It's the coach

It’s the coach.

Interest in the program has slipped and continues to do so (attendance, TV ratings). When will the admin and/or BOD recognize that winning creates interest in the program and interest in the program creates revenue?

Alabama was dead. Then they got Saban.
Clemson was dead. Then they got Dabo.
ND is on life support.

It’s always interesting to see comparison graphs. Google offers that by comparing interest in a search over time.

- Check out google trends (trends.google.com) for interest in the program over time.
- Type in Notre Dame. It will suggest Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football. Select that.
- Select time frame 2004-present from the drop-down menu at the top
- Now, back at the top select Add Comparison and type in Alabama Crimson Tide Football
- You will see that interest in ND football was higher than interest in Alabama football in 2004, 2005 (Weis’ 1st year), and 2006.
- 2007 (Saban’s 1st year) ND still leads, by a nose.
- 2008-2010 interest in the programs was about the same.
- 2011 Alabama had significant gain.
- 2012 equal interest (ND undefeated and played in BCS title against Alabama).
- 2013 to present Alabama interest is generally 2x the interest in ND.
- Try it with Clemson. Interest in Clemson began to exceed that of ND once their team became very good in 2015.
- Try it with Michigan. ND and Michigan interest was similar until 2015 when Harbaugh started. Michigan has since outpaced ND by a large margin.
- Try it with Ohio State. ND and Ohio State interest was similar until 2013 (Meyer’s 2nd year, probation over). Then interest in OSU began outpacing ND by a large margin.

Click here for link at https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US