OUR (ND) NATION TURNS ITS LONELY EYES TO YOU, RON PRINCE

Nick Saban doesn’t have time for this shit….

wait….do you think ND would go for $6M/yr?

Here’s what I don’t get about Kelly being considered a huge lock for the Notre Dame job. If I’m Kelly I’m thinking “I’m a hot young coach and Notre Dame was a death trap for its last three coaches.”

Sure ND has more money, a better recruiting network and better facilities than Cincy, but if Kelly hangs around Cincy for another year and does well he can likely have his pick of the litter. Various PAC 10 and SEC coaches are on the hot seat, along with Richrod at Michigan. Odds are next year a warm weather school with good facilities and good money will need a head coach and Kelly’s likely to have better luck there than with ND.

You mean Prince isn’t in line to replace Charlie at UF? Damn.

A segment of domer fans would go absolutely nuts at the idea of another black coach. And considering how they treated the last one, would any black coach actually consider going there?

Jimmy Sexton at work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3×1rxZb4XbU

Mark Mangino would like to withdraw his name from consideration at this time.

@2

I agree and with Kelly’s lack of track record in terms of recruiting kids into atmospheres where academics are extremely rigid seems like a massive exposure on his part. Unless the administration is going to help him out how can he help them?

As for the Edsall pick, I like it it. It lacks the “juice” that Domers have been looking for but between Edsall and Riley at OSU you’re talking about two guys who have succeeded quietly. I think his candidacy is more a plow to force Kelly’s hand than a genuine extension of interest.

Look, ND’s a fine school, but they aren’t MIT ferchrissakes.
 
The Stanfords, the Cals, the Wake Forests, (the Georgia Techs) the Northwesterns have somehow managed to field competitive teams in recent years or currently. Look at NAVY, for the ultimate example.

It’s an institutional crutch to say "We need to offer turf management or “General Studies” to be competitive".

ND did not ruin Davie’s, Willingham’s, and Weis’s careers. They elevated a “loyal assistant”, a “molder of men”, and an alum that was an NFL coordinator to jobs they clearly weren’t suited for. Note that Davie has never been considered for another job and ask Washington whether ND was wrong to fire Willingham.

That is why ND wants a proven head coach this time, not a trainee.

@ Techie

Couldn’t agree more. It’s ridiculous to assert that an academically elite school – and I’m not even sure they belong in that category – can’t field a competitive team (unless that team is Vandy). They have a lot more issues than academic standards to deal with in recruiting – hello, Indiana! – yet continue to dangle that herring without shame.

I gotta say, as a Big East honk, Edsall would be a nice choice for ND. Connecticut may have the least talent of any team in that league (even less than Syracuse) and he always gets something out of them. They play defense, they don’t make mistakes, and they never, ever beat themselves.

As long as he brings the Power Towel to ND, I’m in.

FFS, Edsall doesn’t even have a winning record (65-65). Hopefully Charlie Strong will be ready in 3 to 5 years for our next coaching search.

Fun fact about the “journalist” who did that “Examiner.com” piece: He’s the same idiot that fell for the “ND talking to Bret Bielema” gag.

What’s even funnier is that the “Examiner.com” thing is believed, apparently, by many to be an actual source of news. It’s more like BleacherReport.com minus the focus.

That said, I’m not sure Kelly to ND is a lock either. Neither is Edsall for that matter.

Contrary to rumors surfacing on various internet blogs, I will not be the next head coach at my alma mater.

I turned down the job earlier this afternoon. While I was quite successful in the pro and college ranks (see 386-14 record on Joe Montana Football ‘95 for Sega Genesis; 430-83 record in college against drunk roommates on NCAA Football ’04 through ’07), going back to Indiana just didn’t appeal to me.

Fact, this year ND is the #20 ranked national university.

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/national-universities-rankings

As you can see Stanford is 4, Northwestern is 12, Cal is 21, UCLA is 24, USC is 26, Michigan is 27, UNC is 28, BC is 34 and GT is 35.

Stanford and N’Western are better schools, playing tougher schedules, that are clearly better than ND on the football field this season.

Cal, UCLA, USC, Michigan, UNC are all within 8 rankings and have better football programs as I write this. Not necessarily historically but as it stands now; bear in mind Michigan beat ND.

