The legend that was the Class of 1986.....

Don't forget losing to Arkansas Little-Rock as a #3 seed in the first round senior year.....

Thank you Gerry and Digger

That was a different class.

For our 1986 commencement. Worst speaker ever.

I enjoyed graduation immensely, other than that. I think I fell asleep during his speech.

The class of 1985 was not so lucky.

Obviously, some very bad luck moved to ND in the spring of 1981 and it has never recovered.

Never had a NC winning coach in Football since we stepped foot on campus in 1997. I think the class of 2000 (or was in 1999) managed to get out without winning a NC in a single sport not even fencing? If it weren't for Muffet, Ruth, and company pulling out the NC in WBB I think 2001 would've joined them in that infamy.

I thought for sure when I got to campus in 1997 that I would see ND win a football NC while I was on campus. 22 years later and despite working on campus since graduation, still no joy.

On a similar note, I saw the last game in ND stadium that featured a #1 ranked ND team (BC 1993, ouch) and I never did dream then that it was the last time....

As a member of the Class of '86, if you had told me when I graduated that ND would win a national championship in women's basketball before they would win one in men's basketball, I would have told you that you were crazy. In fact, we played USC in women's basketball my junior year, IIRC. Consensus was that one player on the ND team (Trina Keys) could have made the USC squad, but that she would have been buried on the bench.

The lack of a basketball national championship, or even a Final Four appearance since 1978, bothers me as much as football.

And the fencing coach (Mike DeCicco) was the only NC-winning coach on campus, unless you count Lou Holtz for spring practice in 1986.

I suppose the class of 1985 had it worse. They didn’t even get Holtz to give them hope as they prepared for commencement.

The class of 1963 (the year I was born) also has “bragging” rights. Four years of Joe Kuharich; zero winning seasons. Basketball was mediocre too. The class of 1964 had it worse in terms of W-L record, but at least Ara came to campus just before Christmas.

for exactly the reasons you list. They were class of 1986 (my brother posthumously - killed in a car accident 1984). Too bad fencing wasn't / isn't a spectator sport. They probably could have filled the hockey stadium at times during those down periods where it was the only elite sport we had.

losing 58-7 in the Orange Bowl to Jimmy Johnson. Our BEST season in four years was 7-5.

Class of 2001 lost in the Fiesta Bowl in their last game.

We claim the worst of a generation.

since Holtz left - and that people can offer strong arguments for more than one four year period.