Alumni rip decay of Irish football

[southsider2k5]

Administering a dose of their version of tough love, several hundred Notre Dame alumni have sent the university's board of trustees a letter deeply critical of the running of the football program.

 

"We believe that the pronounced and persistent deterioration of the Notre Dame football program requires a concerted response from concerned alumni," the letter begins.

 

Among the issues cited as evidence of mismanagement were "a series of mediocre and poorly vetted coaching hires, the subordination of winning to revenue generation [and] a reluctance to reinvest in the program."

 

Delivered to every member of the board before its winter meetings, which began Thursday, the letter offers three concrete suggestions "to restore excellence of the football program." It suggests:

 

Athletic director Kevin White delegate responsibilities for non-football sports and focus his energy on turning around the football program.

 

White have "unfettered authority" to select football coaches, subject only to the approval by the board's Athletic Affairs Committee.

 

Appointment of a lay person well-versed in financial, administrative and athletic pursuits to the position of executive vice president of the university.

 

However, the letter states: "This is not a call to fire [coach] Tyrone Willingham."

 

Tim Kelley, a 1964 graduate, said the group eschewed other means of expressing its concerns in deciding to go directly to the trustees.

 

"A lot of people felt that something more impactful had to happen," Kelley said. "We felt that we needed to rattle the cage a bit."

 

The Tribune was unable to reach any board members.

 

In a written statement, university spokesman Matt Storin said: "Obviously, a lot of time and effort went into this group's recommendations, and we appreciate that. Whether the board of trustees will have any further comment, I can't say, but it is doubtful they would debate these matters in the media."

 

The facts speak for themselves.

 

Notre Dame has had three losing seasons in the last five years and has endured defeats of historic proportions, including a worst-ever 38-0 drubbing at the hands of archrival Michigan on Sept. 13, 2003.

 

The embarrassment of hiring George O'Leary to head the football program, only to have him resign less than a week later because of misrepresentations on his résumé, is obvious.

 

But White already delegates plenty of non-football responsibilities to his associates in the athletic department, a model he inherited from former AD Mike Wadsworth, who served from 1995-2000.

 

Notre Dame's football facilities lag behind pacesetters such as Texas and Nebraska. But shortly after White was hired, he undertook a national tour of other schools' football facilities to acquire a sense of what Notre Dame needed to do to keep pace.

 

And the university broke ground on the Don F. and Flora Guglielmino Family Athletics Center on Nov. 16 before the football team's victory over Brigham Young.

 

Expected to take two to three years to finish, the "Gug," which will sit on the west side of the Loftus Center, the football team's indoor practice facility, is expected to cost upward of $21 million. The 95,840-square-foot facility will provide a one-stop shop for the football team. It will house the team's practice locker room, coaches' offices, meeting and film rooms and will double the size of the weight room.

 

But all that is in the future. For now, said Kelley, the group that sent the letter believes that the football program is being handled improperly.

 

"It's either being neglected or it's being mismanaged, hard to say which," Kelley said.

 

The letter accuses the athletic department of surreptitiously moving the football program, which has always been independent, toward joining a conference.

 

"The subtle campaign by the athletic department to promote conference affiliation in football is perhaps the most disturbing indication that the current leadership's priorities are misplaced," the letter says.

 

The athletic department has long maintained that it intends to hang on to its football independence, and the university just signed a five-year extension to its television deal with NBC, which televises all Notre Dame home games.

 

White has said he is and intends to continue monitoring the shifting conference landscape.

 

If the football team were to take on a conference affiliation, "Such a decision would be met with intense resistance and evoke various methods of protest," the letter says, "including withheld financial support."

 

First, though, the team has to start winning. And though the letter does not call for firing Willingham, it suggests that White begin compiling a mental list of possible replacements should Willingham prove incapable of restoring the football program to national championship form in short order.

 

"Each passing year has rendered the challenge of restoring Notre Dame football exponentially more difficult," the letter states.

 

College football is inherently cyclical, and the three teams that finished in the national championship hunt this season—Southern California, Louisiana State and Oklahoma—all suffered through extended dark periods in the 1990s.

 

But the group does not believe that excuses Notre Dame's recent travails.

 

"We're making an appeal to the board of trustees, who should have the ultimate say about how things are run at the university," Kelley said. "Please pay attention to this and understand how important it is."

[Queen Prawn]

LOL! I thought you were posting about soccer in Ireland...

[knightni]

I live near South Bend and work in Mishawaka at a hotel. I am a fan of the Notre Dame athletic programs but NOT the alumni and out of the area fans.

 

Frankly, they are assholes.

 

If Notre Dame football is sucky, maybe they will stop watching it and get a real life.

[baggio202]

well..notre dame started a true freshman at QB this year..that tells me that the first recruiting class of their current coach was better than the last 4 well 5 considering ND redshirts just about everyone)...so they must be going in the right direction..

 

you start a true freshman at QB, everyone at that point has to understand its a move for the future...

 

what's really funny is one of the reason ND football is struggling is because they are an independant...moving to a conference would make recruiting much easier...players today want to play in that conference championship game..the exposure in those games are a huge plus in recruiting...its also a plus for positioning yourself for the national championship..ND , being an independant , doesnt have that opportunity...which is why the AD probably wants to investigate joining a conference...to help the program get back on track..and the people who are b****ing the most about ND football also want to remain independant..amking it that much harder for their wishes to come true