BC and GT are within 15 and one team has gone to 3 league title games in 4 seasons and GT is in the Orange Bowl.

It can be done at a good academic institution. Spare me the “athlete majors” argument, there is a reason there appears to be a “favorite major” among teams. Or if you want to get big picture there’s a reason athletes are all clustered around 2-3 majors at a given school.

I would just like to point out that I called the Randy Edsall hire from 1 million miles away, on this website in the comments thread of a post a couple of weeks ago. At the time I was really just trying to add fuel to the rumor mill fire because I know that no one does real research anymore, even the pros, and that even a random internet comment might end up as “truthy” and start making the rounds in print. Huzzah!

I hope to God that Edsall doesn’t jump ship to ND. I’ll admit it: I wept like Adam Morrison when we beat ND and Edsall had his postgame. Though it would be a shame to see him go (especially considering the obvious “who the fuck will UConn get to replace the man who led them, with resounding success, into D1?”), he deserves his chance at glory. And if anyone can turn around my emphatic hatred for ND, its Edsall.

Worst case scenario: Edsall goes. Best Case Scenario: Edsall goes…and RON PRINCE signs up. No one loves a good, hearty dance like a UConn Husky.

(Less shitassfucktard scenario: Mark Snyder isn’t doing much these days…)

Bleachers @16:

I think the argument on academic standards isn’t aimed at the schools’ overall academic rankings, but at whether each of the schools you listed actually applies their lofty academic standards to their incoming athletes, and holds said athletes accountable (i.e., graduates them).

I can honestly say I have no clue about the other schools, but I know that each and every athlete at ND is expected to meet certain standards to be admitted, and to actually perform OFF the field once they arrive on campus. If other schools can claim to do the same, and follow through, more power to them.

Domer Guy @19.

I know for a fact that Stanford and Northwestern players are expected to perform in the classroom once on campus. I don’t know about the elite state schools (Michigan, Cal, NC, UCLA, etc.), but Stanford and NU are just as academically “legit” as ND.

Nonetheless, NU and Stanford are not really comparable to ND when talking about elite academic institutions fielding competitive teams. The standards are too different. I’m an NU alum and I can tell you firsthand that almost all people connected to NU are thrilled with the position of the program. The NU community is fine with simply reaching any bowl game and occasionally reaching a New Year’s Day or better bowl game. Moreover, we understand that there will be 4-8 and 5-7 seasons, and as long as there is not a long string of them, the program is in good standing. I think the same can generally be said of Stanford.

I assume that is not the sort of success that ND is looking for. They’re not trying to be an academically elite school having “success” at the level of NU or Stanford. They’re trying to be an academically elite school having success at the level of Florida or Texas or USC. That is, obviously, a much harder task.

Totally unrelated point. I always thought that if ND never joins the Big 10, the perfect 12th member would be Pitt. Seriously, it’s a major research university which is a member of the Association of American Universities (which all Big 10 members are), it’s located in an adequately large media market, and it wouldn’t even be geographically isolated, as Penn St. is actually further east. Penn St.-Pitt would be a great rivalry. Of course, Pitt basketball may not want to give up Big East membership, but otherwise, I think it’s a great match.

ND …hope they at least get an agreement in PRINCE-iple.. for some reason, ND’s interview process strikes me as being similar to the tryouts in “Flashdance”..i hope Ron Prince has “DMSR” by Prince cued up…..

@19

iirc Georgia Tech recruits tend to have one of the highest academic profiles in the country.

In addition, it has been shown already in this decade that the Institute has no problem in kicking out football players that do not adequately perform in the classroom (see: ‘flunkgate’ where 10+ players were kicked out of school at the same time for failing courses)

I also don’t know if graduating players should be the goal, a degree in Family Planning, Turf Management, or Sociology is hardly a diploma worth much in the world.

Domer @ 19:
Speaking as a Michigan alum our players are normally at least on par with the average student. Our running back Hart was an extremely good chess player and on the chess team. Our punter Mesko made it into the Business School.

Personally I had to work on a joint paper with a defensive lineman and was ready to shoot myself since I figured I’d have to basically write the entire paper. The player in question was not all that intelligent but extremely disciplined. The first draft of his section was filled with grammar errors but he sat there and methodically went through the paper and revised it for three hours until it was better proofed than my part. He also had all his notes indexed as well. He said that even though he was All Big Ten, he had to get Bs or better to see the field.

