The Most Delusional Program In Sports

"This used to mean something"

There are many football programs that think that they are better than they actually are but none more delusional than the University of Notre Dame. The good people in South Bend think that their program is still relevant in the world of college football, when it simply isn’t. There are many issues facing this historic program that has allowed it to crumble right before our eyes. The mystique of Notre Dame simply no longer exists. They want to compete for a national title every year but don’t realize that their greed and arrogance keeps getting in the way.

Irish, you either want the NBC contract and keep all of the money or you want to play in a BCS bowl and possibly the national title game. You can’t have both. By continuing to be an independent you put your team at a constant disadvantage. If by chance they lose just one game (and God forbid it’s an early loss), they have absolutely nothing to play for the rest of the season because they aren’t in a conference. There is no conference title to win. It’s either all or nothing at Notre Dame and how do you sell that to an 18 year old? They need to join the Big East like the rest of their team sports - and then they’ll have a great shot at getting to a BCS bowl annually because of the automatic bid for the conference champion. They could win the Big East almost annually because it's so bad.  They‘ve finally learned in 2010 that they needed to water down that schedule a bit as well.

The Fighting Irish also wants to be an academic powerhouse and a football powerhouse at the same time. You can’t be both unless you decide to move into the Ivy League. ND can’t get the players that the state schools have access too. When you look at the top 100 recruits in the country, the Irish can only talk to about 30 of them because of the academic requirements. Other schools like Florida State, Texas, Ohio St etc can talk to all 100 of them and will sign maybe 12 or 13 of them every year. Now what happens when ND shows up to play one of them and they’ve got 60 of the best and the Fighting Irish only have 3? They’re down 21 points before they even get off of the bus.

I know what you’re saying, “Well, Duke is able to do it in basketball.” You’re absolutely right... but they only have to recruit three players a year. In the game of football you have to find 25 players a year. That’s a much harder task. Keep in mind success breads success and the Irish simply don‘t have any. I can hear Irish fans screaming, “We’ve won 11 national titles, 7 Heisman Trophies and have produced 95 All-Americans.” I know that, but the kid that you’re recruiting doesn’t know that. A player coming out of high school now is 17 or 18 years old and wasn’t even born when you won your last title in 1988.

Additionally, the Fighting Irish have to be able to recruit the elite(top 100) African-American athlete. They thought that Paul Hornung(ND 1956 Heisman Trophy winner) was some crazy old man a few years ago when he told them the same thing. The administration simply dismissed it because they’ve been able to get a few like Golden Tate and Michael Floyd over that past several years. However, they need a roster full of them like everyone else in the country. The reason it’s so difficult for ND to get these players is because of the lack of diversity on ND’s campus. For the most part, the only African American students on campus are the athletes. There are very few black non-athletes on campus. Primarily because it costs more than $45,000 per year to attend. Not very many families can afford that price tag and those who can, don’t necessarily want to send their kids to Notre Dame.

The majority of folks with that type of money would rather send their children to the prestigious, Historically Black Colleges and Universities like Morehouse, Spellman, Hampton or Howard - not Notre Dame. Because of the lack of diversity on campus players will continue to be reluctant to go to South Bend. There has to be a life outside of football for players to connect to. If there aren’t other students that look like them there they won’t come.

I hear you asking,  "How did they get the top African-American players in the 1970's, '80's & early '90's?" During that period of time ND meant something because they were a powerhouse coming out of the '40's through the '60's when blacks couldn't attend predominately white institutions. So when the opportunity presented itself, brothers took advantage of it. Notre Dame was where many kids wanted to be because of the national appeal and TV exposure. Now everybody is on TV and has national appeal because of the plethora of channels showcasing college football now. You don't have to go to South Bend to play on TV in this era.

Lastly, in order to win, you’ve got to go where the best players are, and that’s down South or out West to California. That’s a problem for Notre Dame because it‘s in the South Bend, In. where it’s cold and snows in winter. Additionally, the girls look better in the south or on the west coast because they‘re half dressed. In South Bend they have on overcoats and snow boots. I‘m just telling you what appeals to 18 year old boys. Let’s say a kid does decide to play up north. He’ll more likely go to Columbus or Ann Arbor before he goes to South Bend. Why? Because he’s at least seen them win in his lifetime and there are more people on campus that look like him.

So when they fire Brian Kelly like Lou Holtz, Bob Davey, Ty Willingham and Charlie Weis before him. The administration at some point needs to understand it's not the coaches fault!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Twitter: @jaygravesreport