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Can you do us a favor and call Steve O to confirm or deny his interest in the ND AD job? Ask if anyone from South Bend has called?

This would've been the banner story on dallasnews.com if DeLoss Dodds had a nephew who married a secretary who was the niece of someone's uncle who was a candidate for an AD job somewhere.

Maybe I'm just really under-reacting to this situation, but I really don't think we have much to worry about here. Like I mentioned in a previous thread, as much as we SMU fans may love what Steve Orsini has done here, I feel pretty confident that he would be a bit of a head scratcher choice among ND alumni/boosters if he were chosen. Yes he has ties to Notre Dame, but I feel like Notre Dame is capable of aiming a bit higher than the A.D. at SMU right now. Again, maybe I'm just trying to convince myself of that.

This would be interesting if they did come calling. Your alma mater versus a program on the rise, hopefully. His family is established here and I would hope we would do everything possible to keep kim here.

Dude, if ND does make the call, Steve is on the first plane out of here. That is arguably the most storied A.D. job in the country and would naturally be a significant increase in pay. We couldn't afford to pay him what ND can.

StallionsModelT wrote:Dude, if ND does make the call, Steve is on the first plane out of here. That is arguably the most storied A.D. job in the country and would naturally be a significant increase in pay. We couldn't afford to pay him what ND can.

Oh, I think Orsini could raise that kind of .... wait a minute ...

StallionsModelT wrote:Dude, if ND does make the call, Steve is on the first plane out of here. That is arguably the most storied A.D. job in the country and would naturally be a significant increase in pay. We couldn't afford to pay him what ND can.

If it's so great, why did their AD just leave for Duke?

Ho does have some roots here now. I don't think he would be on the first flight. I don't think it's that clear cut.

Pony Up Class of 85 wrote:Ho does have some roots here now. I don't think he would be on the first flight. I don't think it's that clear cut.

Name calling is no way to get him to stick around

Besides, SO is more of a pimp anyway

why go to duke?

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/ ... ortCat=ncf

expony18 wrote:why go to duke?

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/ ... ortCat=ncf

OK, I get that...at the same time (as the author says), why did it take so long? I think ND sees itself as a much bigger figure in college sports than it really is at the moment (the same reason they fired Willingham). I agree that SO would probably take the job if offered, but I think there are some compelling reasons not to go. If all goes well here he'll have his pick of BCS schools to go to in the very near future.

If ND is willing to ingore or 'neuter' an AD like they did with White, doesn't that take away from the desirability of the position?

Regarding Notre Dame's "prestige" -

Wojciechowski wrote:Duke has won as many football national championships as Notre Dame during the past 19 seasons: zero. It also has as many Heisman Trophy winners as Notre Dame during the past 20 seasons: zero. So, sure, Notre Dame is way ahead in style points, but Irish followers shouldn't get too smug. ND had a grand total of two more wins than Duke last year (3 versus 1) -- and one of those victories was against, ta-da, the Blue Devils.

big stevie O is staying on the hilltop

StallionsModelT wrote:. That is arguably the most storied A.D. job in the country and would naturally be a significant increase in pay.

What makes it the most storied A.D. job in the country? Outside of some football success, what other sports has ND excelled at? Have they ever won a NC in any major sport besides football and the last one is about as relevant as the last SMU championship is to today's high school athletes?

Snob,

You seriously don't think being the Athletic Director at Notre Dame puts you in a totally different ballpark than every other athletic director in the country? Seriously dude the A.D. at Notre Dame has TREMENDOUS power/influence (not just on football). I don't understand why people insist on trying to say that Notre Dame is no longer relevant or influential in college athletics. They absolutely are and will be as long as they want to be.

jkflamebo wrote:big stevie O is staying on the hilltop

Glad to hear it. But what makes you say that?

PonySnob wrote:What makes it the most storied A.D. job in the country? Outside of some football success, what other sports has ND excelled at? Have they ever won a NC in any major sport besides football and the last one is about as relevant as the last SMU championship is to today's high school athletes?

Women's basketball and fencing, recently. Top-20 in both basketball programs. Reached the NCAA final in ice hockey. Top-5 women's soccer and usually top-20 (at least in men's soccer). The have a baseball team which wins a lot of games, although it doesn't matter because they play with metal bats. I'd bet their tennis teams are good. They have good lacrosse, and very good swimming. Hell, football - the most limitless cash cow in the country - is one of their worst sports right now.

More than all of those things, however, is the television contract the school has with the NotreDame Broadcasting Company that pours money into that Gate of Hell at a record rate. Michigan and Texas don't have the cash flow those pompous elitists in South Bend have. There literally is no limit to what they can spend. The fact that the media can dub Brady Quinn as the next Joe Montana (remember when Beano Cook said Ron Powlus - RON POWLUS! - would win THREE Heisman Trophies?) is comical. ND's football history is beyond debate, but to act as if it is in a level all its own is moronic. They haven't won a title in two decades. They haven't really been relevant in nearly that same amount of time. Yet they are on national TV every week and sell more memorabilia and raise more money than any school in the country.

ND's influence is on the down slope to be sure. It could come back but I doubt it. Not saying Big O won't want to go back to his peeps, but it has been a long time since they performed at a high enough level to support the old school view that they are something special. Even the Catholics are starting to give up on them.

They just can't recruit the top national urban athletes anymore. And who can blame them - facilities are average when compared with big time competitors - and Indiana is, well....Indiana. Depressing, boring and cold.