All of Weis' recruiting classed have been highly ranked when first announced. Looking at the results, one must conclude that it's the coaching.

Duhhh

The story is told that one of the rallying calls for the BC coach last year prior to the game against ND was his asking his players "how many of you were recruited by Notre Dame?" None. They then proceeded to whip ND good. Again, one must conclude that it's the coaching.

Duhhh

In 1964 Ara Parseghian showed up and took a team that had won only 2 games the year before to within 2 minutes of the National Championship. None of the players on that team were his recruits. One must conclude that it's the coaching.

Duhhh

Charlie Weis is a good guy and he is a good recruiter but he is NOT a big-time college football coach.

Ergo .....

(duhh)

Recruiting has been the major difference between Weis vs. Davie and Willingham. Otherwise, all their records and exploits have been virtually identical.

The reason I want to give Weis one more year is because:

A) His first two years were great. Notre Dame fans have short memories, but they can't forget that Weis was the first coach since Holtz to have back to back 9 win seasons.

B) Weis has shown that he can lead an effective offense. With the exception of the year in which he basically didn't have a viable quarterback, the offense under him has been great.

C) Weis knows that he isn't a defensive specialist and he has tried to find the right coach to complement him. Obviously that hasn't happened yet, but when it does, look out.

I want to see if these great recruits translate into success. I also want to see who he brings in to replace Tenuta. The bottom line is, whenever you have a major coaching change at a big program, you almost always have to give at coach at LEAST 5 years to turn things around. This year has been a disappointment, but hardly a failure. Give him one more year.

TERRY, ONCE AGAIN ALL YOU ARE LOOKING AT IS THE COACHING AS BEING THE ENTIRE PROBLEM AND THE COACHING IS PART OF THE PROBLEM NOT THE ENTIRE PROBLEM. THE OFFENSE HAS HAD ISSUES, LACK OF PROTECTION, POOR RUN BLOCKING, AND INJURY PROBLEMS ALL OF THESE THINGS CONTRIBUTE. THE DEFENSE HAS BEEN ALRIGHT AT TIMES AND HAS SECURED A WIN OR TWO, WHEN THE LEAD HAS BEEN GAINED HOWEVER THEY HAVE BEEN POUROUS AND GIVEN THE LEAD OR ALLOWED THE GAME TO BE TIED UP AFTER GETTING THE LEAD (E.G. MICHIGAN). THE RECRUITING HAS BEEN O.K, NOT GREAT I DON'T CARE AT ALL WHAT ESPN OR ANYONE ELSE SAYS ABOUT THE QUALITY OF THE PLAYERS IF THEY DO NOT WORK OUT AND CANNOT RAISE THEIR GAME TO THE COLLEGE LEVEL THEN THEY WERE A BUST. IT IS HARD TO RECRUIT TOP NOTCH TALENT WHEN THE PLAYERS REALIZE THAT THE CHANCE TO PLAY FOR A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MAY NOT HAPPEN IN THE TIME THEY ARE AT THE SCHOOL. I HAVE SAID THIS BEFORE ATTENDING NOTRE DAME IS A HUGE UNDERTAKING AS AN ATHLETE YOU HAVE TO HAVE IT ALL TO COME TO NOTRE DAME AND IT IS INTIMIDATING TO SOME ATHLETES. I DO NOT KNOW IF FIRING CHARLIE WEIS IS THE ANSWER, I CAN TELL YOU THIS HOWEVER THE FOOTBALL PROGRAM UNDER WILLINGHAM AND DAVIES SEEM TO BE STAGNATED AND THE PROGRAM UNDER WEIS HAS SEEN IMPROVEMENT AND PROGRESS AND I BELIEVE THE ADMINISTRATION AT THE SCHOOL HAS SEEN THIS AS WELL THAT IS THE REASON HIS CONTRACT WAS TORN UP AND THE NEW CONTRACT WAS GIVEN TO HIM. I DO BELIEVE THAT EVERYONE ASSOCIATED WITH THE PROGRAM NEEDS TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR AND ASK THAT PERSON WHAT HE OR SHE CAN DO TO RIGHT THE SHIP. IS FIRING CHARLIE WEIS THE ANSWER, I REALLY JUST DO NOT KNOW.

evan, my opinion as well bud. One more year, but that should be it. At least let his first real recruiting class finish with the same coach, then abondon ship if it sinks..but dont jump ship while its still floating...

Evan - Hartford: You said recruiting has been the major difference between Weis and Willingham/Davie, but then in the same breath you tell us Weis's first two years were great.

Um, didn't Weis have WILLINGHAM'S recruits for his first two years? If there was a sequitur in there, I missed it.

I can only conclude that Weis is not a good coach. Some have said that Brady Quinn came to ND because the allure of the school. I think they're just trying to avoid giving Willingham any credit. Otherwise you have to say the same thing about every one of Weis's recruits. Under this theory, the Golden Dome is a giant magnet that is solely responsible for any player's decision to come to South Bend. And if that's the case, you can only go by a coach's win-loss record, and Weis's record stinks.

NDFAN401, you made good points and I agree with much of what you said. But, and please don't take this the wrong way, writing in all caps is difficult to read, so people may not be able to read and digest what you're writing.

Mr. Arnold, I thought this was a well-written post, and it conveys a good deal of down-in-the-weeds information. It shows you know a lot about the ND program. Well done. I feel, by the way, for the kids who get injured in high school after realizing the dream of getting a scholarship to a school like ND. What-could-have-been-will-never-be, you know? Anyway, good stuff. Keep it coming, please.

@Terry -- I think your logic is a little bit off.

You state: "All of Weis' recruiting classed have been highly ranked when first announced. Looking at the results, one must conclude that it's the coaching."

Or you could conclude that recruiting services and subjective rankings don't have a clue what they're talking about.

I'd take the Notre Dame staff -- a collective of probably 100 years of coaching experience -- over the rankings of Rivals and Scout websites.

The problem lies with perception. College coaches need to placate these websites because the recruits read and believe them.

Check out the book MEAT MARKET by Bruce Feldman. He talks about how the staff at Ole Miss might not have been that high on a certain player, but because they were a five-star recruit, it made them look better, and helped with players that they did want.

It's a fuzzy game, and while Rivals et al might get the top 100 guys pretty close to correct, those guys from 100-500, that's where the bias comes in, and that's when those recruits start getting propped up because they've got an offer from ND or another big school with a high spending fan base.

Stephen of Troy,

Willingham's recruiting was good early on, but he completely stopped recruiting his last couple years. That's what led to Charlie Weis' truly horrific seasons. When Willingham's "recruits" were seniors/juniors, we were screwed. If that hadn't happened, we wouldn't even be talking about firing Weis. The "Willingham's recruits" argument makes me want to throw up. His recruits are responsible for the worst two year run in ND history, end of story.

