http://www.espn.com/college-football/sto...sentatives

Can't believe he'd even consider Purdue, though.

As for Oregon: Helfrich is gone for sure, but the Ducks shouldn't hire Brian Kelly. Remember what happened the last time a Pac team hired a coach that Notre Dame ran off?

(11-27-2016 12:16 AM)Wedge Wrote:  http://www.espn.com/college-football/sto...sentatives

Can't believe he'd even consider Purdue, though.

As for Oregon: Helfrich is gone for sure, but the Ducks shouldn't hire Brian Kelly. Remember what happened the last time a Pac team hired a coach that Notre Dame ran off?

I'm happy for the ACC and its stability that Notre Dame is affiliated with them, but the N.D. job isn't what it once was. Like all of the other schools they've lost the interest of the youngest adults. That's a bigger problem for them because their entire model has been predicated on a National Reputation and Exposure. There are so many schools that have that now that their advantage in that regard has significantly waned. Add to it the more overt rejection of things religious (not what I would endorse, but certainly a contemporary trend) and maintaining that national approach probably needs to be revisited. I think they could however attach their brand to a conference now and benefit from regional identity. We'll see if they have the self awareness to alter an institutional life long approach.

The longer they straddle the fence on conference identity the less significant they will become. And as a private, focused on academics, N.D. should make hay competing against the PR blunders of Penn State, Baylor, and North Carolina, and maybe they would if their present coach didn't have problems like the two physical assaults on defenseless players today.

IMO they would be wise to fully embrace New England and the Mid Atlantic fully. They will find it easier to recruit the region if they do. An 8 loss N.D. with player control issues isn't going to benefit the ACC for very long.

(11-27-2016 12:26 AM)JRsec Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 12:16 AM)Wedge Wrote:  http://www.espn.com/college-football/sto...sentatives

Can't believe he'd even consider Purdue, though.

As for Oregon: Helfrich is gone for sure, but the Ducks shouldn't hire Brian Kelly. Remember what happened the last time a Pac team hired a coach that Notre Dame ran off?

I'm happy for the ACC and its stability that Notre Dame is affiliated with them, but the N.D. job isn't what it once was. Like all of the other schools they've lost the interest of the youngest adults. That's a bigger problem for them because their entire model has been predicated on a National Reputation and Exposure. There are so many schools that have that now that their advantage in that regard has significantly waned. Add to it the more overt rejection of things religious (not what I would endorse, but certainly a contemporary trend) and maintaining that national approach probably needs to be revisited. I think they could however attach their brand to a conference now and benefit from regional identity. We'll see if they have the self awareness to alter an institutional life long approach.

The longer they straddle the fence on conference identity the less significant they will become. And as a private, focused on academics, N.D. should make hay competing against the PR blunders of Penn State, Baylor, and North Carolina, and maybe they would if their present coach didn't have problems like the two physical assaults on defenseless players today.

IMO they would be wise to fully embrace New England and the Mid Atlantic fully. They will find it easier to recruit the region if they do. An 8 loss N.D. with player control issues isn't going to benefit the ACC for very long.

I agree that they need to take a re-examine their strategy because I don't think it is possible for them to get back to the level they were in national popularity. Being the default team for Catholics only worked back in the era when few Catholic immigrants from certain countries were able to attend college.

I like to cite the anecdotal evidence of my own family. My dad's generation were first generation Polish Americans in central PA who for the most part were blue collar workers. They all rooted for ND, even over Penn State. My generation almost all went to college. The rooting interests are almost all tied to where each of us went, and the few who didn't go to college and remained in PA root for Penn State. There isn't an ND fan in my generation of the family.

(11-27-2016 12:38 AM)krup Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 12:26 AM)JRsec Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 12:16 AM)Wedge Wrote:  http://www.espn.com/college-football/sto...sentatives

Can't believe he'd even consider Purdue, though.

As for Oregon: Helfrich is gone for sure, but the Ducks shouldn't hire Brian Kelly. Remember what happened the last time a Pac team hired a coach that Notre Dame ran off?

