Caution - This is a long read
I had a thought - every now and then these still come to me, even at my age. A wild hair some call it. I decided to write a short story about a theory I came up with. A theory that was all based around the idea of "what if?"
And it centered on examining the down years of our beloved University. Let's call those years 1954 thru 1963.
I wondered 'what if?' in1954 ND had hired another Frank Leahy?
What a powerhouse, what a story that would have made.
Today the all time ND wins might be very different, out distancing the closest school, Michigan by a healthy margin. As it turned out, a winning tradition was derailed for a lost decade that tallied 10 seasons -- 51 wins 48 losses With the right coach, the decade could have been 91 wins and 8 losses Instead of the all time record of 882-310-42, we might be looking at 922-270-42
Too ambitious a projection, to unrealistic? Read further before issuing judgment.
Sure, the parallels can be drawn again to the years 1996 through 2005, but I chose to examine one mistake at a time. And that mistake, that lack of thoroughness in picking the head coach of ND football first occurred in 1954.
Some may argue the following statement is no longer true. Fair enough. But the erosion of the essence of the next sentence validates the impact of the down years of 1954-1963 and 1996 through 2005.
In 1954, as now, the head coaching job at Notre Dame was the epitome of it all; it was the holy grail of collegiate coaching for Holtz, Leahy, Urban Myer and countless others.
And as it turns out -- even a young Vincent Lombardi coveted it perhaps more than all of them.
And I swear, that my original idea, my premise to look at the lost decade of ND football and asking what if ND hired a certain coach from New Jersey in 1954 -- was an original thought. Cynics will say my subconscious thoughts are a factor. Perhaps this is coincidental and maybe it is not original as I am not the first to think of this. But .....
I don't know about all that but I was totally surprised to find the factual story that supports my tale. A fact, a story that supports my story and makes it not just a tale, but a TRUE TALE.
I hope in this off season, you enjoy it. Grab some Joe and read on…..
And so it begins. A tale of truth with some liberties taken for the benefit of storytelling.
This post was edited on 2/20 4:11 AM by theskibro
I had a thought - every now and then these still come to me, even at my age. A wild hair some call it. I decided to write a short story about a theory I came up with. A theory that was all based around the idea of "what if?"
And it centered on examining the down years of our beloved University. Let's call those years 1954 thru 1963.
I wondered 'what if?' in1954 ND had hired another Frank Leahy?
What a powerhouse, what a story that would have made.
Today the all time ND wins might be very different, out distancing the closest school, Michigan by a healthy margin. As it turned out, a winning tradition was derailed for a lost decade that tallied 10 seasons -- 51 wins 48 losses With the right coach, the decade could have been 91 wins and 8 losses Instead of the all time record of 882-310-42, we might be looking at 922-270-42
Too ambitious a projection, to unrealistic? Read further before issuing judgment.
Sure, the parallels can be drawn again to the years 1996 through 2005, but I chose to examine one mistake at a time. And that mistake, that lack of thoroughness in picking the head coach of ND football first occurred in 1954.
Some may argue the following statement is no longer true. Fair enough. But the erosion of the essence of the next sentence validates the impact of the down years of 1954-1963 and 1996 through 2005.
In 1954, as now, the head coaching job at Notre Dame was the epitome of it all; it was the holy grail of collegiate coaching for Holtz, Leahy, Urban Myer and countless others.
And as it turns out -- even a young Vincent Lombardi coveted it perhaps more than all of them.
And I swear, that my original idea, my premise to look at the lost decade of ND football and asking what if ND hired a certain coach from New Jersey in 1954 -- was an original thought. Cynics will say my subconscious thoughts are a factor. Perhaps this is coincidental and maybe it is not original as I am not the first to think of this. But .....
I don't know about all that but I was totally surprised to find the factual story that supports my tale. A fact, a story that supports my story and makes it not just a tale, but a TRUE TALE.
I hope in this off season, you enjoy it. Grab some Joe and read on…..
And so it begins. A tale of truth with some liberties taken for the benefit of storytelling.
This post was edited on 2/20 4:11 AM by theskibro
