i completely agree with u montana.
the one and only thing im worried about is who we hire.
and this is one thing no one can reall argue with, but who would really want to come coach for us right now?
our program has been spiraling out of control for roughly 13-15 years.our fanbase(although great), is full of crazy nonsense who want a brand new coach to win 11 games out of the gate.our defense is in shambles,and will probably take a good coach 3 years to fix.
yes,we have a great tradition...20 years ago and beyond.since then we havent done shit.
it's hard for a rational coach,let alone one with a great track record to take a chance to try and build our program back up.
id love to see a great coach like stoops or meyer come in here,but we most likely wont.
what i believe will happen is we'll get someone like brian kelly.not a bad hire at all, but he will never live up to the gawdy expectations that our community and fanbase has come to expect.
he'll probably average 8-4 seasons over a period of 4-5 years and then we'll go through the same process again.this is then the time to get a big name coach to bring us back to prominence,most likely meyer in about 5 years.
like i said,i love ND.they take up much of my life, but the job position isnt attractive like it once was.and until we can do something to disprove that,then we're going to be stuck in mediocrity.
In my opinion, this job is much more attractive than it was five years ago.
One: CW proved that you can recruit outstanding talent to the school. No more of the "academic standards are too high to recruit" stigma that Davie and Willingham unwittingly attached to the job as they were scrambling to cover their asses after failing miserably.
Two, ND still has a sweet television contract, has a wealthy base of alumni and is obviously relevant in the national media.
Three, it's a dream job for many coaches. There is and always will be something special about the University. The media can try to discredit the program but they can't take away tradition, national championships, Touchdown Jesus or an 80,000 seat stadium (yeah, this ain't Utah or Cincinnati).
Four, the program is nationally recongized with far reaching appeal. Seriously, I live in MT and I see ND shit everywhere. Do you know how many Florida fans I know? Exactly one and I've spent extensive time in Washington, Idaho and Oregon too. Guess what? Same story in those places. I know more ND fans in Washington than Husky fans.
Five, ND is still a premier job (look at the money) and there are no other elite programs with job openings this year....unless we should happen to lure away one of their coaches.
Six, just look at Alabama. They were 67-55 from 1997-2006. That's pretty mediocre. Now look at the program. From 1986-1997 Texas was 72-54-2. You get the idea, bringing dormant national powerhouses back into the NC picture is not without precedence.
Seven, ND has that sweet deal with the BCS. Tying into that is the fact that ND, despite their much talked about irrelvance, has three BCS appearances since 2001. That may not be good enough for all of us but lets not act as if that's entirely unimpressive.
Eight, If you think the expectations aren't high at Florida, Bama, USC, etc. than you're kidding yourself. Hell, I saw an article in a Los Angeles pub regarding how unacceptable it is that Pete Carrol seems to incur at least one headscratching, National Championship derailing loss every year. Never mind that the school was (another good example) teetering on the brink of irrelvance prior to his arrival. Expectations come with the business.