I'm happy for the ACC and its stability that Notre Dame is affiliated with them, but the N.D. job isn't what it once was. Like all of the other schools they've lost the interest of the youngest adults. That's a bigger problem for them because their entire model has been predicated on a National Reputation and Exposure. There are so many schools that have that now that their advantage in that regard has significantly waned. Add to it the more overt rejection of things religious (not what I would endorse, but certainly a contemporary trend) and maintaining that national approach probably needs to be revisited. I think they could however attach their brand to a conference now and benefit from regional identity. We'll see if they have the self awareness to alter an institutional life long approach.

The longer they straddle the fence on conference identity the less significant they will become. And as a private, focused on academics, N.D. should make hay competing against the PR blunders of Penn State, Baylor, and North Carolina, and maybe they would if their present coach didn't have problems like the two physical assaults on defenseless players today.

IMO they would be wise to fully embrace New England and the Mid Atlantic fully. They will find it easier to recruit the region if they do. An 8 loss N.D. with player control issues isn't going to benefit the ACC for very long.

I agree that they need to take a re-examine their strategy because I don't think it is possible for them to get back to the level they were in national popularity. Being the default team for Catholics only worked back in the era when few Catholic immigrants from certain countries were able to attend college.

I like to cite the anecdotal evidence of my own family. My dad's generation were first generation Polish Americans in central PA who for the most part were blue collar workers. They all rooted for ND, even over Penn State. My generation almost all went to college. The rooting interests are almost all tied to where each of us went, and the few who didn't go to college and remained in PA root for Penn State. There isn't an ND fan in my generation of the family.

Yep and if the ACC had cracked before the Big 12 N.D. would be thinking the unthinkable right about now. With a U.N.C., Virginia, Syracuse, block possibly headed to the Big 10 and the future of lacrosse being played in the Big 10, there would only be one place that N.D. could meet its needs and it sure wouldn't be the SEC or Big 12 and the PAC would be too far.

We will probably wind up with a P4. But the one that will emerge will never have the balance that one constituted out of the ACC would have had. There isn't enough value of the Big 12 to be split between two conferences, let alone 3 or 4. We are going to wind up with a P4 with a strong SEC, a strong Big 10, and an improving but way behind ACC, followed by the PAC. I'm not so sure that bodes well for the future of the sport either. But, we'll see.

(11-27-2016 12:26 AM)JRsec Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 12:16 AM)Wedge Wrote:  http://www.espn.com/college-football/sto...sentatives

Can't believe he'd even consider Purdue, though.

As for Oregon: Helfrich is gone for sure, but the Ducks shouldn't hire Brian Kelly. Remember what happened the last time a Pac team hired a coach that Notre Dame ran off?

I'm happy for the ACC and its stability that Notre Dame is affiliated with them, but the N.D. job isn't what it once was. Like all of the other schools they've lost the interest of the youngest adults. That's a bigger problem for them because their entire model has been predicated on a National Reputation and Exposure. There are so many schools that have that now that their advantage in that regard has significantly waned. Add to it the more overt rejection of things religious (not what I would endorse, but certainly a contemporary trend) and maintaining that national approach probably needs to be revisited. I think they could however attach their brand to a conference now and benefit from regional identity. We'll see if they have the self awareness to alter an institutional life long approach.

The longer they straddle the fence on conference identity the less significant they will become. And as a private, focused on academics, N.D. should make hay competing against the PR blunders of Penn State, Baylor, and North Carolina, and maybe they would if their present coach didn't have problems like the two physical assaults on defenseless players today.

IMO they would be wise to fully embrace New England and the Mid Atlantic fully. They will find it easier to recruit the region if they do. An 8 loss N.D. with player control issues isn't going to benefit the ACC for very long.

Don't think conference affiliation has much to do with it. Just don't think their last 3 coaches have been great recruiters like you have to have there.

Someone like PJ Fleck would be a great fit. They can recruit nationally and he has the energy and personality to sell that program.

(11-27-2016 12:38 AM)krup Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 12:26 AM)JRsec Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 12:16 AM)Wedge Wrote:  http://www.espn.com/college-football/sto...sentatives

Can't believe he'd even consider Purdue, though.

As for Oregon: Helfrich is gone for sure, but the Ducks shouldn't hire Brian Kelly. Remember what happened the last time a Pac team hired a coach that Notre Dame ran off?

