- 04:29 AM
- 12/22/24
| Name: | Paul Mealey |
|---|---|
| Member since: | November 21, 2003 |
| Last visit: | February 04, 2005 |
paolomigli has posted 0 links and 3 comments to SportsFilter and 0 links and 0 comments to the Locker Room.
Maybe someone versed* in ND football lore can answer this, as I suspected a bit what yerfatma alludes to when I first heard this news. Isn't there still a lot of anger still directed at Holtz from Alumni and Boosters? Or has the hunger for a championship diminished that somewhat? I don't recall the specifics, but didn't Holtz quickly turn the poor team he inherited from Gerry Faust into a national championship by more or less trashing its values and looking the other way with regard to recruiting violations? It seemed like he left there under a cloud of suspicion, or am I not remembering that correctly? Sympathies to Willingham, three years hardly seems long enough to turn a program around, even despite some early success. * Alas, I am not. My old man is an alum, so I only follow ND football when something significant happens.
posted by paolomigli at 02:09 PM on November 30, 2004
Is there any data on whether this kind of stuff works very well? I know it has been the norm in tennis (since Nick Bolletieri started this kind of thing) and women's gymnastics, sports where peak performance comes at young ages and therefore athletes have to sacrfice normal lives in order to succeed in them at the highest levels. Having grown up in the NY/NJ/CT area, I had the opportunity to play with, against or see many world class athletes at the high school level. Among them, Mo Vaughn, Steve Young, Craig Heyward, and a handfull of guys who played college football, hockey or made it a few levels in minor league baseball before crapping out. Almost to a man, ALL of those guys were multi-sport athletes. I have serious doubts that spending tens of thousands of dollars and depriving the kid of a normal life will do nothing to develop that kid into a world class athlete. At worst, it will burn him out, remove him from normal social interaction, and subject him to an inferior academic education, which will be a handicap, regardless of at what point he decides he no longer wants to play the sport. I'm not intending to moralize, just indicate that my sense is that these parents and kids are being suckered. Besides, all the high priced, focused and individualized training in the world will never substitute for real talent and real desire.
posted by paolomigli at 04:33 PM on November 29, 2004
Ty Willingham Gone!!
You don't see any elite caliber academic schools competing for a national championship in football. That is true, but when it happens, it's hard not to get behind them. For example, the year that Gary Barnett's Northwestern Wildcats came within a whisker of having an undefeated regular season was one of the most exciting things I can remember in college football... and believe me, as a UChicago grad that says a lot (denigrating NU academic standards is sport in Hyde Park). Notre Dame does have an interesting dilemma, they'll pretty much have to sell out the one thing that has made them special in order to compete at the levels they used to in the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s.... or else, they'll go the way of Army and Navy.