StephenOfTroy--Quinn wasn't even recruited by Willingham until Chinedum Ndkuwe's dad told him that he should take a look. I don't see how this "Weis only won with Ty's players" argument can have any merit. First, Ty only won with Bob Davie's players, I dont know how thats relevant to what I'm trying to say, but its worth noting. That 02 defense was insane. After they all left, the team sucked. Second, where were all the players under Ty? Is it really a coincidence that Quinn, Samardzija, McKnight, Stovall, Fasano all broke out under Weis? The team under Ty was clearly going in the wrong direction. Maybe 3 years was too soon, but seeing what he did at Washington, can we really go back and question that?

That being said, the only plausible argument I can make is he brings in great players. But I'm sure another high-profile guy like Kelly would be able to do this too. His offensive playcalling skills are not even a calling card of him now. Look at the offense in the first half since the USC game:
USC: 7 points
BC: 13
WSU: 30
Navy: 0
Pitt: 3

Aside from WSU--which can pretty much be discredited due to the fact that they are terrible--the offense has not existed in the first half. After the Pitt game he admitted they were being 'conservative,' since thats what they normally do on the road, and that they felt they were in good position being down 10-3. First, it appears they were being 'conservative' in the first half a lot longer then just this past weekend. Second, why would you do that? You have arguably the best QB and 2 of the best receivers in America, and you're being conservative? Is that what ND has come to, that we play not to lose in the first half, that we are happy only being down 7 at half? That to me is just unacceptable. This team still has no killer instinct, it hasn't really ever had one under Weis. Yeah the man brings in great players, but what good is that if they are always playing down to the talent level of the opponent? Bottom line is we were supposed to win 10 games this year and go to the BCS. Now we will be lucky to win 7. It's time for him to go, time to get a coach who will install passion, fire into this program.

I wish I were on the inside looking out and I would tell everyone on here if CW will survive. But, I am like you I am on the outside looking in.

I am trying to be fair. The ND problems with being mediocre didn't start with CW. All three of the HC since Lou have the same winning % .583 that is what 7-5 and all have had losing seasons and all contributed to the record 8 straight bowl losses.

But, I try to remember the Nebraska story with Tom Osbourne who did not win a Nat'l Title until his 19th or 20th season. They had 7 straight losing bowl games and loss four by 20 or more points. Almost all of Nebraska Nation wanted to get rid of him eventhough they rarely loss more than three games. Experts said they didn't and couldn't recruit speed at Nebraska.

Well, they broke that streak and won 3 out of next four Nat'l Championships and their record(at the time) 7th consecutive bowl loss was to Florida State (93 season)18-16 when they missed a FG as time expired. If they would have won that game they would have won 4 out of 5 Nat'l Titles.

Keith, the problem with your argument is, if it is valid, that means Weis is not a good recruiter. It's one or the other, good recruiter, not so good results, not so good recruiter, getting what he can out of not so good recruits.

TLNDMA:

Disagree with you. You can be a good recruiter and have a class that doesn't pan out -- just ask Pete Carroll. Things aren't as black and white as you're making them when it comes to recruiting, because when you're projecting talent, you just can't be certain.

Evan,
Totally agree. I blame 07 and 08 seasons mostly on Ty's poor recruiting. Charlie had nothing but frosh and sophomores to play. It has taken this long for these players to mature, and i am willing to risk one more season to let Charlie turn this around. One more try, and if not, then fine, its goodbye, Charlie.

1. when charlie took the notre dame job, notre dame's recruiting network was dead.
2. in addition, for very good reasons, recruits and their families did not trust notre dame's football program because of the egregious manner in which certain people at notre dame dealt with the tyrone matter.
3. charlie and his staff hit the recruiting trails very hard all over the us, visiting high schools that had not had a visit from anyone connected with notre dame for over 10 years. recruits commit to coaches and their staffs and not to schools, even notre dame, if the coaching situations are not stable.
4. in addition to all of the distrust about coaching stability, when charlie and his staff hot the recruiting trails very hard in 2006 and 2007( rember that charlie had vitually zero involvement in 2005 recruiting, charlie and his staff found poison directed at notre dame, in the form of fraudulent information planted on the recruiting trails by pete carroll and other dishonest coaches competing with notre dame for recruits, along with the usual media shill bashings.
5. well, charlie and his staff, despite these huge obstacles, have recreated notre dame's recruiting network and made it stronger than ever, briniging in the nation's no 1 recruiting class in 2008, sophomores this year, every one of them extremely talented real student athletes who meet notre dame's very high academic and character standards.
6. however, each season that charlie has been at notre dame, certain media shills led by eric hansen and his associates at the south bend tribune have intentionally planted fraudulent information about charlie and his staff and notre dame's student athletes and fans in the south bend tribune(wire fraud for civil rico purposes).
7.their specific intents have been to drive recruits away from notre dame and every year, they have succeeded in driving certain key recruits away from notre dame who would have chosen notre dame but for that fraudulent information.
8. eric hansen and his media shill conspirators are now trying to do the same thing with notre dame's 2010 recruits and, to a certain extent, they have already done some real damage with their latest roung of bgarbage about the jobs of charlie and his staff being in danger.
9. anyone who wants to find out what notre dame's student athletes think of charlie and his staff need only go to und.com and watch and listen to the interviews with notre dame's student athletes.
10. while the admiration for charlie and his staff spans the entire notre dame team, focus carefully on the words of jimmy clausen and golden tate. if charlie were not at notre dame, they would not be at notre dame.
11. last season, jack swarbrick made a mistake(after all, jack was new to the ad job and did not understand the disasterous recruiting results of the delays)by not announging until the end of the season that charlie would be back and had the full support of notre dame and that notre dame had determined that the current officiating, rules enforcement, and rankings systems are hopelessly corrupt and that notre dame demands immediate changes.
12. the cost of that delay in the recruiting wars in 2009 was very high in 2009 and will be even higher in 2010 and in future seasons if jack has not learned his lesson which we are informed that jack now has, being an extremely intelligent man who really loves notre dame.
13. why do eric hansen and the other media shills intentionally put online and spread this fraudulent information every season? they get paid to do that by pete carroll and notre dame's enemies in the recruiting wars. ask eric hansen to produce financial records. we certainly will at his deposition and at the depositions of the other media shills who are the equivcalent of the stock brokers who continued to shill enron and mci worldcom shares even after they knew, or should have known, that the books were cooked. you will find that eric hansen and the other paid media shills( of course, there are many innocent members of the media who get conned by the fraudulent information put out every season by the hansenites).
14. you will find that the material possessions accumulated by the hansenites and their patterns of expenditures would be impossible without significant sources of income in addition to the salaries paid o them by the south bend tribune and the other outlets which are their employers on the surface.
15. since we do have an inside seat, but no votes, on the decision making process about charlie and his staff, we know that the decision of full support has already been made that they will bge staying at notre dame next season and for the forseeable future.
16. it is up to the people who have made that decision and jack swarbrick to put an end to that quaint notre dame custom of waiting until the end of every season to make the public announcement of that decision.
17. after all, recruits and their families and notre dame's current student athletes are simply not willing to wait around to make their decisions about notre dame.
18. there are no people on this planet better suited and more qualified to run notre dame's football program than charlie and his staff.
19. only when we eliminate and replace the current corrupt officiating, rules enforcement, and rankings systems in the civil courts. with extreme economic prejudice, before next season begins, will notre dame's fans and the nation begin to see on the field what magnificent jobs charlie and his staff and notre dame's student athletes have done and will always do.
20. given the levels of corruption in the systems this season, the paper won loss records and scores are completely meaningless.
21. notre dame's real student athletes are fine courageous young men who keep on fighting and never throw in the towel.
22. however, at a certain point, even if it is just at a subconscious level, they begin to wonder why jack swarbrick and notre dame have not made public their full support for charlie and his staff and notre ame's student athletes and their disgust with the current corrupt officiating, rules enforcement,and rankings systems.
GO IRISH!!!