I'm happy for the ACC and its stability that Notre Dame is affiliated with them, but the N.D. job isn't what it once was. Like all of the other schools they've lost the interest of the youngest adults. That's a bigger problem for them because their entire model has been predicated on a National Reputation and Exposure. There are so many schools that have that now that their advantage in that regard has significantly waned. Add to it the more overt rejection of things religious (not what I would endorse, but certainly a contemporary trend) and maintaining that national approach probably needs to be revisited. I think they could however attach their brand to a conference now and benefit from regional identity. We'll see if they have the self awareness to alter an institutional life long approach.

The longer they straddle the fence on conference identity the less significant they will become. And as a private, focused on academics, N.D. should make hay competing against the PR blunders of Penn State, Baylor, and North Carolina, and maybe they would if their present coach didn't have problems like the two physical assaults on defenseless players today.

IMO they would be wise to fully embrace New England and the Mid Atlantic fully. They will find it easier to recruit the region if they do. An 8 loss N.D. with player control issues isn't going to benefit the ACC for very long.

I agree that they need to take a re-examine their strategy because I don't think it is possible for them to get back to the level they were in national popularity. Being the default team for Catholics only worked back in the era when few Catholic immigrants from certain countries were able to attend college.

I like to cite the anecdotal evidence of my own family. My dad's generation were first generation Polish Americans in central PA who for the most part were blue collar workers. They all rooted for ND, even over Penn State. My generation almost all went to college. The rooting interests are almost all tied to where each of us went, and the few who didn't go to college and remained in PA root for Penn State. There isn't an ND fan in my generation of the family.

My large, multigenerational extended family is the exact opposite of yours, though. There are lots and lots of families like mine.

I think that everyone overrates the issues at ND. If this young team (only returned 5 starters, played all true freshman in the secondary) wins 9-10 games next year, nobody will be talking about this.

Nobody was talking about it when ND was 12-0 on this date in 2012 or 10-2 at this time last year. 53-55 weeks ago, the issue was whether ND was going to make the playoffs over a conference team or if indy status was a possible impediment to an ND playoff team.

ND was a bad team this year, but blew leads of 14-0 over Duke, 10-0 over Stanford, 17-0 over Virginia Tech, etc.... ND's margin of loss was 8 points for the season until yesterday. They ain't that far away.

Regional appeal simply will not work for ND. Aren't there state schools in New England and the Mid-Atlantic?

How many top flight regional recruits are in that area? How many would ND get?

I doubt regional recruiting in that area would ever be lucrative enough for ND or even nearly as good as its current national recruiting efforts.. not even close.

Just my take though.

What Notre Dame accomplishes is more impressive once one understands they implement stricter academic regulations than the NCAA requires. So ND can't admit athletes that can be admitted into Michigan and Ohio State. Last time I checked, only Stanford has a stricter academic profile than ND as far as athletes are concerned.

Insert UNC jokes because you're a creative person.

As far as Kelly is concerned, I could see him having a lot of success at Oregon, it isn't fair to compare him to Willingham. Willingham's career still puzzles me. What did the guy get two years at ND? Ridiculous. Weis was successful with all his recruits. I'd like to see ND get a defensive minded coach and a creative OC.

(11-27-2016 11:34 AM)TerryD Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 12:38 AM)krup Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 12:26 AM)JRsec Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 12:16 AM)Wedge Wrote:  http://www.espn.com/college-football/sto...sentatives

Can't believe he'd even consider Purdue, though.

As for Oregon: Helfrich is gone for sure, but the Ducks shouldn't hire Brian Kelly. Remember what happened the last time a Pac team hired a coach that Notre Dame ran off?

I'm happy for the ACC and its stability that Notre Dame is affiliated with them, but the N.D. job isn't what it once was. Like all of the other schools they've lost the interest of the youngest adults. That's a bigger problem for them because their entire model has been predicated on a National Reputation and Exposure. There are so many schools that have that now that their advantage in that regard has significantly waned. Add to it the more overt rejection of things religious (not what I would endorse, but certainly a contemporary trend) and maintaining that national approach probably needs to be revisited. I think they could however attach their brand to a conference now and benefit from regional identity. We'll see if they have the self awareness to alter an institutional life long approach.

