For most Catholics, there is a time in life when they tend to stray a bit from the herd. Suffice it to say that during this time, a Catholic may be known to dabble in some heretical research, usually an investigation into Catholic dogmas that have always seemed a bit unbelievable to them. Sometimes this departure merely represents the first time a young Catholic shoves the spoon away from their mouth. Other times it represents a real struggle for belief that comes after an intellectual and spiritual awakening. Most Catholics "choose for themselves" during Confirmation around 7th or 8th grade, but this time of rebellion often occurs during high school or college.
In Biblical parallels, the soul-searching is not unlike the prodigal son. Given his share of the father's inheritance (today we call it a debit card), the son runs amok and squanders his fortune on wine, women and song. Busch light, strip clubs and iTunes, if you will. Needless to say, the prodigal son was probably guilty of skipping a Sunday mass or two during his little tour of the world as well. But as we have all heard many a time from many a pew, the son returns. His brother is full of jealousy, but the father insists it is a joyous occasion as a feast is laid before the repentant son and the workers of the house.
The contention here is that Notre Dame is not unlike this prodigal son, or the wayward Catholic rebel. In fact, the hiring of Brian Kelly in lieu of Urban Meyer or Bob Stoops is an act akin to the moment when the prodigal son first turns back toward home, lowers his head, and begins to walk. Many fans may still have a watchful eye on Kelly, standing ready to blurt I told you so's should his progress not proceed at lightning pace. But one must step back from it all from time to time to take in the whole picture. During this season, that is just what this author did, and here is what I have found.
Deep down, there is a part of any fan that would die to have Urban Meyer or Bob Stoops. One could imagine new uniforms and sponsors, highly touted recruits with bad grades but insane 40 yard times, and wins beginning to pile up like pancakes. After 20 years of losing and inconsistency, the immediate shot of winning adrenaline would have felt like chilled aloe on a spring break sunburn. If even a fraction of the hiring and firing gossip and hearsay was to be believed, this type of choice was at least considered by the brass on more than one occasion in the past decade. In the end, just like we said
almost a year ago, this type of hire would have been a bad idea. It would have continued the prodigal bender, not ended it.
In this analogy, Notre Dame's wild and carefree existence was not because they were reckless or foolish, but rather in denial about their own character. Since their final title in 1988, college football underwent drastic change and evolution. Cable television, conference networks, the Internet, YouTube, Rivals.com, and other factors all contributed to an environment surrounding the game that resembled a recruiting and financial arms race among big time programs. Notre Dame didn't exactly fade into obscurity (thanks to NBC), but while other schools began building names out of on-field results, Notre Dame continued to trade on their history, mystique and notoriety. Notre Dame was like GM or Ford, trotting out the same old models because a certain number of Americans would always buy American cars. At the same time, Hyundai, Honda and Toyota were building reputations out of results and improvements instead of history.
Whether Notre Dame's struggles in the past were a result of poor coaching hires, or the administration not carrying the same level of passion as the average fan is seemingly irrelevant. The fact is that the carousel of coaching experiments began to continually drag the program down. The rock bottom seemed to be a 2007 season in which Notre Dame played much more like a punchline than a program. Not only did the on field results plummet, but those running the program seemingly didn't mind much. This represented the culmination of Notre Dame not just thinking they were better than everyone, but expecting that alone to keep people in the seats and wins on the record. The school was scheduling inferior opponents and the Irish were still struggling to beat them. No doubt ratings, and some say attendance, would suffer as well.
Enter Brian Kelly. With only one tumultuous season under his belt, his is still more of a symbol than a coach. Twelve games plagued with injury and uncertainty hardly seem enough to gather a full report. But those who bleed Blue and Gold noticed marked changes the moment he walked in the door. Without naming him a savior just yet, one could at least say the hiring of Kelly was the moment the prodigal son turned toward home and began to walk. Notre Dame could have easily continued the party of coaching experiments, 12 year deals and multiple million buyouts, and courting the elite coaches from the South. But in a rare moment of clarity, and whether of their own design or simply circumstance, Notre Dame went back to their roots with Kelly instead of joining the arms race.
Consider that Notre Dame's previous two coaches had been flown in from the coasts. Weis from New England, Willingham from Stanford. Both coaches were thrust into the midwest from places completely opposite in their sensibilities. Weis' initial Jersey brag and Super Bowl rings played well as a novelty with Irish fans, but when the results failed to show, charming confidence quickly turned to unseemly arrogance. Everyone liked the defensive prowess of Ty's squads, but he remained too close to his previous track record of good, not great. The word was out that Ty was big on discipline and class, but maybe not work ethic. Stanford never demanded it like South Bend did. Line this up against Holtz, with midwestern Ohio roots. Rockne came to the states and settled in Chicago. Pure midwest blue collar grit. Parseghian was an Ohio man. Leahy played for the Irish coming from Nebraska. Sure, Kelly is Boston born, but he has been within a Sunday drive of South Bend since 1987, whether in Michigan or Ohio.
Whether or not Kelly brings the Irish back to title quality remains to be seen, but his first act as coach was one sorely needed within the Irish program. In short, Kelly realized that the best thing for the program to do would be to end some of its delusions of granduer and look in the mirror. Instead of believing Notre Dame was great, Kelly stated they were not, but should be. A simple change in perspective that represented a monumental shift in mentality. Weis stated the record wasn't good enough, simply because it wasn't good enough. Kelly was more likely to say Notre Dame's record was what they deserved, and it would require a lot of hard work to rebuild it.
In the end, the years that followed 1988 saw Notre Dame change from prominent powerhouse to underdog. This change in storyline wasn't quite awknowledged by Notre Dame along the way, and thus expectations in the clouds were causing hell on Earth each season. Ironically enough, the team played some of their best football when shedding a bit of pride and embracing the underdog moniker. Most of the previous coaches who failed simply didn't embrace the idea of Notre Dame as an underdog, either. This was painfully evident as Irish teams began to fall to the likes of Navy, Syracuse and others with flat, emotionless efforts.
Kelly in this regard was almost an intervention for the Irish. Fans that criticized his lack of big school experience or FBS titles failed to recognize that Kelly was the direct antidote to what was ailing Notre Dame. Huge expectations hadn't matched with the work being done to obtain them. Notre Dame needed a blue collar guy talking about riding back from Church with his pop and listening to Notre Dame on AM radio. Notre Dame needed a guy who immediately humbled the team and broke them of their cockiness they couldn't back up. Notre Dame needed an RKG of their own. They didn't need a coach with gelled hair and a visor who could fill the cubboards with talent that had no hope of graduating or representing the University proudly. It was a ground up return to their roots. It wasn't buying a championship for $8 million a year.
Sure, that quick title would be nice. But most Notre Dame fans go a bit deeper than merely rattling off the years in which they won the big one. Most Notre Dame fans are bred of that same blue collar, Midwestern, Catholic casserole that makes their hearts flutter when they watch
Rudy. Most Notre Dame fans spend time on campus looking at the Grotto or Touchdown Jesus. They go to Mass, they bring their kids. They love God and they love America. They don't simply snap a picture of the trophies, catch the game and go home.
One can only hope that Kelly can help return Notre Dame to a school willing to be the little guy that works harder than the other teams in order to win games, instead of being the biggest, baddest, or richest. It may have worked to play the coaching and recruit arms race, but the cost would have been greater than most fans could stomach. The state of the program seems to be that someone was finally willing to make an honest assessment of what Notre Dame was, and what they were not. An accurate portrayal of where they are, and where they could be if they were willing to work for it.
The state of the program is that of someone who just looked in the mirror and realized if they wanted anything in this world, they would have to work for it.