Whoa, I know it's not black and white. If you and I both know that the recruiting ratings are not fact, but judgements, then it behooves a coach to recruit 'his guys'. My point is, you can't have it both ways, good recruits, no results. You have been the one, who has repeatedly mentioned Weis's recruiting as a reason to give him more time. Do you expect the arrow to switch and start pointing up next year. Do you really want to compare Petey Carroll's recruiting and results to Weis's? As much as I cringe and curl up into the fetal position when I think of SC's success, that comparison only tightens the noose on Charlie.

1. there are no nooses anywhere near charlie or his staff or any of notre dame's real student athletes who also play football.
2. now that the coverup scams which petey and mikey and the usc athletic program have been blown up by us in the civil courts in our big forced public disclosure win over the ncaa on 11/15/2009 and the many followups, there are many economic nooses closing very quickly around numerous parts of the anatomies of petey and mikey and the usc football program and the other predator coaches and schools around the us who have, year after year, fielded teams of full time football players with zero academic obligations who do not qualify as student athletes.
3. notre dame could have chosen to climb into the sewers and pile up phony paper wins just like usc and mikey and petey.
4. however, notre dame does not operate that way and never will.
5. there is no question that charlie and his staff are the perfect fits for notre dame, not only for next season, but for the forseeable future. those decisions have already been made by all the people who have that power, with only the public announcements to come sooner rather than later.
6.but for the current corrupt officiating, rules enforcement, and rankings systems, none of which will be around next season or in future seasons, the real current record of notre dame's 2009 team is 10-0, not 6-4.
7.the public announcements by notre dame will put the hansenites and other media shills out of business and charlie and his staff and notre dame's student athletes, who play a key role in recruiting, will be able to get those recruits who got conned into choosing football factory schools other than notre dame.
8. even allowing for the fact that notre dame's very high academic and character standards prevent notre dame from recruiting a very large percentage of the most athletically talented high school football players every season, charlie and his staff and notre dame's student athletes and what notre dame offers will get notre dame all of the talent that notre dame needs to be in the national title hunt every season.
9. anyone who considers what usc, florida, alabama, and the other football factories to be genuine successes and is expecting notre dame to crawl into those sewers needs to find another school to root for.
10. since pete carroll has been a serial cheater and con artist ever since he arrived at usc and took mikey's offer the cheat to win, pete carroll forfeited all rights to be compared to charlie and his staff and notre dame's real student athletes who have operated with integrity and honesty and as genuine student athletes playing by the rules, even though they are regularly cheated out of wins by crooked conference officials promoting the agendas of the conferences which hire and pay them to do those things.
11. except for the time frame that charlie and his staff already have been given at notre dame( with only the public annoucements to come), keith's analysis is very close to hitting bullseyes.
GO IRISH!!!

1. charlie and his staff and notre dame's student athletes who also play football have won yet another national championship in football.
2. according to the mosr recent graduation success rates released by the ncaa today. notre dame and duke are tied for no.1 at 96%, navy is no.3 at 93%( soon to take a very big hit when every navy player who was involved in the illegal cutblocking against notre dame players throughout that game knowing in advance, along with their head coach) that the officials would not call 90% of the penalties committed, gets kicked out of the naval academy without any diplomas(no, these were not the accidental cutblocks called against brady quinn and against notre dame diring the pitt game, but the type intended to cause serious injuries). northwestern is no. 4 at 92% and vanderbilt and boston college(also the benefiary of dishonest officiating at the 2009 notre dame/ boston college game even though notre dame did beat both boston college and the dishonest officials)are tied for no. 5 at 91%, with the so called football power elite rarely cracking the 50% level, even though these football factories regularly hand out diplomas based on courses with zero academic content or simply do not exist.
3. based on notre dame's evaluation systems, these achievements in the classroom in real academic courses and in the off the field personal lives of notre dame's student athletes who also play football, zero ncaa violations count much more than paper win loos records, especially when every single paper loss in 2009 was orchestrated by one or more dishonest conference officiating crews.
4. these are among the many reasons the reasons why the powers that make those decisions have correctly decided that charlie and his staff will be back for next season and for many seasons to come.
5. as jimmy clausen so succinctly put it in his press conference today, still avaliable at und.com by clicking on the football game site link" no member of notre dames 2009 team feels that this 2009 team is really a 6-4 team".
6. the current ncaa level so called sportmanship conduct rules(aka keero quiet about the crooked officiating or you will be banned from college football) prohibit charlie and his staff and notre dame's student athletes from saying very much about dishonest officiating.
7. however, jimmy said as much as he could without breaking those rules, which also will not be around next season.
GO IRISH!!!

