and took some heat for it. I think there's a reasonable possibility that the demise of Notre Dame football has been orchestrated beginning with the ouster of Lou Holtz. The best way for the administration to de-emphasize a program of this magnitude and importance is not by coming out and stating that intention. That would cause a revolt. The best way to de-emphasize the program is by generating activity that appears outwardly to add value -- that provides the illusion of trying -- while systematically installing leadership that is incapable of ever delivering winning results.

"Gee, guys, we tried our best. It just didn't work out."

I wanted to believe Jenkins was the cure. But then I watch him hire an AD who has no experience managing a high-profile sports program. Then I watch that AD hire a football coach who has no experience coaching an elite football team. Then I see that football team perform sloppy, erratic, mistake-prone football.

Eventually, I come to the conclusion that this is the plan. This is by design. And then it all makes sense.

But at least I'm not alone in wondering. Hopefully Kelly will be successful--that would show 'em!

"high brow" types.

You can see this with the de-emphasis of football, the focus on the Director's Cup, terms like "aspirational peers," the flowers in the stadium, and even things like the long period where you couldn't find the leprechaun on any items in the bookstore (it was all the school seal or the block ND).

Monk went out of his way to kill the program. Jenkins has provided more support to the program, but has not given it the full-throated defense it needed after Monk's assault. Had Jenkins followed Hesburgh, I think we would have been fine. Now we have a BoT loaded with aspirational peer types, which makes taking bold steps to create the conditions for football success more difficult.

and will not bother the administration about it. They will donate to ND because of research, not football."

Do you have any evidence at all to back up that claim?

I will say that I have several friends who live and die with Notre Dame football. Several of us chose to go to Notre Dame because we grew up as ND fans, academics be damned. And I, for one, will not donate a nickel until that school wins, or at a minimum competes for, a national championship.

As a percentage of the student body, the attendance at games is smaller than years past. I thought it was common knowledge that the current student body is less interested in football than the student body of previous years. Is that inaccurage?

Do you have numbers to support the attendance thing, or is that just conjecture?

indicator anyway. The administration controls how many tickets students have access to (I assume they control that, not the athletic department), so they probably buy all of the ones made available.

By the way, that part of my post was supposed to be what the administration is thinking. But, I suspect it's true that recent alumni care less about football than past alumni. Frankly, how could they not? Why would they care about it?

As far as the student attendance thing, every student is guaranteed a ticket if they want one, so the administration really has no control over student attendance.

As far as the interest level on campus, it's hard to compare eras, as nobody went to school in both the '80s and late '90s/'00s. I would agree that it's hard to believe that a student could be as excited or care as much about an 0-2 team as a 2-0 and national championship-contending team. But your original post asserted that the students graduating today "don't care as much about football and won't bother the administration about it." I will say that ND students graduating today are desperate for ND to have a great football team. The losing years while a student if anything only has made us more hungry for football success. Footba is still an integral part of the identity of an ND student. 15 years of losing hasn't changed that. Maybe 30 or 40 years will, but student interest in ND football hasn't died yet.

the percentage of all students interested in football is bound to decline.

ND certainly has more international students now than it did in the 70s, 80s, or 90s.

There is probably a higher percentage of students that don't give a rip about ND football. I guess that means student attendance is probably slightly down too. I was more disagreeing with the idea that many students that are graduating today won't care about football after they graduate because of the losing. The vast majority still care deeply about ND football. Fortunately the 15 years of losing haven't changed that yet. So, Monk's plan at least so far has failed.

Of course I don't take attendance, but I've been going to games since 1972, and I went there for 7 years. I had a streak of 30+ years without missing a home game that I ditched during the Weis debacle. The student section isn't packed the way it used to be, but the composition of the student body has changed.

Nobody blames current students - there was a malaise during the Faust years, too. Not as extended, but it was there.

We had night games. We had fewer games. We had better teams to watch.

In conclusion, the students who go are great. There just aren't as many.