No More Excuses
by: Christopher M. Bartoli
September 22, 1999

I am very concerned about the state of the Notre Dame football program under head coach Bob Davie.  On the field, I see sloppy, undisciplined, mistake-prone play, poor clock management and improper utilization of talented personnel.  These on-field problems can be directly attributed to the head coach.  Off the field, I have heard various lame excuses offered by the head coach to try to explain the poor play.

I am sick of all of the excuses Bob Davie has used to explain why he has yet to succeed as head coach.  Since he began as head coach, Davie has tried to use at least three excuses to explain his team shortcomings in the won-loss column.  First, following a disappointing 7-6 first season, Davie tried to convince us that his predecessor, Lou Holtz, had left the talent cupboard bare.  These days, Davie's favorite excuses include the difficult schedule and the apparent "youth" of his football team.

Not only are Davie's excuses lame, but they are misplaced.   Bob Davie would have us believe that in 1997, he inherited a failing program with limited personnel.  During 1997, Davie continually claimed that Holtz left him with a dearth of talented players.  This, Davie argued, was the reason why he could only deliver a 7-6 record in his first year.  In fact, Davie has tried to convince us that because of the limited personnel he inherited, he succeeded in salvaging a 7-6 record during 1997.  However, rather than inheriting a failing program with limited personnel, Davie inherited several of the key contributors from an 8-3 team in 1996 that lost two games in overtime (to Air Force and USC).  In reality, in 1997, Davie inherited a veteran team that easily could have been 10-1 in 1996.  Davie's inaugural team included the all-time leading passer in Notre Dame history who was a 5th year senior (Ron Powlus), three 5th year senior offensive linemen also starting for their fourth consecutive seasons (Mike Doughty, Chris Clevenger and Rick Kascenski), the now all-time leading rusher in Notre Dame history who was a returning starter from 1996 (Autry Denson), as well as certain key returning starters on defense, including Melvin Dansby (another 5th year senior), Kory Minor and Allen Rossum.  Unlike Joe Tiller at Purdue, who really did inherit a program in shambles and resurrected it, Bob Davie inherited a solid program and an experienced team in 1997.  He subsequently turned that team into a mediocre one.  Don't believe Davie when he tries to convince us that he inherited limited personnel from Lou Holtz.

These days, Davie's favorite excuses include the difficult schedule and his team's apparent "youth."  In every press conference and article quoting Davie, he repeats these excuses time and again.  In this past Sunday's South Bend Tribune, Davie was quoted as saying, "I don't think I'm bursting anyone's bubble, we're a young football team with a tough schedule and we're sitting here at 1-3.  That's the reality."  Contrary to Davie's belief, he has bursted the bubble of Notre Dame's alumni and fans across the country who expected more of this program by his third year.  The reality is that it is Davie's fault the team has not progressed in three seasons.

Obviously, Bob Davie is not familiar with Notre Dame football history because if he were, he would realize that every Notre Dame coach has been faced with difficult schedules.  Bob Davie today is not facing anything different that his predecessors did.  In 1988, Lou Holtz's team played and defeated four teams (Michigan, Miami, USC and West Virginia) that were ranked in the top 5 in the country at the time Notre Dame played them. Moreover, while Notre Dame sometimes rotates its schedule to play national teams, such as Penn State, Miami, Florida State, Tennessee and Arizona State, Notre Dame has traditionally played Michigan, Purdue and Michigan State.  And while I will agree with Davie that Purdue is better than they were during Holtz's tenure, Michigan State is not as good as they were during Holtz's time (when they were consistently ranked in the top 25 nationally and were among the top three teams in the Big Ten).  Finally, despite Davie's claims that this year's schedule is so difficult, one could argue that it is not as challenging as those in years past.  Of the 12 teams on Notre Dame's schedule this year, only four had winning records last year. Don't believe Bob Davie when he blames this year's failures on a difficult schedule.