The longer they straddle the fence on conference identity the less significant they will become. And as a private, focused on academics, N.D. should make hay competing against the PR blunders of Penn State, Baylor, and North Carolina, and maybe they would if their present coach didn't have problems like the two physical assaults on defenseless players today.

IMO they would be wise to fully embrace New England and the Mid Atlantic fully. They will find it easier to recruit the region if they do. An 8 loss N.D. with player control issues isn't going to benefit the ACC for very long.

I agree that they need to take a re-examine their strategy because I don't think it is possible for them to get back to the level they were in national popularity. Being the default team for Catholics only worked back in the era when few Catholic immigrants from certain countries were able to attend college.

I like to cite the anecdotal evidence of my own family. My dad's generation were first generation Polish Americans in central PA who for the most part were blue collar workers. They all rooted for ND, even over Penn State. My generation almost all went to college. The rooting interests are almost all tied to where each of us went, and the few who didn't go to college and remained in PA root for Penn State. There isn't an ND fan in my generation of the family.

My large, multigenerational extended family is the exact opposite of yours, though. There are lots and lots of families like mine.

How so? Is your family now on its 2nd or 3rd generation in the US and still retaining the level of ND fandom even though younger members are actually attending other universities with FBS football? Or, was there no interest in ND in your parents/grandparents generation and the younger members are completely new ND fans even though they attended other schools?

(11-27-2016 11:48 AM)esayem Wrote:  What Notre Dame accomplishes is more impressive once one understands they implement stricter academic regulations than the NCAA requires. So ND can't admit athletes that can be admitted into Michigan and Ohio State. Last time I checked, only Stanford has a stricter academic profile than ND as far as athletes are concerned.

Insert UNC jokes because you're a creative person.

As far as Kelly is concerned, I could see him having a lot of success at Oregon, it isn't fair to compare him to Willingham. Willingham's career still puzzles me. What did the guy get two years at ND? Ridiculous. Weis was successful with all his recruits. I'd like to see ND get a defensive minded coach and a creative OC.

I think this would be the bigger impediment to ND than not having a conference affiliation.

A good defense minded coach is now available, Strong. I know he wasn't widely successful at Texas but you could argue that he wasn't given enough time to develop his recruits & turn the program around. He's a man of high character & who is a father figure to his players. Give him a good OC & he could be successful at ND.

(11-27-2016 12:25 PM)Lenvillecards Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 11:48 AM)esayem Wrote:  What Notre Dame accomplishes is more impressive once one understands they implement stricter academic regulations than the NCAA requires. So ND can't admit athletes that can be admitted into Michigan and Ohio State. Last time I checked, only Stanford has a stricter academic profile than ND as far as athletes are concerned.

Insert UNC jokes because you're a creative person.

As far as Kelly is concerned, I could see him having a lot of success at Oregon, it isn't fair to compare him to Willingham. Willingham's career still puzzles me. What did the guy get two years at ND? Ridiculous. Weis was successful with all his recruits. I'd like to see ND get a defensive minded coach and a creative OC.

I think this would be the bigger impediment to ND than not having a conference affiliation.

A good defense minded coach is now available, Strong. I know he wasn't widely successful at Texas but you could argue that he wasn't given enough time to develop his recruits & turn the program around. He's a man of high character & who is a father figure to his players. Give him a good OC & he could be successful at ND.

I really like Charlie Strong and I believe he will land on his feet. He was a DL coach for Bob Davie, I just can't see ND hiring a coach that was just fired. If Morris leaves SMU, I could see that as a nice landing spot. Just don't take a dead end job like Purdue unless you're going to throw the ball 60 times a game.

IMO Notre Dame needs to go back to being a straight Indy.

The deal with playing that many ACC schools every year will eventually make them look like a middling ACC school. If you think losing to Duke is bad, wait until you lose to Wake Forest.

But...but...but...but... Notre Dame is Kelly's dream job.

Karma.

(11-27-2016 11:48 AM)esayem Wrote:  What Notre Dame accomplishes is more impressive once one understands they implement stricter academic regulations than the NCAA requires. So ND can't admit athletes that can be admitted into Michigan and Ohio State. Last time I checked, only Stanford has a stricter academic profile than ND as far as athletes are concerned.

Insert UNC jokes because you're a creative person.

