Read the room, you’re gloomy. It’s ok, many people are. I got to ND in 1986 and there were many articles written how ND could no longer compete. You could have written them. Then Holtz read us Chicago Tribune article laying out the case why we couldn’t compete with top programs (sound familiar?). Scholarship limits, no red shirts, academic standards, etc. He then told us that the article was not written recently. It was written just before Ara was hired. You are a nay sayer, even if you prefer the term realist. Our day will come again.
And you're NOT ACKNOWLDEGING THE PROBABILITIES while making a
SPECULATIVE ASSERTION you're treating as an AXIOM. I'm making NO ASSERTIONS but merely expressing EXTREMELY STRONG DOUBT based on what I see as a difference in KIND rather than merely DEGREE as was formerly the case.
The dumpster fire Ara extinguished lasted only 9 years, while there hadn't been an ND NC in 15 years. While the one Holtz put out lasted only 5 years and with no NC in the preceding 9 years. It took both coaches 3 years to rectify the NC issue.
The latest resurrection has been different in that ND has yet to win an NC since scrapping its way back to relevance. Yet, despite failing to achieve preeminence, Kelly didn't whiff by any means, restoring the program to something approaching Holtz's better years and certainly Dan Devine's.
Still, if by claiming that
ND's day will come again, you still don't consider it FULLY REDEEMED in the absence of an NC, you're then acknowledging that there's been 26 YEARS OF INTERMITTENT FRUSTRATION
in addition to an NC drought of 34 years.
AND THAT'S A LOT WORSE PICTURE THAN MY FATHER'S SLUMPING BUT STILL REVIVABLE ND PRESENTED.
Plus, the game has changed DRAMATICALLY in ways that ND has NOT. That wasn't the case in either the Ara or Holtz RESORGIMENTOS.
I don't know what you mean EXACTLY by ND's DAY COMING AGAIN. Sure, it could pull a BYU or Boise State in a star-aligned year, but to become the kind of consistent top-flight program with legitimate NC chances every year as was the case under Ara and Holtz, I see as HIGHLY UNLIKELY as things NOW STAND.
Where is the LOGIC that says otherwise?
I don't see a COHERENT ACTION PLAN, much less A CRITICAL PATH.