1. moving on to the nfl perspective, quite a few notre dame student athletes who were coached and developed by charlie weis and his staff have ended up with very lucrative nfl contracts and a mumer have been playying in the nfl for a number of years, with only brady quinn not having any real opportunity to show what he can do since brady is currently stuck at nfl nightmare cleveland, although he will not be there for very much longer with seattle being his most likely destination, where he can join up with already very succesful notre dame te john carlson.
2. some notre dame student athletes coached or developed by charlie weis have received nfl contracts, but, because of injuries or for other reasons, are not currently on nfl rosters.
3. because they followed the advice of charlie and his staff, notre dame student athletes do not try to hold up nfl teams for the immense upfront signing bonuses which pete carroll encourages his usc full time athletes to do.
4. in the area of conning nfl teams into paying huge upfront bonuses to products of petey full time nfl prep program, no college coach has sold to nfl teams more total busts for more upfront money than petey and the usc football program. thep;roblems are the petey's usc full time football players can almost always look fantastic in college games, especially when they are playing teams full of real student athletes with real academic obligations.
5. well, when petey's full time usc football players show up in the nfl, where everyone plays football full time, with minor exceptions, these usc hotshots lose the advantages they had over opponents at the college level and become very expensive nfl busts, with their lack of character causing another set of very serious problems.
6. many nfl teams are starting to avoid procucts of petey's usc full time football program.
7. very few, if any. nfl teams have those problems with notre dame student athletes.
8. football players from the football factories, with minor exceptions, end up being bankrupted by dishonest agents and financial advisors since they lack the educations necessary to protect themslves, unlike notre dame student athletes in the nfl.
9. for those who pick the football factories and fail to make the nfl or who do not last very long,unlike every notre dame student athlete who gets one or more degrees in highly marketable academic fields, those victims of the football factories leave the schools and predator coaches that have victimized them with no degrees at all or with degrees in areas of study that provide zero marketable skills.
10. for anyone who meets notre dame's very high academic and character standars, the choice of notre dame is a real no brainer provided that they and their families se coaching stability at notre dame.
11. of course, notre dame student athletes will not start showing up in very large numbers in the nfl draft until charlie 2008, now sophomores, finish their 4 or 5 years at notre dame.
12. provided that notre dame does not sabotage charlie's 2010 recruting class, as did happen, to a significant extent, with notre dame's 2009 recruiting class because of jack swarbrick's very late public announcement of support for charlie and his staff, with immediate public announcements of support for charlie and his staff and notre dame's student athletes, along with demands that the current corrupt officiating, rules enforcement, and ranking systems be changed immediately, then the sky is the limit for notre dame football while charlie and his staff are at notre dame.
GO IRISH!!!

1. adding some additional background facts to keith's analysis of recruiting, when charlie arrived at notre dame, he found a few very talented players from prior recruiting classes and one fine recruiting class, the class of 2003(brady quinn, the shark, zibby et al), who were attracted to notre dame by a year of miracles in the 2002 season with which tyrone had something to do, but which was a player driven very good season sparked by certain notre dame student athletes,with the spiritual leader being cb shane walton.
2. the recruiting cycles for 2004 and 2005 contained a few high quality athletes, but not the depth and quality of talent at every position which is necessary to sustain a serious national title drive.
3. working with a very thin line of talent, so thin that a few key injuries could simply not be replaced
,charlie and his staff accomplished miracles in making 2 bcs games in a row in 2005 and 2006.
4.charlie and his staff hit the recruiting trails very hard in 2006 and 2007 and brought in some very fine student athletes. charlie and his staff never lie to recruits and to their families.
6. these student athletes, because of the lack of depth weregoing to be able to play early, but without the normal preparation which student athletes, especially linemen and qbs and cbs and safeties and lbs should be given when not surrounded by many other players with experience.
7. the results in 2007 were prettymuch written in stone for the 2007 season before charlie ever arrived at notre dame. davie had not seriously recruited because davie was just lazy. tyrone did not hit ther recruing trails vey hard because his fine 2003 recruiting class essentially arrived at his front door because of that miraculous 2002 season and because no one at notre dame had bothered to tell tyrone that lazy bob davie had let the notre dame recruiting network die on the vines.
8. not that charlie or his staff or any of notre dame's student athletes wanted the 2007 season to turn out the way that it did,but it did because of lack of experience and depth.
9. despite the disaterous year on the field in 2007, charlie and his staff had finally visited enough high schools all over the us that rust in notre dame football began tobe restored.
10 in the 2008 recruiting cycle, charlie and his staff pulled in the nation's no 1 recruiting class, now just sophomores, despite the constant barrage of garbage from the hansenites, butthe hansenites did drive away from notre dame a number of key recruits, including a ket dt.
11. really gettingin the running for national championships requires a number of top 5 recruiting classes in a row and filling every position of need with talent and depth and then experience comes together at every position at the same time.
12. former ad kevin white was a great help in holding together that 2008 recruiting class by giving many public statements throughout the 2007 season that charlie and his staff had notre dame's full confidence and support despite the record on the field and those statements of support pretty much neutralized the hansenite media shills.
13. during the 2009 recruiting cycle, notre dame ad jack swarbrick simply did not understand the key dynamics of recruiting and notre dame lost a number of key commits to other schools simply because recruits and their families detest coaching instability and becausethe long silence from jack convinced those recruits andtheir families that there really was somethinjg to the hansenite garbage.
14. recruiting for the 2010 cycle is crucial and notre dame can simply not afford to lose the key recruits to other schools, as notre dame did in the 2009 recriting cycle.
15. jack is simply going to have to move up his anouncement of full support for charlie and his staff for next season and for the forseeable future and abandon this one season at a time approach unlesshe wants to destroy notre dame recruiting year by year.
16. putting aside the fact that charlie and his staff are the perfect fit for notre dame are the facts that not one of the potential candidates mentioned for the notre dame head coaching job wants that the job and the garbage that goes along with it, including the vicious media attacks on themselves and their familiesand being shaftedby dishonest conferene officials every week as an independent. brian kelly of cincinnati,which plays in the big east and does get special favors from the big east officials which he would not get at notre dame. in sddition, each of the candidates has a family which they do not want to bev exposed tom the hasenite garbage which isconstantly thrown at charlie and hisstaff and their families by the hansenitemediashills
17. in addition, if charlie and his staff were toleave notre dame, jimmy clausenand others would jump to the nfl and notre dame would lose that trust, verbal commitswould decommit and notre dame would completely losethat trust which charlie and his staff and notre dame haverebuilt with so many years and hours of tireless work that noone else on thisplanet would ever do.
18. these are among the many reasons why te decision tokeep charlie and his staff have alresdy beenmade by the people with that power and whyjack swarbrick willhave to move up the publicannouncement.
GO IRISH!!!

Fact: Navy's recruits are athletically inferior to ND's recruits on both sides of the ball. (no one can argue this)
Fact: Navy has beaten ND 2 of last 3 with inferior athletes and inferior recruits.
Opinion: Charlie Weis CAN get recruits, but either can't develop them, can't win with them, or both. The latter is the result of the first. IMO, it's a coaching problem.

Terrible recruiting for D front seven first few years. Still not getting 5 star D- linemen like Fla. and Bama. Game plans are horrendous and half time adjustments missing. Coaching staff is mediocre at best. Need a new broom to sweep clean , that is if AD can get it right which has not happened since Holtz was hired.

Quit bloviating,no one is reading your dissertations, like watching paint dry.Save it for the classroom.

Listen I am a hugh ND fan and have been for many years. This year has not gone as planned. But for everyone to blame Charlie is nuts.First thing is Charlie is not on the field playing. Charlie didn;t fumble at the goal line or throw a pass of the recievers back that was intercepted at the 3 yr line. Charlie didn't miss 2 field goals. ND could witha little better defense and without some injuries could very well be un-defeated. They have been in every game and have fought hard each game.I beleive that is a good sign of how a coach is doing. These are kids for crying out loud they will make mistakes. Our defense has been a let down form last year. Mabye a new defensive coach or he needs 1 more year for the defense to get it right. I hope that ND brings Charlie back and Jimmy, Golden, Floyd and the rest come back because they have the weopons to make a huge run next year... Go Irish your sill #1 to me.