These were all players under Carr and Carr was known for putting his foot up the ass of any player who didn’t get good grades, not sure how much pressure Richrod puts on the players.

LOL@15 Domer Guy
Pretty good record, but too many L’s. You gotta take advantage of the “create a prospect” option and put together a 200 game win streak to really be a serious candidate.

I don’t understand how graduating a high percentage of your football players is equated with upholding high academic standards. The Notre Dame fans crow about this constantly but shouldn’t basic logic tell you the opposite? If you give the football players and easier path then you will have a higher percentage of them graduate. If you hold them to more rigorous standards then fewer of them will succeed.

@ 25 oc phil

Therefore, the schools that graduate the smallest percentage of players are the most academically rigorous. Brilliant! I know when I’m seeking out a school district for my kids, I scour the city to find the district that hands out the fewest number of diplomas.

Is this your idea of “basic logic”?

Are Jimmy and Golden graduating? Those were the two best players on the team… Do you think Jimmy will come back and get his degree and risk getting his ass handed to him again on campus?

@26 – the point is that in some places, it’s easy to get out. you can go to a presigious institution like duke and if you’re just a notch above functionally retarded, you’ll graduate with your sociology degree in three years.

any liberal arts college will have plenty of programs where they can filter defensive linemen toward pursuing an absolutely useless degree while they bang heads on saturday – i’m looking at you, stanford classics department (and before you jump on me, yes i’m sure that your in depth study of thucydides will help you in your career in…well…something).

it’s difficult to make high-handed comments ridiculing other universities’ academics when you can’t spell prestigious correctly.

Other Dan @ 26: That’s my idea of you setting up a straw man. K-12 and college are different, you should know that.

But If you had two schools in the same socioeconomic setting and school A has a curriculum based on raising the self-esteem of the students so everybody passes while school B has a rigorous and challenging curriculum and washes spme students students out, do you really think the “touchy-feeling everybody feels good” school is doing a better job?

I deal with this in the real world. I’m a department chair at a college and our departmental success rates are something I’m evaluated on. It is also a part of the picture when I’m evaluating individual faculty members. One thing I have learned over the years is that anomalously high success rates are just as big of a red flag as anomalously low success rates.

If the psychology department passes 96% of the students in their classes but electrical engineering only passes 65% then according to your logic the psychology department has shown evidence of being a more difficult program?

Notre Dame passing nearly all of the football players does not mean that it is a more rigorous institution. It just means that Notre Dame places a very high priority on graduating football players.

Here are the graduation success report numbers for the football teams schools mentioned above:

Notre Dame: 96
Mich; 71
USC: 58
UCLA: 51
Cal: 64
BC: 91
Stanford: 89
Northwestern: 92
G Tech: 49

ND’s trying to do something very hard—field a great football team that is made up of guys who can graduate from a school that ranks academically among the top .5% of all colleges in the United States. Some might think this is folly, but I think it’s something to be commended.

Chi Town Tress: Jimmy won’t need to come back to get his degree and possibly risk getting another pair of black eyes at CJ’s Pub. He’s supposed to have enough credits to graduate in May.

@ ed and oc phil

What university doesn’t place a priority on graduating players, or at least will admit to as much? Your basic argument is to imply that Notre Dame funnels football players into easy majors, thus artificially inflating its graduation rate. This logic breaks down on two points though:

1. You cite no evidence that Irish players major disproportionally in “easy” majors, relative to the rest of college football. (I’m not saying they’re all studying organic chemistry, but I can tell you as an alum that at least there is no “general studies” major at ND, as there is at probably 90% of the rest of college football institutions.)

2. If it were that easy to inflate one’s graduation statistics, why aren’t all colleges doing the exact same thing? Or does USC just have too much pride to do that sort of thing?

Are you saying that Stanford, Northwestern and BC aren’t rigorous programs either, since their higher-than-average graduation rates should be treated as suspicious anomalies?

It’s no anomaly when ND, Stanford, et al graduate roughly the same percentage of athletes as their general student population. Nor is majoring in sociology per se evidence of lack intellectual heft. At best, what you’re saying is that graduation rates are a poor indicator of academic standards (like the SAT isn’t a perfect measure of intelligence). But what better metric would you suggest?