Commentary: Michigan, Notre Dame excuses growing old

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By Marc Katz, Staff Writer 11:04 PM Sunday, November 22, 2009

Excuses I’m hearing for the demise of both Michigan and Notre Dame’s football programs are getting a little worn. Blaming former UM coach Lloyd Carr for Michigan’s two straight losing seasons is a bit much.

The excuse is Michigan’s program was on the recruiting downturn. He would eventually have a losing season, but he vacated his position before that happened.

His last team went 9-4, a record the Wolverines would love to have now. Over 11 seasons, he posted a 122-40 (75 percent) record at UM and his worst season was 7-5. He won or shared five Big Ten championships and finished as low as No. 5 in the conference only once.

He even won a national championship, which Bo Schembechler never did.

I’m all for giving Rich Rodriguez a chance to make up for two straight losing seasons, but I’m not putting all the blame on Carr.

At the same time, I’m not giving Notre Dame a break for its “high academic standards.” Those standards don’t seem to hinder the team when it’s winning, which it used to do.

And this stuff about not admitting junior college players or academic under-achievers is legendary, at best. Notre Dame won its last national championship with Tony Rice at quarterback — after Rice sat out a year due to then-Prop 48 standards.

Notre Dame even built an indoor practice facility, and there’s that big NBC contract.

If you can’t win at Notre Dame, something else is wrong. Coach Charlie Weis had better find out what it is.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2157 or mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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At the same time, where are you hearing excuses that academics are the reason for Notre Dame's difficulties? Part of the Weis conundrum is that he has been recruiting fairly well.

Domer
9:34 AM, 11/24/2009

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Tony Rice graduated, in four years, with a degree in psychology. Notre Dame has nothing to be ashamed of in him. The local State U. only graduates 41% of its African-American football "student atheltes," compared with 72% of its white football players. For Notre Dame, the numbers are 93% and 96%. http://www.tidesport.org/Grad%20Rates/2008-09_Bowl_APR_GSR_Study.pdf

Domer
9:31 AM, 11/24/2009

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Shed not a tear for Charlie Weis. He may not be much of college football coach, but he has a new gig in Hollywood: he starts filming next month
in "Stripes II: Dewy Oxberger Kills Sgt. Hulka", replacing the late John Candy in the starring role ("I swallowed a lot of aggression; along with a lot of
pizza...")

R-DAWG
10:04 PM, 11/23/2009

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Notre Dame is getting the recruits (Te'o was the #1 recruit in the country last year, Clausen was the #1 QB in the country and Floyd a top 5 receiver). The problem is developing them once they're there. That's why Charlie needs to go.

asdflkj
7:45 PM, 11/23/2009

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Growing up in Catholic neighborhood in Chicago I had Notre Dame shoved down my throat to the point I hate hear the fight song. Their football record is pompousness rewarded. I hope the ND president says we can't afford to fire Weis (he collects $18 mil if he is canned), he stays through his contract and the football program declines farther. Then their a-hole alumni have to live with it and be embarrassed to wear the Irish gear they flaunted in our faces for so many years

Irish Hater
6:45 PM, 11/23/2009

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