Bob Davie also has used his team's "youth" as a justification for his team's lack of success.  However, what Davie fails to realize is that every college football team has young contributors mixed in with veterans. Notre Dame is no different.  No team ever returns all 22 starters from the prior year and no team has an entirely senior-laden team.  A true example of youth is at Florida, which has ten new starters on their defense alone.  By the way, at press time, despite this youth, Florida managed to be in the top 5 nationally.

Looking at this year's team, I'm not sure how Davie is able to claim that Notre Dame is a "young team."  Sure, Notre Dame has some youth at certain positions, but it also starts a 5th year senior at quarterback (Jarious Jackson), wide receiver (Bobby Brown), defensive line (Lamont Bryant) and safety (Ajani Sanders), starts two  seniors on the offensive line (John Merandi and Mike Gandy), has experienced players on the defensive line (Grant Irons, Lance Legree and Brad Williams), starts a senior and a junior at middle linebacker (Anthony Denman and Ronnie Nicks prior to his injury) and has a predominantly senior-filled defensive backfield (Sanders, Deveron Harper and Deke Cooper).  Actually, contrary to his claims, Davie has a pretty experienced football team this year.  In fact, Davie's team for this his third season is more experienced than Holtz's team was for his third season.  In that year, Holtz started a freshman tight end, a freshman and a sophomore at wide receiver, three sophomore offensive linemen, a junior offensive lineman starting for the first time, a sophomore nose tackle, a sophomore linebacker and a sophomore corner back.  Like Davie, Holtz had some talented personnel.  However, Holtz's team during that year generally had more youth and inexperience than Davie's team this year.  In fact, Holtz's team during his third season returned only eight starters from the prior season.  That team played four teams ranked in the top 5 nationally at the time Notre Dame played them. The year: 1988.  The record: 12-0.  The result: national champions.    Don't believe Bob Davie when he tries to convince us that the 1999 team's apparent "youth" prevents us from being a national title contender and top 10 team.

It is time for Bob Davie to stop making excuses.  They are illegitimate and misplaced.  Davie's record as head coach now stands at 17-12.  He is 2-7 in his career against Michigan, Purdue and Michigan State. For three years, he has crashed our hopes for a national title run before the leaves have turned colors.  Notre Dame has now lost 5 out of its last 6 games, futility not seen by Notre Dame fans since the Gerry Faust era.  It is time for Davie to point his finger inward to discover the true reason for his team's lack of success during the two and a half years he has been coach.

The reason for Notre Dame's lack of success is due primarily to Bob Davie's incompetence as head coach.  We have all been witness to the poor preparation (evidenced by sloppy play and numerous missed assignments, missed tackles and turnovers), poor utilization of talented personnel and poor clock management (including the poor clock management last year in the waning seconds against LSU that allowed Jarious Jackson to suffer a serious knee injury).  All of these problems can be directly attributed to Bob Davie.    

We, as current and former students of Notre Dame, must hold Bob Davie up to the high standard of excellence that has been established and maintained for well over a century.  We must not allow Davie to offer lame excuses for our team's lack of success or deliver "wait 'till next year" speeches each and every year.  We must not allow Davie to lower our expectations for excellence year in and year out.  Moreover, we must stop Davie in his attempts to have us accept and expect mediocrity.  As it stands right now, we are staring in the face of probable .500 record for the 1999 season.  It is time for Bob Davie to step up to the plate, admit his culpability in the debacle that has become this season and resign to allow someone more competent the opportunity to return this storied program to its glory days.  Alternatively, it is time for all us, students and alumni alike, to demand of the administration a replacement for head football coach.  I fear that if we do not do so now, we will continue to experience mediocrity for the foreseeable future.  I can already predict that after beginning next year 0-3 with losses to Nebraska, Texas A&M and Purdue (all of which will be home games), Davie will try to blame these failures on a "new starting quarterback" and a "difficult schedule."  Let's not allow this con-artist who masquerades as head coach of the most storied college football program in the country the opportunity to utter one more lame excuse.

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