, but 50,000 Elvis fans can’t be wrong. Every public U for some reason just can’t seem to get over the hump. M is not unique in this regard. What is clear though is that UM isn’t this factory that just whores these kids.
RR is not a scumbag. You know it. I get it. You have to say that. It’s fun to pile on the guy for some reason because there’s been so much drama with his contract dispute. The cheerleader rumor–my goodness. I seriously doubt that it’s true. To my knowledge it’s never been reported and confirmed by a reputable news service. All I know is the guy is still married with two well-adjusted kids. He’s never been dinged by the cops, the NCAA or anyone else for that matter. This latest NCAA thing is such a witch hunt by the Free Press. I’m sure ND players only work 20 hours a week on football. What a crock. RRs been coaching the same way for 20 odd years and has clean. Now all of a sudden he’s going to start skirting the rules when he finally is at a school where he doesn’t need to due to unlimited resources? Yeah, that makes sense. Saban is a scum bag. Weis is an overmatched arrogant douche, but he’s not a scumbag. RR is a winner, and a family man. I know those labels are no fun when posting about a rival, but they’re true. M tore down its house and is building a new one. They were tired of 8-4 and 9-3. That’s what they did in hiring him. I suggest ND do a little of the same.
On the M deal with AA athletes – the issue is that M CLAIMs to be better (well, people like Brian Cook claim it to be true). So we just point out that they’re not. If you’re willing to concede that M is equally bad as the rest of them, (or equally good as is you’re angle), I’ll agree. But given the not-too-long-ago questions around steering kids into ‘gimme majors’, etc it makes me question that relative ‘dedication’ to academics a bit.
I’ll concede this on RR: he USED to be a winner. Lately? Not so much. And on him being ‘clean’, I just don’t know. So many issues have popped up since his move, that it would be surprising to me that the guy didn’t have some serious skeletons. I know that some folks dismiss them, but the cheerleader thing, shredder gate, stealing recruits, the buyout fiasco, real estate deals, snake oil salesman, now the NCAA ‘witch hunt’. Not all coaches have all of those kinds of things going on, so I don’t know that I’d call him clean…where there’s smoke…(but I don’t expect you to agree)
Coach Weis has been a head coach… in high school. No passion, arrogant, cocky and uninspiring. The players don’t want to play for him. He’ll soon be back in the NFL as a OC, mired in obscurity and getting anyone he can to gander at his Super Bowl rings. The quicker the better for ND by canning his big ass. Hire Chris Peterson, a success with 2- and 3-star athletes. Imagine what he will do with real talent.
I kind of like this Catholepistemiad guy, gives me a break on defending UM/RR against the cheap shots from DMQ and the Biscuit.
Catholepistemiad, can you fill in again in a couple of weeks when I’m on vacation?
Quit recruiting DTK. We tolerate you around here. We won’t tolerate you + minions.
The DTK Killer has been recruiting me with Al Qada inspired training videos to infiltrate this site for months now.
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