Why Notre Dame Deserves To Succeed

After the last two seasons of rebuilding, Irish fans are expecting to get back on track in 2009. Meanwhile, the haters are hoping that they continue to struggle.

I have rooted for Notre Dame my whole life, and after these last two years I am a bigger Irish fan than ever before. The reason is that they do things the right way. The haters may not agree, but they can't debate these facts.

The last two years, the University of Notre Dame has demonstrated something that is lacking in the NFL and other colleges. That is loyalty. In a day and age where coaches are fired and quarterbacks are yanked left and right, Notre Dame has tried a different approach. They try to stick with their coach and their quarterback and the rest of the team.

Many were calling for Charlie Weis to be fired after last season, however, Jack Swarbrick decided to stay with him. Coaches often don't get a fair chance to build the program the way they like it. At many other schools and in the NFL, Weis would have been gone.

Also look at Jimmy Clausen; if Notre Dame worked like the NFL they would have signed a free agent to replace him. Forget about the fact that he is still developing. The same is true about many of the other positions. Notre Dame was very young last year.

The Hawaii Bowl was an indication that maybe they did the right thing by holding onto Weis and staying with Clausen. That generally doesn't happen in other places.

Take a look at our favorite son, Brady Quinn. He will likely win the starting job in Cleveland, but who knows how loyal Eric Mangini will be to him. I almost get the sense that he has to make the Pro Bowl this year and lead them to the playoffs. Forget about actually giving him time to develop.

Quinn may be able to produce right away, but he should be given more than a year to develop. It used to be that quarterbacks were given four years to develop. The only two I can think of who have been given time are Eli Manning and Matt Hasselbeck.

Another person to think about is Tom Landry. Landry is without a doubt one of the best coaches in pro or college football history. I bet you didn't know that he didn't have a winning season until his seventh season.

Just think about that. He had six straight losing seasons and yet the Cowboys owner stuck with him. Thank God they did.

Loyalty is missing in sports today but not in South Bend. There is also another reason that Notre Dame deserves to succeed. This is a time when other schools and NFL teams don't even care about character. They allow thugs who break laws and don't even go to class to walk right onto the team and make excuses for them.

That doesn't fly in South Bend. Notre Dame never has and never will lower its academic standards. Nor will they allow thugs on the team. Julius Jones was removed from the team when he had bad grades and he had to earn his way back. Kyle McLarney of the basketball team had a similar story.

When is the last time you heard of a Notre Dame player getting arrested or breaking the law? The closest thing I can think of is when there were Internet pictures of Jimmy Clausen drinking a beer when he was underage. My reaction was, "Is that the best you got? Are you that desperate to spread dirt about Notre Dame?"

Here is another thing to think about: If you were running a business, would you hire a guy who took a gun to a nightclub and shot himself in the leg? The sad part is that the only reason nobody has hired Plaxico Burress is because his trial is still pending. I guarantee he gets a job fast as soon as the issues are resolved.

Would you hire a guy who destroyed the chemistry of your company? Yet Terrell Owens had a job in less than a week after the Cowboys released him.

Isn't it amazing that thugs like Owens and Burress get all these chances handed to them and Brady Quinn will have to fight just to get one? Now, like many Irish fans, I believe Quinn will overcome the obstacles and be a better player and person because of it. But still, the principle of the matter stinks.

Thank God for Notre Dame. They today stand for what sports used to be. That is loyalty and doing things the right way. Because of that, they deserve to succeed now more than ever.