Notre Dame in the Big Ten: Would It Make Sense?

The football program at Notre Dame is in peril. A coaching search just begun following three straight non-winning seasons and the worst three year stretch in school history.

All reports indicate that the talent to win is in South Bend. The schedule seemed ripe with opponents that should be beaten. There is no shortage of money in the program, facilities rival any in the country. Yet results have been lacking. Motivation has been poor.

Three coaches with the same results.

So far in Coach Search 2009, the presumed Top-Two candidates (Urban Meyer and Bob Stoops) have distanced themselves from the idea, and the presumed "sure thing" Brian Kelley has told his players (and ONLY his players) that he will be staying at Cincinnati.

Six days in could this coaching search, like the last one, be reaching it's second-tier candidates already?

If so, is there a bigger problem with Notre Dame today?

Is it possible that today's college athlete needs a constant goal? Could the yearly hunt for a national title that virtually ends with the first loss not be enough to motivate a young man on a weekly basis?

Is it possible that playing conference games with a chance to win a league title keep today's players more focused and interested?

Would it help Notre Dame to join a conference?

I remain skeptical, but many outside the Notre Dame community look at Irish as a relic, a part of a by-gone time that is no longer relevant in today's BCS landscape. Notre Dame still has a large and rabid fan base, but it's recruits were not born last time the Irish claimed a national title.

Or a title of any kind.

Even Northwestern can claim a more recent share of a Big Ten title.

Maybe it is time for the Irish to examine the prospect of joining a conference.

All Irish sports apart from football are a part of the Big East, a league that geographically Notre Dame doesn't fit.

A better logistical fit, as well as competitively and from a rivalry standpoint would be the Big Ten.

In the Big Ten, Notre Dame would also find a partner who may need them more.

Once the toast of the athletic world, the Big Ten has fallen on hard times. Only Ohio State is consistently challenging for a title. At that the Buckeyes have been embarrassed in several BCS bowls.

The Big Ten has found little success out-of-conference as well. Top to bottom, the league may rival the Big East as the weakest automatic qualifying conference.

Having 11 rather than 12 teams also prevents the conference from splitting into two divisions, and holding an annual Championship game that not only increases attention and revenue, but gives it's contending teams an all-important extra week of practice and another game leading into Bowl season.

Plus head to head Notre Dame fits well with other schools in the league. Already annually playing Purdue, Michigan, and Michigan State, and having long time rivalries with Penn State and Northwestern, Notre Dame would fit well into the Big Ten landscape.

The Irish also do compete heavily in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Indiana with their Big Ten rivals.

True, Notre Dame is a much more national school than any Big Ten school apart from Ohio State, and currently draws much more talent from Florida, California, and Texas. Still, Ohio State proves that recruiting nationally is possible from within a north-Midwestern conference.

A Notre Dame equipped Big Ten could have it's east and west divisions, hold an annual championship game that could increase their chances to compete in BCS bowls, and give the league one more (usually) high quality program to improve it's over-all quality.

For the Irish, it gives a chance to play for something other than a national championship every year. Rivalry games against Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue mean more than just winning a megaphone.

Being in a conference may become a recruiting tool, with the potential to get into a title game for the conference and the Rose Bowl if you can win the conference.

It also to a point balances the schedule.

Playing a national schedule has it's benefits, national exposure, visibility...

But it's not without it's pitfalls.

Playing teams from multiple conferences that rotate annually reduces familiarity. It also makes Notre Dame a target for every school it faces. One way rivalries are hard for the school that everyone wants to beat. Even in down times, a win over Notre Dame is something to make your season.

The University of Connecticut feels their win over the Irish a few weeks ago is the biggest in Huskies history.

Playing the same schools year in and year out takes some of that target off the Irish back. It also makes playing a 2-8 team in November a big game because it's still part of winning a conference, or standing in a conference.

Plus, despite adding potential annual tilts with Penn State and Ohio State, Notre Dame also gets usually softer Big Ten bottom-dwellers like Illinois, Indiana, and Minnesota.

Notre Dame can keep it's non-conference rivalry with USC, and still play Navy annually. The Big Ten only plays eight league games per year, so four non-conference games are still to be scheduled.

In the end, I doubt that Notre Dame will seriously entertain joining a conference, yet.

They are committed to games for six years from now, and it's unlikely that they would like to break those commitments. They are also contracted with NBC until 2013, and it's VERY unlikely that they would give up that deal to be a part of the Big Ten Network.

Still the problems at Notre Dame may extend deeper than coaching, and being a part of the Big Ten may be a part of a solution.

And that is at least worth discussing.