If Charlie Weis is the greatest thing since sliced bread, why has Notre Dame lost to Navy 2 of the past 3 years? ND has better players, right?

In 2007 Delaware beat Navy and Temple beat Navy this year. Do Delaware and Temple recruit better than ND too? It looks a lot like coaching to me.

Evan,

You are watching a different ND team than I. The offense is pathetic. The only reason it does anything at all is because it has All American quality players in some of the skill positions. Even then they don't produce until late in games. Remember the 5 field goals in the Washington, or Washington St. game? That was all, I repeat all play selection.

He has absolutely no skill seeing potential in any position, other than QB. The team plays flat. Worst of all, they are usually not prepared and there are never adjustments made during the game, or at halftime. You might not remember Dave Casper, but he was one of the best TE's ever to play for ND. In his Soph year he was a guard, Junior year as a tackle. During the year he moved to TE and stayed there until he graduated. When have you ever seen Weis do that?

ND fans have made a lot of excuses over the past several years for losing. High academic standards, the weather are just two. BULL to that. ND has the best "farm system" and recruiting network in the country. Every kid playing football for a St. this, or Holy that had ND fed to them every day. Take a look at the roster. ND is a great school to attend for many reasons. What it is not at this point, and hasn't been since Holtz left, is a hot bed for NFL ready players. It used to be. Why. Fundamentals, discipline, and playing with intensity are all lacking. Look at Lou's and Ara's teams. They had all these qualities in spades. And they won.

Can Charlie the Tuna

And one more thing, this is directed and ND, its AD and Head Coach.

I have been a fan (maybe the best there is) since the late 50's when my cousin was a student there and would bring my ND sweatshirts. I have loved and admired the school and football program for the honor they demonstrated and their willingness to do the right thing, regardless. The AD and school leaders have dropped the ball big time on making fair and timely decisions regarding the program. The only time they did act quickly was with Ty, and while I'm sure it was the right decision in the long run, to was not fair, nor was it handled well. Weis should have been fired last year, and failing that, should be notified now that his tenure is over. They, unfortunately, couldn't make a decision if their lives depended on it. It's a shame that they don't realize that a fair number of the players on the team had aspirations of playing in the NFL (if they had 5 or 6 guys drafted each year that would be 20 to 24 guy playing for ND right now), and when you consider that only 1 or two from last years team did get drafted, then 15 to 20 guys have put their faith in the ND football program and have been let down. That is a life altering betrayal. AD wake up!!!

As for Weis, he is disgusting. If he is an alum who truly loved the school, he would resign and take his millions already earned and walk away. Not him though. He will hold on as long as he can. In the meantime the players are given the short end of the stick and the fans are frustrated.

Charlie, do the right thing, and if you can't figure out what that is, ask, there are plenty of people out there who would gladly tell you.

Got to go take a blood pressure pill!!!

Does robertg ever sleep? Amazing amount of information in the stream. Nice to see unconditional love and what seems a firm grasp of many issues around college football. It seeems that Notre Dame's greatest rivals for recruits are USC, Alabama, and a few other places that truely recruit nationally. Places like LSU, UT, BYU, and a few other recruit locally and if they lose a few quality recruits to the national recruiters, so what, there is still a lot of talent. ND seems to have done an overall good job of recruiting over the past few years, but as some have pointed out, prospect does not directly translate to a high performing college player. I think that Weis needs to stay and work through this cycle until the pipeline bears fruit. It really doesn't hurt anything but a little bragging rights to let the man push along his program. I'm no huge ND fan but I always know that they put out good teams with real student athletes and I don't remember reading a lot of negative stuff about them. That's what's important. Just about college coach can build a winner, just ask old Switzer. It's just hard to do it and do it right.

The problem with canning Weis is finding someone to replace him. Weis was a fallback hire and I always thought Weis must not be good head coaching material since hot NFL OCs (he gets alot of credit for Tom Brady) usually get a bite for head coaching jobs and Weis was never in the mix in the NFL. The big reputation he has helped recruiting, but if recruiting was all it took Ron Zook would be wining titles.

Weis has had 5 years and he's ok, but not great and nver will be.

If you want to retain CW recruits but get rid of him, give him his walking papers the morning after National Signing Day.

Dennis and Ryan-S, you both make good points about Willingham / Weis. Thanks for taking the time. And Ryan, I'd have to say I agree with the vast majority of what you wrote about ND's offense and mindset (what kind of nonsense is it to think being DOWN seven points on the road is "a good position?" What ever happened to "play like a Champion?" THIS is what gets you down 20 points in the 4th quarter, folks!)

But to both of you, as to the Ty-was-terrible thing, let's look at it in more detail. Year 1, Weis comes in, he has Ty's juniors and seniors. Goes 9-3. Year 2, with Ty's seniors, goes 10-3. Year 3, he has Ty's underclassmen, goes 3-9. But didn't he evaluate their talent in the prior two years? If HE thought they sucked, shouldn't he have found someone else? Matt Barkley is a true freshman playing at QB for USC. And you have a pretty decent frosh at LB at ND.

Don't tell me you can't find any good players in TWO full years. Well, you can tell me that YOU can't; neither can I, but Weis should be able to; it's part of his job description, right? I'd have to say that if Weis really thought he didn't have good enough talent, he should have been developing people all along for the day when Brady left for the Browns.

But that brings us back to one of Weis's biggest problems; he cannot develop the talent he recruits, and he cannot motivate his players. They underperform their (reputed) ability. And being content with being down 10-3 is a pretty good answer as to why.

Oh, and robertg, WOW. Them's a lot of words. What ever happened to that nonsense you wrote about how you and your associates were devoting all your efforts full time to bringing down the crooked college sports system? More hot air, it seems. I'll give you credit for one thing. You really never quit. Weis is always rattling on, after a loss, about how his players didn't quit. So you should be proud. You're just what Weis wants. A guy who doesn't win, but boy does he keep losing!

D.Jones did not walk out on ND Charlie walked on him. Found out he would not start after a teammate heard it at Charlie's Tuesday press conference leading into the Michigan game. Tell it right Mr. Arnold.

