Who Will be the Next Coach at Notre Dame

If the players don't want to play the game, they shouldn't have to. It's not like they're getting anything extra for playing in a bowl, besides the $300 gifts, and perhaps a tour of Shreveport or something like that. And if you account for all the hours they have to spend in practice and in meetings preparing for the game (correct me if I'm wrong, but if there's no classes scheduled, the 20-hour limit (wink, wink) doesn't apply), they'd be making about $2 bucks an hour.

 

A full-ride scholarship to ND is worth about $40,000 a year. If you have a $40,000 a year job and the bosses tell you to show up, you show up.

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/notre-dame-in/notre-dame-1840

 

The problem with that, Star, is that the bosses can't admit you have a job. You, the "student-athlete," are allegedly participating in a semi-extracurricular activity. If a school ORDERED a team to go to a bowl, it's opening up a line of inquiry nobody in college sports wants to see happen.

 

My guess is the biggest reason they aren't going is Sam Bradford. No way Clausen wants to risk an injury at this point for GMAC Bowl glory.

 

Going to San Antonio to play Washington State for a meaningless win - Yes.
Going to Mobile to play Central Michigan for a meaningless win - No.

I still think it's a dumb move to blow off a bowl game that's "beneath" you.

 

To sum up recent posts:

Mediocre college football program without a winning record in 2009 skips bowl. SportsJournalists.commers express outrage.

Of course, in a couple of days some of the same SportsJournalists.commers will express outrage that mediocre college football programs without winning records in 2009 have accepted bowl bids.

 

6-6 teams should not play in bowl games.
that is all.

 

FWIW, after reading the reporting on this, I don't think that it has anything to do with Notre Dame thinking one of those bowls is "beneath" them. It's purely logistical. There isn't a play-caller on the remaining staff, and the assistants still under contract, some who may be retained, find it more important to hold the recruiting class together, etc., etc., then play in a bowl game. Plus, loss to someone like Marshall or Army could be way worse for the program than a win would serve it. And the dates available for the Detroit bowl or the Mobile, Ala., bowl worked out terrible for ND. One disrupted finals (and you can't chew out the school for not "lowering academic standards" and then say this is a disingenuous reason - it is entirely consistent, even if that seems uppity), and the other was so late into January that they would probably have a new coach aboard who would want to get the program going by that late point.

 

Coming up on the NDU fanboi boards: "This football coaching search has been a TOTAL FAILURE!"

http://tinyurl.com/yhr7tqn

 

I'll never bitch about a crummy team accepting a bowl bid at this point. That ship has sailed. MOST teams accepting bowl bids aren't exactly celebrating their seasons this year. Coaches still don't get bonuses for taking a team to a bowl do they? I could see a BCS Bowl clause, but at this point, you go to a bowl or risk losing your job.

 

How many teams have declined bowl bids in the last 20 years? I know this is at least the second time Notre Dame has done it.

 

I'm not sure they could be CMU.