http://sportsillustrated.cnn.
It seems appropriate given the recent events. It's also interesting to compare the current situation to where we were 24 years ago. I'm not saying that Weis is the modern day equivalent of Gerry Faust but the state of the program is at a similar point. A few quotes:
He is extremely concerned about both his offensive and defensive lines, his quarterbacks, his tailbacks and his full-backs. However, he does like the looks of the returning linebackers, defensive backs and receivers
OL & DL could always use work, we don't have a healthy scholarship QB and backs we have been cycling through. Though linebackers (Teo), DBacks (Slaughter and McCarthy) and recievers (Floyd, Rudolph, Duval) are bright spots returning.
Former Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian says he thinks Faust got in big trouble because he kept talking about national championships and about how good the players were—while getting tied by Oregon. Says Parseghian: "The players got to thinking, 'Hmmm, either I'm not as good as he says or I'm not getting good coaching.' " Of course, it didn't take the players long to come to their conclusion. The fans concurred.
Back to basics. This is a football team that has forgotten several skills, such as how to block and tackle. "We are taking nothing for granted around here," says Yonto. "We have gone back to the first page of the textbook, and they seem real anxious to learn." Everything—breakdown position, hitting position, keeping feet moving, putting helmet on frontwards..."
"You gotta believe...1986 people were saying Notre Dame would never win again. We had a group of guys that wanted to win but didn't know how. Then we progressed to a point where we had a group of guys wanted to win, knew how to win. Then we progressed to a point where we have a group of guys that know how to win but sometimes we don't always exhibit it." ~ Lou Holtz
I'd say that seems like the past few years (2007 - 2009).
With the number of articles already written about "Notre Dame got the right man" and "Notre Dame got their man this time," expectations are through the roof. "The Saviour has arrived." Though Lou mentioned a great point last night, Notre Dame has always done better when they hired a college coach:
Leahy (NC '43, '46', '47, '49) - Boston College
Terry Brennan - high school coach and assistant under Leahy
Joe Kurarich - assistant coach
Hugh Devore - assistant coach
Ara (NC '66, '73) - Northwestern
Dan Devine (NC '77) - Arizona St, Missouri
Gerry Faust - high school coach
Lou (NC '88) - Arkansas, Minnesota
Davie - defensive coordinator
Ty - briefly Stanford head coach
Weis - offensive coordinator
Brian Kelly - Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, Cincinatti
Go Irish
~ IT07
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