1.fact, navy recruits fine student athletes whose names never get in the recruiting rankings because none of them bother to send any information to any of the rankings services.
2. fact, navy and its coaches and student athletes knowing and willfully cheated to get those 2 phony wins over notre dame by using illegal chop blocks, knowing in advance that dishonest officiating crews would not call 90% of those penalties and intending to injure notre dame student athletes and succeeding in a number of cases.
3. fact, the naval academy will forfeit both of those phony wins and the navy coaches involved will be fired and the navy student athletes will be dismissed from the naval academy with no degrees and no futures.
4.fact, did anyone connected with the naval academy pay off the dishonest officials at these game? no.
5.fact, those payments were made by persons and entities affilated with crooked college sports enterprises who correctly view notre dame, charlie weis and his staff and notre dame's real student athletes and us as the last real threats to their control of college football and college sports.
6 fact, will there be any persons or entities involved with crooked college sports enterprises back next season or in future season? no. the enron and mci worldom con artists also thought that they were untouchable and that they could run thos con operations.
7. facts and matters of public record in the courts and online for a fee at pacer.com- our civil rico complaints and all other pleadings, court orders, and judgments in those cases, with the exception of the many out of court settlements with those who wisely chose to fess up, provide evidence and tell the truth and settle out of court not being matters of public record, except for the amounts paid to settle.
8.fact, we have more evidence and requests for out of court settlements pouring in every single day, including some from navy student athletes.
9.fact, these are the same patterns that we saw in the enron and mci worldcom civil rico cases.
10. fact, there are a number of persons and entities whose actions have been so outrageous that we will not settle with them out of court for any amounts whatsover.
11. fact, every one of these persons and entities are heaedc for very public civil rico jury trials all over the us.
12. fact, i personnally will not be a plaintiff or attorney at any of those civil rico jury trials.
13.fact, any dishonest officials who dare to engage in dishonest officiating at the notre dame/uconn or notre dame stanford game will be added to our list of people with whom we will not settle out of court under any circumstances.
14.fact, after being robbed of 4 wins already this season by dishonest officiating crews and been the targets of deliberate attempts to inflict severe injuries on them(as just one of very many examples, jimmy clausen's turf toe injury was intentionally inflicted by 2 michigan state players after the play was over and jimmy's knee was down, delany's dishonest big 10 officiating crew did not even call a penalty) by so many players on opposing teams, is it possible that some notre dame student athletes who also play football may, at some subconscous levels, have had part of their fighting irish spirits reduced? yes. after all, they are fine and courageous notre dame student athletes. however, they are still human beings and very young human beings who have grown very tired of jack swarbrick's delays in making public the decisions which have already been made of notre dame's complete support for charlie and his staff and for notre dame's student athletes and notre dame's outrage at the current corrupt officiating, rules enforcement, and rankings systems and demands for immediate change.
15.fact, jack swarbrick is a fine intelligent man who really loves notre dame. however, in the areas of college football recruiting and dishonest officiating, jack is a green rookie, although we are informed that he is currently getting crash courses in those areas by the people at notre dame who have already made the required decisions.
GO IRISH!!!

1.fact, putting every person and entity involved in crooked college sports enterprises out of business does have our full attentions.
2.fact,protecting those fine and honest persons and entities still involved in college football and college sports is an integral part of that process.after all, in the case of college football and college sports, as was not the case with enron and mci worldcom, rebuilding after destroying is essential to this project.
3.fact, out hot air became so hot for ken lay of enron that ken lay ended up committing suicide.
4.fact,we are adamantly opposed to paying the room and board of anyone in any federal prison and to suicides.
5.fact, we strip con artists of their material possesions with our public civil rico jury trials, after allowing time for the settlement processes, and we then enjoy observing them trying to make honest livings.
5. fact, some people actually learn their lessons and become valuable members of society.
6. fact. some others never do.
GO IRISH!!!

1.our relatives in ireland got robbed of a win over france in what the rest of the world calls football, but which we call soccer, a win which should have sent ireland on to the next round of the world cup.
2. the illegal goal awarded to france at the end of the game was scored after a french player, not the goalkeeper, touched the bal 2 times with his hands.
3. articles and videos have shown up all over the internet, including at cnn and bbc and at many irish media sites.
4. just as the dishonest officiating during notre dame's 2009 football games is obvious to anyone who has read the rules and had experts break down the game films, as we have, the hand assisted goal by a french player is just as obvious.
5. the reaction of the irish government has been publicly to demand a rematch at the very least from fifa, the world soccer equivalent of the ncaa and the conferences and the bcs.
6. the initial reaction of fifa has ben no way. however, soccer fans in ireland and in france and all over the world are simply not accepting fifa reaction or the operation of fifa in its current format.
7. we have given our relatives in ireland and in france some technical assistance, both in the use of our zoom in and other features in equipment that our experts use to break down game films and in the form of the tiny high tech cameras and sensors which we have developed and tested to bring offiating into the 21st century and to elimate the role of dishonest and imperfect human officials.
8. in the legal arena, our relatives in ireland and around the world, in nations in which soccer is the big sport, will make certain that the corrupt officiating, rules enforcement, and other fifa scams are simply not around next year and the very person and entity involved in the fifa con operations gets the econmic punishment in the courts that they deserve.
9. as irish minister of jutice put it, with millions of people, including young people all over the world watching this atrocity, the lesson so far deliverd by fifa is "You can cheat if the officials do not call the cheating".
10. just as the integrity of college football and college sports are at issue in the united states, the integrity of soccer is at issue worldwide.
11. like us with the current corupt officiating, rules enforcement, and rankings systems run the by confrence, the ncaa, the bcs, and certain schools that cheat, our relatives and friends in ireland and around the world where soccer is king are not going to let this issue be buried by some con artists at fifa.
12. the presence of the internet and high tech systems has given the con artists who have profited for decades from crooked sports enterprises nowhere to hide and nowhere to run, along with zero economic futures.
13. we have passed this information along to jach swarbrick at notre dame through people that he speaks with every day that he should make the required public announcement immediately before the lives of more young recruits are ruined by his delays, as they were in the 2009 recruiting cycle.
GO IRISH!!!

I don't know how many people read the rantings of Robertg. But, it needs to be known that in the infancy of the popularity of college football in the 1920's. When Rockne grew and cultivated the legend and mythology of Notre Dame football not only did many college players also play professional football on Sunday under different names but game officials were selected by the home team and the officials were often sportwriters from your influential newspapers.

randolph,
1.the vast majority of the rest of us are now living in the high tech 21st century, in which the worldwide internet and high tech make it impossible for the cheaters to hide or to continue to run their con operations.
2. if you think that your information about the rockne era is something that real judges at real jury trials are going to find relevant to 21st century crooked sports enterprises, then you are welcome to come to those public trials and attempt to get yourself on the witness stands.we will be posting information about the dates and locations right here at nd central.
3. if you are just determined to be ignorant, then so be it.
4. if you are trying to protect the operations of crooked sports enterprtises, then we will probably see you in the civil courts as a defendant.
5. judges and juries in the enron and mci worldcom civil rico cases have already dealt with your rantings defense with a lot of laughter. if you bother to check the public records online, you will find out what happened in the civil courts to the con artists who used to run the enron and mci worldcom con operations. if you refuse to look at the references which we provide, we certainly cannot force you to do so.
6. we post the information that we do to give honest people opportunities to check out the facts for themselves and many have, including quite a few people connected with crooked college sports enterprises who have fessed up, told the truth, and settled out of court, the same processes which occurred before we filed and served our very serious civil rico complaints on those who thought that they were untouchable.
7. if you are determined to live in the rockne era, then we hope that you are happy there.
8. if you are trying to bring back the bad aspects of the rockne era. give it your best shot.
GO IRISH!!!