As far as Kelly is concerned, I could see him having a lot of success at Oregon, it isn't fair to compare him to Willingham. Willingham's career still puzzles me. What did the guy get two years at ND? Ridiculous. Weis was successful with all his recruits. I'd like to see ND get a defensive minded coach and a creative OC.

He got three years at ND, the same number of years he got afterwards at Washington. No difference.

He destroyed both programs. He was a lazy recruiter, played golf more often than worked hard and was justifiably canned at both schools.

He had some of the worst recruiting classes at ND on record. He then went 0-12 at Washington in his final season there. He was simply a lazy and lousy football coach.

Ask yourself why no other school ever offered him a job, any job, since then........

(11-27-2016 12:04 PM)krup Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 11:34 AM)TerryD Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 12:38 AM)krup Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 12:26 AM)JRsec Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 12:16 AM)Wedge Wrote:  http://www.espn.com/college-football/sto...sentatives

Can't believe he'd even consider Purdue, though.

As for Oregon: Helfrich is gone for sure, but the Ducks shouldn't hire Brian Kelly. Remember what happened the last time a Pac team hired a coach that Notre Dame ran off?

I'm happy for the ACC and its stability that Notre Dame is affiliated with them, but the N.D. job isn't what it once was. Like all of the other schools they've lost the interest of the youngest adults. That's a bigger problem for them because their entire model has been predicated on a National Reputation and Exposure. There are so many schools that have that now that their advantage in that regard has significantly waned. Add to it the more overt rejection of things religious (not what I would endorse, but certainly a contemporary trend) and maintaining that national approach probably needs to be revisited. I think they could however attach their brand to a conference now and benefit from regional identity. We'll see if they have the self awareness to alter an institutional life long approach.

The longer they straddle the fence on conference identity the less significant they will become. And as a private, focused on academics, N.D. should make hay competing against the PR blunders of Penn State, Baylor, and North Carolina, and maybe they would if their present coach didn't have problems like the two physical assaults on defenseless players today.

IMO they would be wise to fully embrace New England and the Mid Atlantic fully. They will find it easier to recruit the region if they do. An 8 loss N.D. with player control issues isn't going to benefit the ACC for very long.

I agree that they need to take a re-examine their strategy because I don't think it is possible for them to get back to the level they were in national popularity. Being the default team for Catholics only worked back in the era when few Catholic immigrants from certain countries were able to attend college.

I like to cite the anecdotal evidence of my own family. My dad's generation were first generation Polish Americans in central PA who for the most part were blue collar workers. They all rooted for ND, even over Penn State. My generation almost all went to college. The rooting interests are almost all tied to where each of us went, and the few who didn't go to college and remained in PA root for Penn State. There isn't an ND fan in my generation of the family.

My large, multigenerational extended family is the exact opposite of yours, though. There are lots and lots of families like mine.

How so? Is your family now on its 2nd or 3rd generation in the US and still retaining the level of ND fandom even though younger members are actually attending other universities with FBS football? Or, was there no interest in ND in your parents/grandparents generation and the younger members are completely new ND fans even though they attended other schools?

Well, here goes. I will try to answer your questions:

It is a five generation thing.

My family became ND fans in 1913. My grandfather (born in 1864 in Ireland) and Dad (born in 1900 in a Western Pa. coal town named Shamrock) became fans when they read that a small Catholic school defeated Army using the forward pass.

My 99 year old Mom died last month. She wrote her own obituary. One of the first things she mentioned in it was being an ND fan and traveling to South Bend for a game during her honeymoon in September, 1939.

Every single member of my family (paternal/maternal) has been a Notre Dame fan going back over a century.

Grandparents, Dad, Mom, older brothers/sister, great uncles, aunts/uncles, cousins, nephews/nieces, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, you name it.

Many graduated from schools like Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia and LSU but don't ever root for those schools but are ND fans instead.

I was born in 1957 and some of my earliest and best memories are rooting for ND with my Dad and older brothers starting when I was about 7. I recall John Huarte passing to Jack Snow in 1964 very vividly.

We take along about 14-17 family members for the 1000 mile drive to see a home ND game every other year.

In 2016, my wife, adult children and I have traveled 7 hours to San Antonio twice to see Irish athletics, once in February for ND baseball and just two weeks ago to watch ND play Army in the Shamrock Series (3-6 ND brought 50,000 fans to San Antonio for that one).

