John Rooke - Thinking Out Loud

Saturday, October 22, 2011

John Rooke, GoLocalProv Sports Editor

Thinking Out Loud…while wondering how Notre Dame gets away with being Notre Dame…

• It’s a storied athletic program. No questioning the Gipper, Johnny Lujack, Joe Theisman, Joe Montana or even Rocket Ismael on the gridiron. No doubting Austin Carr, Kelly Tripucka, Adrian Dantley or even Luke Harangody on the hardwood. Coaches? Knute Rockne. Ara Parseghian. Lou Holtz. Digger Phelps. Big names. Big history…

• But, how are the Irish relevant today? There’s no national championship in football since 1988. Basketball makes the NCAA tournament, but hasn’t won a title (the women’s team has, however). With only a few exceptions, the names listed above are from an era that has little shelf life, except in the minds of fans and alumni who hang onto a memory like dogs hang onto a bone. They don’t give it up…

• The Irish are relevant today, if only because Notre Dame has had its own TV deal with NBC for 20 years, and their current contract runs through 2015. They got the deal because they’re Notre Dame – a national brand, with national appeal. ND is good business for TV. Because of its’ storied past, fans and alumni are numerous. It is a Catholic institution, which also counts for a lot of that national appeal – and because it carries a fairly strict academic standard by all accounts, the Irish are placed on a pedestal that’s just hard to fall from…without a push…

• So now…it’s time to push. Notre Dame, even with its apparent loyalty to the Big East Conference, is a huge part of the current problem…

• Since 1995, as a member in the Big East Conference for all sports (other than the revered football program) the Big East has provided a home for Irish athletic teams (except for hockey and fencing, which the Big East doesn’t sponsor) and allowed them to compete at the highest levels possible. What, exactly, does the Big East get in return? The prestige of Notre Dame’s membership? A couple of football games for the poor, pitiful Big East members? The league has allowed ND to maintain its football independence in this “relationship.” It seems a perfect fit, for one party in particular…and not the other…

• The Irish athletic program has been little more than the pretty girl who takes what she needs from you in a relationship, without giving you a commitment, if only because you provide shelter and security and ask for very little in return. Why should she commit to you, when you already give her everything she needs? The Big East, in this situation, is nothing more than a geeky, gullible boyfriend…

• Notre Dame has shown no interest in joining any league for football, even saying “no” to the Big 10 in 2003. With the Big East struggling to regain its relevance nationally, Notre Dame needs to show support for a league that has supported its teams, and given them a home. If not that, Notre Dame should show support for its fellow Catholic schools (of which Providence is one, of course) and league other members that have supported Irish membership, because it’s the right thing (the moral thing?) to do. But they won’t…

• Notre Dame joining as a full member makes the stability issues in the Big East go away. If the Irish had joined earlier, perhaps Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College don’t bolt for the ACC seven years ago? There isn’t a league in the country that wouldn’t want the Irish on their side, in spite of the relative mediocrity of their athletic teams (women’s hoops is the current lone exception). Football then has new relevance, exposure – even prestige – and perhaps additional income. Moreover, it simply has a new lease on life. "If they really wanted to keep the Big East together they (ND) would have come in in football," Syracuse Hall of Fame basketball coach Jim Boeheim said in September. "Then, we wouldn’t be talking about this..."

• Full membership keeps fellow Catholic schools like Providence, Georgetown, St. John’s and Seton Hall in business as non-football playing schools and puts them at a level of financial ease. Plus, as founding members of the league, ND’s membership would also thank them for their loyalty to a fellow religious-based institution. Great idea, but it won’t happen…

• It won’t happen, because presently, it doesn’t have to. The Atlantic Coast Conference has twice raided the Big East of member schools in order to allegedly strengthen itself, at the expense of the very league Notre Dame is now a part of. That makes Notre Dame more valuable than ever to the Big East. And the ACC would love to add the Irish, too…if the Irish ever found the need to look for a home. But ACC commissioner John Swofford and several league athletic administrators have said recently they don’t see offering Notre Dame an opportunity to join their league, because they would want the Irish all in, or not at all, in order to promote strength and stability…