1. per the article of ap reporter teresa m. walker"Memphis won't release NCAA vacated win response" which currently appears on the right side of the yahoo sports college football section online. 2.after complying with every prior ap request for documents under the tennessee open records laws, memphis refused to release the ncaa reply to its 45 page appeal brief which was already released claiming that memphis had only a read only online copy of that ncaa document, the very same position on which we defeated the ncaa in the florida courts, along with the ap and masny other allies.
3. apparently, the ncaa wants to test the court waters again and lose.
4. we will be happy to oblige them whenever and wherever they and their allies try their coverups.
5. obviously, these documents and the court documents that follow are available from the ap, although the ap may charge a fee for the copies.
GO IRISH!!!

robertg: i don't know what conspiracy theorists' stone you turned, but boy do you have a lot of hate for college football. how can you have all these coverup theories (my personal favorite is eric hansen of the south bend tribune being on pete carroll's payroll)? you obviously have lots of time on your hands to do all this research. I will tell you, though, that I grew up in south bend, attended ND in the 70's, still live in south bend and have been an Irish fan my entire life. To ease your conspiracy fears, I will attempt to tell you the problems with the football program are only of ND's own volition. It was their change from the 5 academic exception rule during Lou's tenure (as a response to the
Randy Moss fiasco) that put them in the recruiting 'excuse' all coaches, including Lou, have used until Charlie. Also, in all the years I can remember, NEVER has the SB Tribune ever SUGGESTED ND to dismiss the coach (including Mr. Hansen....he has only asked what the status is)....UNTIL now, that is. In this week's paper, a fellow Tribune columnist said ND MUST make the change now. I'm sure you will find this columnist's name to be on Pete's payroll.
Trying to be fair to all parties involved, I, as a life-long Irish
fan, believe while CW has opened the eyes of ND's board (re: early
enrollment) and has improved dramatically ND's presence in the recruiting environment, the bottom line is he has NOT coached his players up to their abilities, save for a select few (all on the offense, primarily the skilled players...Quinn, Claussen, Tate, Floyd, etc) and it has taken him 3 years to get them where they are now, unlike GOOD college coaches who get them skilled almost immediately. Finally, my question to you, robertg, is are you a big fan of the movie 'Conspiracy Theory'?

robertg - can you help clear up the Kennedy assassination for me?

Robertg: I am just a simple man who believes when you get beat you just shake the other man's hand and say good game.

AS A STUDENT AT ND IN 1950 AND A ND FOOTBALL FAN SINCE, I HAVE SEEN UPS AND DOWNS. I HAVE ASKED THE QUESTION MANY TIMES BEFORE SHOULD ND LOWER THEIR STANDARDS LIKE MIAMI-FLORIDA-LSU ETC ?? I SAY NO. WHY DO YOU THINK U.M. CHOOSE FLORIDA INSTEAD OF ND (I WOULD NEVER ASK/WANT HIM AGAIN IF I WAS ND AD). YOU HAVE YOUNG MEN, WHO SEE FOOTBALL AS A WAY OUT, THE HELL WITH AN EDUCATION, WHEN YOU GO TO THE NFL YOU CAN BUY A DEGREE. WHAT IS THEIR GRAD RATE?? FLORIDA AND THE LIKES HAVE TWO GAMES A YEAR EXCLUDING THE PLAYOFFS, YET THEY ARE THE BEST ACCORDING TO THE WRITERS, WHO INCIDENTALLY ARE MAINLY FROM THE SOUTH. I DO NOT LIKE WEISS AS A COACH, BUT I THINK ND SHOULD STICK WITH HIM FOR A YEAR OR TWO. LOOK AT PITT THEY HIRED "W" AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME ND HIRED WEISS AND HE KICKED OUR ASS. OUR DEFENSE STINKS AND WE ARE SUPPOSED TO HAVE A GREAT DEFENSIVE COACH, SO WHAT'S THE PROBLEM. IT IS ALL IN THE SCHEDULE AND THE COACHING. THE AD SHOULD KICK THE COACHES COLLECTIVE ASSES AND GET A WEAKER SCHEDULE. KEEP TWO TOUGH TEAMS LIKE USC & SOMEONE ELSE ADD TWO AA SCHOOLS AND THEN FINISH THE SCHEDULE OFF WITH EIGHT LESSER TEAMS FROM ALL AROUND THE US (BALANCE).

Keith:
I told you that you were feeding right into robertg's psychosis with your recent article touching upon questionable officiating. I count 117 numbered paragraphs above by robertg. He's probably adding more as I type this. I have the mental picture of a real Rupert Pupkin scenario with robertg occasionally yelling "Shut up, Ma," in between rapid fire bursts of keyboard play. Tragic.
I also have a theory that you are coming on to this site under the pseudonym StephenofTroy in order to push all the domers buttons, thereby increasing the posts following your articles. Come to think of it, nobody has ever seen you and StephenofTroy together, right? Also, he is praising your journalistic skill so that's the dead giveaway that it must be you.

Art, come on! You ND fans and your conspiracy theories. I am not Keith Arnold. He is not me. (Elaine to Peterman: "I'M Susie! She's ME!" Peterman to Elaine: "I feel the SAME way!")

I praised Mr. Arnold's skills, but not in an over-the-top way. And think about it, if I was really Keith Arnold, I wouldn't be quite so sarcastic in returning the insults I receive, nor would I slam NBC and MSNBC the way I do. It would be biting the hand that feeds me, both as to readership and as to the company that pays my salary.

As it is, I'm just a USC alum named Stephen who likes the Trojans and the Irish.

But you get credit for the "Shut up, Ma" bit. It fits robertg perfectly. That man has even more free time than I do, and I'm a lazy, lazy, man, Art.

Art! How dare you, sir! Where to start...

First you skip last Saturday's live-blog and now you try and say I'm going all multiple personality, and of all people StephenOfTroy? Just because I live in the midst of Trojan Territory doesn't make me one of them. The best part of last Saturday was watching all the sad faces roll back into Manhattan Beach after the Trojans took 55 on the chin to Harbaugh and Co.