My two sons both graduated from LSU's School of Engineering in 2010 and 2013 respectively. I graduated from LSU Law School in 1986.

We all root against LSU in every game in every sport. We are all big ND fans instead. We have all found that one cannot be an ND fan and an LSU fan. So, LSU lost out on our fandom. :)

My daughter dates a die hard LSU alumni and she roots for ND instead of LSU.

My daughter-in-law is pregnant (due in June) and you can bet my son and I will make sure that kid is an ND fan. :)

We won't go eight miles to attend an LSU sporting event in Baton Rouge but will gladly drive hours to see an ND game.

Partly its an Irish thing. Partly its a Catholic thing. But mostly, it is a strong family tradition of over a century long duration and still going strong.

There are thousands of ND families in the fanbase with stories like my family.

(11-27-2016 02:21 PM)TerryD Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 11:48 AM)esayem Wrote:  What Notre Dame accomplishes is more impressive once one understands they implement stricter academic regulations than the NCAA requires. So ND can't admit athletes that can be admitted into Michigan and Ohio State. Last time I checked, only Stanford has a stricter academic profile than ND as far as athletes are concerned.

Insert UNC jokes because you're a creative person.

As far as Kelly is concerned, I could see him having a lot of success at Oregon, it isn't fair to compare him to Willingham. Willingham's career still puzzles me. What did the guy get two years at ND? Ridiculous. Weis was successful with all his recruits. I'd like to see ND get a defensive minded coach and a creative OC.

He got three years at ND, the same number of years he got afterwards at Washington. No difference.

He destroyed both programs. He was a lazy recruiter, played golf more often than worked hard and was justifiably canned at both schools.

He had some of the worst recruiting classes at ND on record. He then went 0-12 at Washington in his final season there. He was simply a lazy and lousy football coach.

Ask yourself why no other school ever offered him a job, any job, since then........

Ah okay, I did not remember correctly. Although Weis went 9-3 and 10-3 with his guys. I thought he did pretty well at Stanford too.

(11-27-2016 02:32 PM)TerryD Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 12:04 PM)krup Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 11:34 AM)TerryD Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 12:38 AM)krup Wrote:  

(11-27-2016 12:26 AM)JRsec Wrote:  I'm happy for the ACC and its stability that Notre Dame is affiliated with them, but the N.D. job isn't what it once was. Like all of the other schools they've lost the interest of the youngest adults. That's a bigger problem for them because their entire model has been predicated on a National Reputation and Exposure. There are so many schools that have that now that their advantage in that regard has significantly waned. Add to it the more overt rejection of things religious (not what I would endorse, but certainly a contemporary trend) and maintaining that national approach probably needs to be revisited. I think they could however attach their brand to a conference now and benefit from regional identity. We'll see if they have the self awareness to alter an institutional life long approach.

The longer they straddle the fence on conference identity the less significant they will become. And as a private, focused on academics, N.D. should make hay competing against the PR blunders of Penn State, Baylor, and North Carolina, and maybe they would if their present coach didn't have problems like the two physical assaults on defenseless players today.

IMO they would be wise to fully embrace New England and the Mid Atlantic fully. They will find it easier to recruit the region if they do. An 8 loss N.D. with player control issues isn't going to benefit the ACC for very long.

I agree that they need to take a re-examine their strategy because I don't think it is possible for them to get back to the level they were in national popularity. Being the default team for Catholics only worked back in the era when few Catholic immigrants from certain countries were able to attend college.

I like to cite the anecdotal evidence of my own family. My dad's generation were first generation Polish Americans in central PA who for the most part were blue collar workers. They all rooted for ND, even over Penn State. My generation almost all went to college. The rooting interests are almost all tied to where each of us went, and the few who didn't go to college and remained in PA root for Penn State. There isn't an ND fan in my generation of the family.

My large, multigenerational extended family is the exact opposite of yours, though. There are lots and lots of families like mine.

How so? Is your family now on its 2nd or 3rd generation in the US and still retaining the level of ND fandom even though younger members are actually attending other universities with FBS football? Or, was there no interest in ND in your parents/grandparents generation and the younger members are completely new ND fans even though they attended other schools?

Well, here goes. I will try to answer your questions:

It is a five generation thing.

