Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
Do you remember the simpler times when Big Ten expansion was a debate
between Rutgers, Syracuse, Pitt, and Missouri? When the end results of
conference shuffling were not enormous 16-team superconferences with the
breadth and stability of the Soviet Union in 1991? Yeah, neither do I.
A week or so ago, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick inaugurated the era of crazy speculation by saying there were "scenarios" in which the Irish would not be able to maintain their independence. None of these scenarios seemed remotely plausible, so college football media folk facing the long dark of the offseason naturally went to the implausible ones wherein the Big Ten annihilates the Big East with lasers and picks off an orphaned Notre Dame in the process. It's April. It's that or talking about spring football reports of dubious validity.
But just when we've all put together our ridiculous 16-team Big WAC or even more ridiculous 15-team promotion/relegation structure, Swarbrick has to go and pull the rug out from under us:
"The only things that could make it [conference affiliation] happen are the sorts of radical change in the industry that would cause upheaval and impact a lot more (schools) than Notre Dame. You wind up with only three conferences. You wind up with two tiers of conferences. Now, all of a sudden, it's not three divisions in college; it's four. It's the big change.
"I don't see that happening."
So if the Big Ten expands and California falls into the sea and the Big 12 picks off the remnants and large portions of the South becomes uninhabitable due to global warming, causing a second civil war that sees a tattered remnant of the SEC emerge victorious over forces from the ACC and scattered Big East rebels, then... then Notre Dame might consider dumping its independence.
Swarbrick would like you to send a pigeon to him when you're running around a Washington, DC that looks like Fallout 3. Until then, please keep your secular paws to yourselves, thanks. You may now resume wonderi ng if Rutgers can really bring the New York media market to heel.
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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Comments
It all depends if ND can squeak out a few winning seasons before their next television contract negotiation in 2015. Frankly, I like the yearly beatings they take from USC.
by old__Chuckeye on Apr 8, 2010 5:00 PM EDT reply actions
I would rather see my irish stay independant in FB but that may not be the best course of action .
It would help them to be in the Big 10 in most other sports , IMHO .
by taxi9381 on Apr 8, 2010 5:00 PM EDT reply actions
As much as Big Ten would love the "lore" of good old ND and its storied past, the present ND is no longer a force in football. We already have a "Michigan State".
by Sayitaintsosa23 on Apr 8, 2010 5:35 PM EDT reply actions
It seems to me ND is stuck in the twenties. They need a conference but I hope it’s not the Big 10. They would get their butt handed to them every year. The need the Big East where they might win a few games from Syracuse, UConn, Louisville and USF. The conference is a joke and ND is a joke.
by shiham on Apr 8, 2010 6:20 PM EDT reply actions
it’s better for ND to stay in the Big East for most sports- they have long traditions in soccer and baseball, for example, that would weaken if they joined another conference, especially the big ten. Right now, with the new Big East lax conference just forming, the non revenue sports are better in the Big East (especially lax- which might actually be revenue generating now).
by londonjoe on Apr 8, 2010 9:42 PM EDT reply actions
There should be one conference with all religious schools, just so we can see Catholic fight Mormon and so forth.
by L'etat, c'est moi on Apr 8, 2010 11:19 PM EDT reply actions
Notre Dame is betting the house on Brian Kelly being their savior. All of the major conferences have taken their invites off of the table. If Kelly fails, and Notre Dame is still a middle of the road football team they are going to have to beg and plead to join a conference, which is exactly what all of these teams want. At that point Notre Dame would have to official give up on the idea that they will ever be a college football power house and just hope to survive. Its always great to have a team to hate in sports and it would be nice to hate Notre Dame because they are actually good instead of because they still think they are. http://huebnerj.wordpress.com/
by JoshHuebner on Apr 9, 2010 8:31 AM EDT reply actions
who cares about Notre Lame? as long as NBC continues to flush money away, things will never cahnge. ND doesn’t want to share revenue, or anything else – which is why they won’t join a conference. remember…they think they are better than everyone else – despite what their performance over the last 10 years would suggest. they are thinking of winning national championships every year, no less than 10 victories every year – and it’s not going to happen, because they jsut aren’t that good! I think secretly, ND dreams about joining then owning the big ten, but that would happen either…the main reason they won’t join the big ten? ND regularly get’s their butt kicked by BT teams! if they joined the big ten, they could guarantee about 3 losses per year just from conference play, and that would never fly in ND land,
by commonsenseplease on Apr 9, 2010 2:10 PM EDT reply actions
FWIW…Notre Dame is on a much better path with Kelly at the helm than the it ever was with previous coaches like Willingham, Davie and Weis.
Notre Dame’s problems have been much more of having a "not a good college coach/system" related than just being a has-been football entity.
Oklahoma before Shoup, Alabama before Saban, USC before Pete Carroll, Texas before Mack Brown, Georgia Tech before Paul Johnson and the list goes on about how quickly a tarnished marquee football program can become very relevant in a hurry.
I think your obituaries about Notre Dame football are way out of date.
Their fanbase and Administration with the new AD Swarbrick are demanding and aggressive—and I’m betting there will be some positive results.
I personally don’t see them begging to join any particular conference in the near future —quite the opposite, with many a conference being very interested in having Notre Dame as a member.
by CollegeFootball#1 on Apr 9, 2010 4:23 PM EDT reply actions
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