Rockne's Roundtable

No idea if this opinion is shared on this site, but I would personally rather have my ND degree maintain its integrity. That thing was difficult to get and difficult to pay for (the paying-for part is ongoing).

Dan,

I see were you're coming from and you make some good points, but I think it is possible for ND to follow what Stanford has done. That is be successful on the football field without sacrificing academics. I believe Stanford had an 87% graduation rate for its football players last year.

This goal definitely shrinks our talent base, but giving more academic exceptions wont necessarily help dramatically. I say dramatically because ND is a unique school. It lacks many things a lot of other football schools have. ND has no fraternities or sororities. It is not a party place like other schools and will likely never be. The dorms are single sex and many of them are in need of renovations. Academic requirements for players are just one of many things that separates ND from other schools. Potential recruits who dont want the academics may not like these other limitations as well.

One of the things that makes ND special is its commitment to academics. And as an alum, it is one of the things I am most proud of and was most proud of when I was a student there. No, I am not an elite athlete, but I think academics are one of the things that make ND what it is and that is not going to change either. ND should not run away from this but embrace it. I am sure all the recruits have full knowledge of the rigors and many have cited this when choosing ND.

As far as Tee, I don't know what happened. I wont speculate, but will wish him the best where ever he lands. ND is different and not for everyone unfortunately.

Dan,

I'm definitely not happy with the product by any means. But I think ND could and can do both. The last 20 years were not just because of academics. There are a host of reasons.

As a former norcal resident I agree with you that Standford is different than ND. Stanford definitely has a much better climate, but Standford and ND both share the same academic goals. So how come we cant be like Standford? I guess whats so different (weather aside) between ND and Standford?

IW, I was only arguing that if Stanford can balancing winning and academics the last couple years, so can ND. I didn't say ND should emulate Stanford in all regards. These next few years will tell how good of a program Harbuagh built and how good of a coach Shaw is. I think they will regress bit, but I'm curious to see how much.