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To play at Notre Dame is to seek being in the conversation by cmhirish

Being in the conversation at Notre Dame will not only be demanded, it will be expected. I don`t ever expect to not be in the conversation as long as I`m at Notre Dame, and I sure don`t expect to not be in the conversation this year. I expect to be in the conversation, because that`s going to be the criteria we use to evaluate.

Not being be in the conversation is absolutely disastrous. You cannot give me one reason in the world why we should ever not be in the conversation at Notre Dame-not a one. There is no reason. You can tell me about the schedule, but I don`t want to hear it.

There is no reason we should ever not be in the conversation at Notre Dame, and we aren`t going to. Less than being in the conversation is a personal embarrassment to me, to you, and to this university . . .

We`re going to write another chapter in Notre Dame football history. The Notre Dame football team is going to set a trend for this university as well as for the entire athletic department about being in the conversation.

The football team is not only going to be the best team in the conversation at Notre Dame, it`s going to be the best team in the conversation in the entire country. We cannot achieve being in the conversation if we do not have disciplined workouts, and this can only happen if people are totally committed to being in the conversation.

We are not asking to be in the conversation -we are going to demand it. Please don`t expect us to lower our standards to satisfy people who are not looking to be in the conversation, because this won`t happen. Not being in the conversation is a thing of the past. We are going to expect to be in the conversation, and we are going to get it.

I don`t care who questions our ability to be in the conversation as long as they aren`t members of this team.