And Stephen -- am I really sarcastic toward NBC and MSNBC? I've tried to be on my best behavior this season, and with my skillset, I can't afford to be biting any hands that feed me, otherwise I'll be forced to join RobertG's RICO investigation as a non-paying intern. But thank you for the compliments. As for our famous commenter -- I don't think he's a "MA! Meatloaf!" type, I'm starting to think there's a mad genius in there.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

1. actually, i work longer hours than anyone else i know and more than most people who know me think is humanly possible.
2. posting on the internet is just a public service for real notre dame fans who have a real desire to learn about notre dame football and college football.
3. we have seen the shut up defense tried in the civil courts before as well. the response from the judges is always open your mouth again and i will hold you( the persons asserting the shut up defense, never us) in contempt of court.
4. only real evidence is admissible in the courts, not internet garbage personal attacks.
5. for any real notre dame fans who want to learn something about notre dame's student athletes and how much they love and respect charlie weis and his staff, check out the interviews posted at und.com and irish illustrated, notre dame's student athletes who have the option of leaving notre dame for the nfl next season will not be back at notre dame if charlie and his staff are not back at notre dame.very few, if any, of notre dame's current 2010 verbal commits will stick with notre dame if charlie and his staff are not back with full support from notre dame, with quite a few more sitting on the fence, but not willing to wait until after the stanford/notre dame game.
6.assistant coach brian polian,whose interview appears at irish illustrated recounts how much he and his wife and young children love the notre dame community and the notre dame student athletes, but detest the media vultures who are contantly harassing notre dame's head coach and assistant coaches and notre dame's student athletes who also play football.
7.if anyone detects an attitude that brian and the other assistant coaches and their families will all leave notre dame unless vultures like eric hansen and every media con artist like him are all banned from the notre dame campus, he would be absolutely correct.
8. eric hansen and his asociates will not be collecting those big bonuses that they have been promised if they drive charlie and his staff away from notre dame. eric hansen and his asociates will all be banned from the notre dame campus before next season.
9. for those whom we bother with our posts, we can only state that we are happy to bother such deserving people and will continue to do so.
10. the question is why do you keep coming back? none of you belong at notre dame central. none of you love notre dame or understand notre dame even if you graduated from notre dame.
GO IRISH!!!

1. fact, robertg is unable to use his CAPS key except for the last sentence.

2. fact, if i use the word fact to start a point it must really be a fact.

3. fact, robertg works more than is thought humanly possible. he counts typing in non-sensical statement as work in which case i agree he does more than i thought humanly possible

4. fact, robertg is the most entertaining thing here even if he is an obvious troll

John E. Orr, So the answer to our football program woes in your opinion is to play AA teams? This type of view shames us all, Notre Dame is already looked down upon by many becuase we are an independant, playing double A schools would be a disaster! What needs to happen is that the people that run the program need to take charge and advance the program.
The answer to these problems is instill an enviroment of accountability this needs to apply to all starting with the administration, the AD, the coaching staff and the players. When Charlie Weis was hired recruiting got better because the high school players wanted to play for a coach that had NFL success. We need to restore the entire program so that the high school players want to play football in a great program and get a top notch education. Playing double A teams would only cause the players to become more complacent and not improve. Great teams play up to and over top of their competition not down to it, as we have seen this year. If you are going to post here as a Notre Dame alumni and fan please make the suggestions good not crazy!
Look!, Stephen of Troy not written in all caps! (no offense intended)

Mr. Arnold, sorry, but I think we crossed wires somehow. My point was that I am more sarcastic and caustic about NBC / MSNBC than I would dare to be if I was in fact Keith Arnold. I wasn't implying or suggesting that you are sarcastic. And as to robertg, Mr. Arnold, I get the "mad" part, but "genius?" Hmmm. I don't know if you ever saw any episodes of Pinky and the Brain on Looney Tunes, but I submit that robertg is Pinky. He's no genius. He's wondering where we're going to get a duck and a hose at this hour. The only other thing I want to say is that if you live in Manhattan Beach, I'm jealous. I lived in Hermosa for a year during law school. You lucky stiff. You get a sweet job writing about football and you live in Manhattan Beach. You should have to live in South Bend and put up with freezing winters and being 90 miles away from a major airport.

bibs, I'm not sure I'd call what robertg does "working." It's a labor of love, to be sure, but to me it seems like revisionist history on a delusion-of-grandeur scale. ND didn't lose to Navy. Clausen got turf toe because Navy cheats. Everyone who beat the Irish will be shown to be dirty rotten cheating scoundrels. The failure to find evidence of the conspiracy is simply evidence in itself that the conspiracy is bigger than any of you nonbelievers would have dreamed. And so forth. I mean, the guy even has time to bring the Ireland vs. France World Cup qualifying match into his rant. (But to be fair, that WAS an obvious handball. I look on the bright side: this is another reason for me to knock the French, something I as an American [and an American who still rues the 8 am French classes I took in college] consider myself honor-bound to do.)

Oh, and NDFAN, all I can say is, "WELL DONE!" (smiles)

Oh, and NDFAN, I wanted to clarify that my compliments were not merely for the format of your comment, but also for the substance. I agree that "great teams play up to and over top of their competition." Diluting your schedule will only give your enemies more fuel to fan the fires against you.

The solution, as you suggest, is to commit to excellence, make everyone accountable, from the head coach on down, and re-build the program by emphasizing fundamentals like PUNTING, blocking, tackling, and playing each play with maximum effort. You must also emphasize that every player has a role, from 1 to 53, and that only if each player fulfills his role can the team succeed as it should. That's the only way to build a championship caliber team, in my view.

Great comment, NDFAN, please keep them coming.

Oh and robertg, please, please, for the love of God, all creatures great and small, don't ask questions like "why do you keep coming back" and don't say "none of you belong at notre dame central." My doctor says I'm already ingesting way more irony than he believes is healthy.

IndianaJoe (24 and 25): Great stuff! I wish I'd written it. I agree almost 100%. Not sure how I overlooked your comments. Must have been rubbing my eyes and trying to see straight after reading all that numbered nonsense from our resident conspiracy-theorist-in-chief.

Thanks for posting this. Would be intrested to read more or possibly please contact me by email thank you!

I would propose practising cognitive content commercializing, let me explain. You can get a video recording professionally created for about $47.00 97.00 (30-60 seconds) pointing your fantabulous desk drawer slide. You can even show how accessible it is to destruct your challengers and blast it around over 100 internet video sites for as little as $5.00 per site to be done manualy!You can get keyword inquiry done for you professionally, keying the keyword phrases that will get you a nice amount of search volum, yes with softer competing pages. Thank you for this article! I've just retrieved a absolutely good archive about panda marketing Effort it!

You made some Good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree.

We are a group of volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community. Your blog provided us valuable information to work on.You have done a marvellous job!

Wow……. This blog is amazing. It’s not only interesting but also enlightening. I have not come across such an interesting article for a long time. I m happy to know that good writers like you still exist. Congratulation on your amazing work.

I have been banking with NatWest for 26 years and have had a business account for 7. I also have accounts with Barclays and HSBC. Barclays, whilst they are not as competitive do offer a business credit or debit card on a Ltd co account. NatWest make you complete endless forms and provide your inside leg measurements just for the convenience of being able to bank in a modern way.