• What a novel idea. Strength and stability? Time for the Big East to follow suit. They knew the deal when they accepted Notre Dame, but times have changed. For the conference to survive and thrive, it now needs Notre Dame to be a full-time partner, not a part-time clock-puncher…

• More fuel for the fire - UConn women’s coach Geno Auriemma blasted Notre Dame at the Big East women’s basketball media day Thursday in New York. “Notre Dame doesn’t play football in our league, and that’s a bone of contention for a lot of us…they’ve been in our league for 17 years, so how long are we going to date before we just decide this ain’t working? And I’m not happy about it.” It’s rare, but that’s actually a breath of fresh air from Auriemma. Amen…

• Former UConn football coach Randy Edsall, as recently as 2008, suggested in an interview that the league’s football coaches felt the Big East should give Notre Dame an ultimatum to strengthen – if not save – league football. Edsall is now the head coach at Maryland in the…wait for it…ACC. Guess the coach jumped before his team could…

• The irony in the current ND-BE relationship lies in the fact that the Irish could undoubtedly have whatever they want if football would make the jump. They could play a full schedule of conference games, and still have room for traditional games with USC, Michigan, Michigan State and even Purdue. Plus, just win the conference – and get an automatic BCS bowl bid! When did they last earn one of those? Answer: 2007, and they lost 41-14 in the Sugar Bowl to LSU. As it now stands, ND must finish in the Top 8 of the BCS poll to earn an automatic bid. Yet, the Irish remain ensconced in their tradition of independence. I'm reminded of a line from the movie Forrest Gump: "Are you stupid or something?" Stupid is, as stupid does...

• Not for nuthin’…but in spite of the Big East’s best efforts to gain stability, things are about to get shaky again…with the rumblings that Missouri is ready to jump from the Big 12 to the SEC. If it happens, expect Louisville and West Virginia to be prominently-named candidates for membership. The question is – how loyal will these schools be to their eastern brothers? Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino has taken several public shots at Pittsburgh and Syracuse for leaving...as well as the ACC. "If my information is correct, the ACC, namely certain basketball coaches, did not like the amount of exposure BIG EAST basketball was getting nationally and the amount of tournament teams selected the past couple of seasons," Pitino said in New York this week. "Their feelings were made known at conference meetings. Now true or untrue, you can't tell me that Pitt and Syracuse are making ACC football significantly better. In the last few years, they have laid off more football staff coaches than Bank of America did with its employees last week..." Funny. But Rick, does Louisville football make the Big 12 significantly better? Umm, no...

• Would Louisville and/or West Virginia simply take the promise of money (note the use of the word promise) and run away from the Big East? We're about to find out...

• This week’s mailbag question comes from Jacob, stationed at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba with the U.S. Navy: “Being a Texas guy what's your opinion of the Big 12 moving forward? Would you prefer them moving to the PAC 12 or go independent or stay with the conference? If they do in fact stay, who do you think the conference should add?” Jacob – first, thank you for your service! To answer your questions, Texas needs to stay right where they are. They've caused enough trouble for a lot of schools, to be honest. But hey, others wish they had the choices they have! The Big 12 should add BYU if they lose Missouri...and if they decide to go back to twelve members, frankly it makes sense for them to look to SMU and Houston. But they won’t. Louisville and West Virginia will get serious play, and it will be interesting to see who’s loyal, and who makes a dash for the cash…

• Interested in having your questions on local RI sports (including the Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics) answered in a somewhat timely fashion? Send ‘em to me! It’s your chance to “think out loud,” so send your questions and comments to [email protected]. We’ll share mailbag comments/Facebook posts/Tweets right here! Follow me on Twitter, too @jrooke0722…