NCAA Football 2010: Notre Dame Student's Death Raises Questions at the School

Declan Sullivan, a student at Notre Dame who regularly tapes the football practices, died tragically on Wednesday afternoon when the tower he was in collapsed due to high winds.

Coach Brian Kelly, who is in his first year as head coach at the University, now is under strong criticism because of the weather conditions at the present time.  Sullivan tweeted about how scary it was in the final hours and that he was 50 feet in the air, with winds gusting well over 40 mph.  

No financial settlement can heal the loss of life.  Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick, in a press conference yesterday, addressed the accident, and it was clear that this student shouldn't have been up in that tower.  It's considered unsafe when winds are blowing over 25 mph, and these conditions were double that.

Notre Dame will take the field Saturday vs. Tulsa, but should they?  At Notre Dame, it is all about winning football games, but now the University is in the spotlight because of the death of student during a University football practice that was held outdoors when it shouldn't have.

The Fighting Irish are in the middle of a 4-4 season.  They remain in the hunt for a possible bowl game, but at the current moment in time, there are all sorts of questions as to how and why Declan Sullivan was filming practice in those conditions.

Some say the wind wasn't gusting at the time, others say the conditions had improved.  That doesn't change the fact that a Notre Dame student is dead because of this horrible accident.

The University of Notre Dame issued a statement that promised a full investigation would be made surrounding the circumstances of Wednesday's accident.

It still doesn't change the fact that a Notre Dame student manager has lost his life from an unimaginable fall while filming practice.

Both head coach Brian Kelly and athletic director Jack Swarbrick are in hot water.  Coach Kelly wants to bring Notre Dame back to national prominence, but at a time like this, there needs to be some serious reflection and changes need to be made moving forward so that something like this never happens again.