Notre Dame Football

By KEN W PACZAS

A Lady saw me wearing a Notre Dame shirt in Las Vegas and asked me, “What do you think the future holds for the Irish?” At first I thought she was talking about the Civil Wars being fought in Ireland but then realized what I was wearing and it made me think, “What does the future hold?”

(AP Photo)

Well for a Notre Dame fan, ever since 1993, where Notre Dame finished second in the AP poll, it has been a pretty bumpy ride. First, Dr. Lou Holtz gets forced into early retirement. His replacement, Bob Davie, is a complete disaster. His replacement, George O’Leary, lied on his resume and is fired without ever coaching a game. Tyrone Willingham comes in as the first African American coach in Notre Dame History, and wakes up the echoes with an 8-0 start. However, after losing three of his last four games, the goodwill was gone. After two very subpar seasons, he was let go and the critics came out in full force. “They only fired him cause he was black,” or “Only three seasons, how can you get rid of a coach after just three years?” were  the two common things being said around the nation. You could tell, these were not fans who watched the games. Even when Willingham won, it was usually very ugly. His system just didn’t work at Notre Dame, and that’s why he had to go.

Next up was the Super bowl man, Charlie Weis. Big Charlie came in with guns blazing, talking about the attitude he was going to change on this team. His first two years were BCS bowls, and was rewarded with a 10 year contract. However, a weak recruiting haul greatly left his team thin, and after key players graduated, he just could not get the team back to where it needed to be. During his last two years, constant questionable coaching calls left us fans shaking our heads, and eventually Notre Dame lost faith and moved into a new direction.

This time its Brian Kelly’s turn to return the university to glory. His first game was a success against Purdue, but the next three were rough. Against Michigan, they lost their starting Quarterback for half the game, and still only lost on a last minute touchdown. Against Michigan State, the Spartans needed a trick play on the last second play to pull the upset. Stanford just whooped the Irish, but they are a top ten team in the country,

A 1-3 team, traveling to Boston College, might have been trouble in the past, but Kelly got his boys ready, and they man handled the Eagles 31-13.

This is what gives me hope. In the past, a team who suffered a couple bad breaks, having to go on the road, would not have been a recipe for success. However, Kelly can flat out coach, and he did that this week.

Will Notre Dame Win their first national title since 1988, no, but they are definitely headed in the right direction. A sign of that, could be Notre Dame signing three 4 star recruits over the weekend, recruits that are in the top 100 in America, and yet they want to play for this now 2-3 team. That is very promising.

So how is the future for the Irish? “Simply Golden”.