The possibility of sanctions to our respected rivals USC and Michigan makes me flashback to Notre Dame’s only major NCAA sanction in its history a decade ago. Call it PTSD, but the similarities and obvious dissimilarities combined with the agony of the process haunt me.

Notre Dame’s NCAA Infractions, 1999

The majority of Notre Dame’s NCAA violations involved a South Bend bookkeeper, Kimberly Dunbar, who…

We want to believe the coaches our universities hire are committed to us. We use words like loyalty to position ourselves on the high ground to throw stones at those leaving town for another job. We’re hurt and cry that our lifelong values are offended.

But, come on, really. We’re as likely to throw that coach under the bus unless he delivers to us, too.…

Scheduling for Success

Once again we’ve reached the part of the season that is consumed by boasting. Who has the best conference—mine or yours? We’re all biased even though we try to be objective about non-conference scheduling. Complicating the process is that fewer top teams are playing each other, more teams are taking advantage of the 12th game to increase the number of home games…

As the FBS season winds down amidst high-profile coaching searches at Notre Dame and others, I have noted the pain with which Irish players are parting with their coaches. Yet TV and equipment contracts, lucrative benefits from conference membership, large fan bases with seven or even eight home games keep big-time college football immune from dissolving their football programs.

The End of a College Football Program

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The Notre Dame football team secured a commitment last night from Louis Nix, defensive tackle from Raines High School in Jacksonville, Florida. Nix had previously committed to Miami and was also considering the Florida Gators. Nix is rated among the top seven defensive tackles—a position of need for the Irish—by various recruiting services.

Louis camped at Notre Dame this summer, made an official visit to…

In the cacophony of opinions and numbers shouted in the media by long-time Weis-haters and Notre Dame detractors, Notre Dame Nation is best served by reviewing where we were in 2005. Students and alumni were detached from the football program. High school coaches had been shunned and were reluctant to recommend their players choose Notre Dame. Potential recruits were choosing other summer football camps. Irish…

Maybe the football gods would have this no other way. Two of the most storied football teams in America meet as Indiana fall turns leaves golden and a chill is in the air. No team has beaten USC more than Notre Dame. No team has beaten the Irish more than the Trojans.

Imagine a stable of running backs—Bush, White, Allen, Simpson and Garrett led by…

The leadership and values coaches instill in their players reflects on themselves and their universities. In turn, players’ actions often reflect those coach’s values. Nick Saban has quietly brought discipline as well as new talent to Alabama, which left no room for those who did not behave as he expects.

The responses to two incidents in this young college football season are illuminating.

We all…

I sat down with Mike Slive, Commissioner of the Southeastern Conference. After some initial pleasantries, we discussed the SEC’s recent acquisition of the NCAA.

Collins: To many this seems like a surprising move, Mike. How did it come about?

Slive: Well, Michael, we’re very honored to make the NCAA part of the Southeastern Conference Corporation of Holdings. We think it fits into what we want…

One hundred years ago an experienced Notre Dame team traveled to Ann Arbor under a national spotlight due to both teams’ strong performances thus far that season. Chicago Tribune news writers attended as well as Walter Camp, Yale’s legendary coach, and other Eastern football experts.

The 1909 Notre Dame-Michigan Game

Though Michigan had won two national championships and five conference championships in the decade, Wolverine…