My family became ND fans in 1913. My grandfather (born in 1864 in Ireland) and Dad (born in 1900 in a Western Pa. coal town named Shamrock) became fans when they read that a small Catholic school defeated Army using the forward pass.

My 99 year old Mom died last month. She wrote her own obituary. One of the first things she mentioned in it was being an ND fan and traveling to South Bend for a game during her honeymoon in September, 1939.

Every single member of my family (paternal/maternal) has been a Notre Dame fan going back over a century.

Grandparents, Dad, Mom, older brothers/sister, great uncles, aunts/uncles, cousins, nephews/nieces, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, you name it.

Many graduated from schools like Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia and LSU but don't ever root for those schools but are ND fans instead.

I was born in 1957 and some of my earliest and best memories are rooting for ND with my Dad and older brothers starting when I was about 7. I recall John Huarte passing to Jack Snow in 1964 very vividly.

We take along about 14-17 family members for the 1000 mile drive to see a home ND game every other year.

In 2016, my wife, adult children and I have traveled 7 hours to San Antonio twice to see Irish athletics, once in February for ND baseball and just two weeks ago to watch ND play Army in the Shamrock Series (3-6 ND brought 50,000 fans to San Antonio for that one).

My two sons both graduated from LSU's School of Engineering in 2010 and 2013 respectively. I graduated from LSU Law School in 1986.

We all root against LSU in every game in every sport. We are all big ND fans instead. We have all found that one cannot be an ND fan and an LSU fan. So, LSU lost out on our fandom. :)

My daughter dates a die hard LSU alumni and she roots for ND instead of LSU.

My daughter-in-law is pregnant (due in June) and you can bet my son and I will make sure that kid is an ND fan. :)

We won't go eight miles to attend an LSU sporting event in Baton Rouge but will gladly drive hours to see an ND game.

Partly its an Irish thing. Partly its a Catholic thing. But mostly, it is a strong family tradition of over a century long duration and still going strong.

There are thousands of ND families in the fanbase with stories like my family.

First of all, my condolences for your loss. Interesting how your family maintained the tradition around one school. My father grew up a diehard ND fan but had no problem switching to being a suffering Rutgers season ticket-holder after my brother and I both graduated from there. The only other ND family I know that is going on 4 generations was sparked by the great-grandfather who played some for them back around 1920 (Joe Brandy).
I don't doubt there are a lot more because ND is still hugely popular.

The point I was trying to make is that ALL of these families (including mine) were ND fans by default at some point in time and whether by offspring attending other schools or identifying less with their religion some percentage of them have moved on and that unique situation that caused them to be the "default" isn't coming back.

Bertrand Berry, who is a ND alum and former NFL Player, does a radio show here in Phoenix. He does a segment before his show with the morning show, usually talking about the Cardinals, but today they talked about Notre Dame in detail.


Berry is of the opinion that he thinks Kelly will be back another year, and that is a mistake - he, and a group of alums (former players) are anti-Kelly, and really have become indifferent about Notre Dame as long as he is the coach. Also that most of the ND Foundation is not in Kelly's corner. He also hinted that there are some big problems coming down the pike, and stay tuned

(11-28-2016 11:48 AM)dbackjon Wrote:  Bertrand Berry, who is a ND alum and former NFL Player, does a radio show here in Phoenix. He does a segment before his show with the morning show, usually talking about the Cardinals, but today they talked about Notre Dame in detail.


Berry is of the opinion that he thinks Kelly will be back another year, and that is a mistake - he, and a group of alums (former players) are anti-Kelly, and really have become indifferent about Notre Dame as long as he is the coach. Also that most of the ND Foundation is not in Kelly's corner. He also hinted that there are some big problems coming down the pike, and stay tuned

Don't know about problems coming down the pike, but I agree that:

1) Kelly will coach at ND in 2017, he will not be fired or resign this year;

2) He has used up his "mulligan" with 2016 and is on a very hot seat;

3) Most alumni, boosters, BOT members and fans are anti-Kelly at this point and want him gone.

I'm without words on why this is even a story. Unless the school wants it to be a story.

(11-28-2016 12:41 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  I'm without words on why this is even a story. Unless the school wants it to be a story.

ESPN wanted it to be a story.