Why Notre Dame?

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RaT

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I noticed this morning that one of the top OL prospects in the whole country, Matt Hegarty from NM, just commited to Notre Dame. I got me thinking, how does Notre Dame still bring in all of these national recruits every year.

Now, I have never been to South Bend, IN and checked out Notre Dame's campus, but can someone give me a reasonable reasons why Notre Dame continues to excel in nationwide recruiting. Seeing as how it is 2010 and not 1970, the aura of Notre Dame should have been shaken off by now. They really haven't been a consistent national power in 10-15 years.

Your thoughts. Anyone checked out the campus?
 

1) They have as much (if not more) national exposure as any other team. That's a great thing if you want to play in the NFL
2) Tradition. They may be down lately, but ND has some great tradition and a new firey head coach
3) Solid education

These are just 3 that I came up with in a minute or two. I am sure there are tons of other great reasons for going there.
 

Notre Dame has a fantastic college football atmosphere...On my first first to South Bend I despised ND. As much as I hate to admit it, I left there a bit of a fan...
 

4) Every home game guaranteed to be on national TV
5) Extensive and wealthy alumni base
6) Sell-outs every game in memory and for the foreseeable future

This list could really go much longer, but Notre Dame's popularity is one of those things that you can't really explain fully when considering their mediocrity over the last few years. The fact that in-demand coaches still line up for this job and treat it as one of the destination jobs in the country says everything that needs to be said.
 

That NBC contact definitely must pull some weight with recruits. Every person with a TV and an antenna gets NBC.
 


The Yankees sucked for a long time, but they were still the Yankees.

Beautiful campus, fantastic facilities, top notch education, incredible exposure.

Plus there is always that recruiting angle: be one of the guys that brings Notre Dame back to power.
 

I also think its popularity and following are due in part to its strong affiliation with the Catholic Church and Irish heritage. There are some people that identify with the school just because of one or both of those ties. Proud Irish descendants, and faithful Catholic congregations aren't bound by state lines.

That border-free popularity leads to a national following, and an attractive destination to any recruit (regardless if they are Catholic or have Irish heritage). The ‘sense of place’ popularity nationwide plus the deep college football traditions at Notre Dame mean that it will probably always have a national recruiting base.
 

If one is generally not a fan of Notre Dame (I fall into that category), your perspective will change once you attend a game or two at Notre Dame. Hands down the best college football experience(s) I've ever had in terms of game-day atmosphere. Most impressive thing is the way the game-day workers, parking attendants, concessions people, ushers, etc., treat the opposing fans. It's very obvious Notre Dame puts a lot of effort into making sure people have a great game-day experience. Everything done is first class all the way.

Tocuhdown Jesus, Concert on the Steps, the Notre Dame Fight Song and even the annoying leprechaun (my least favorite mascot in all of college sports) . ... those are all extra things that add to the experience.
 

How is the stadium and/or the campus?

Does it appear outdated or still very classic looking?
 



Schnauzer said:
I also think its popularity and following are due in part to its strong affiliation with the Catholic Church and Irish heritage. There are some people that identify with the school just because of one or both of those ties. Proud Irish descendants, and faithful Catholic congregations aren't bound by state lines.

That border-free popularity leads to a national following, and an attractive destination to any recruit (regardless if they are Catholic or have Irish heritage). The ‘sense of place’ popularity nationwide plus the deep college football traditions at Notre Dame mean that it will probably always have a national recruiting base.
Click to expand...

I think you're on to something on this one. The kids name is Matt Hegarty;
 

RaT said:
How is the stadium and/or the campus?

Does it appear outdated or still very classic looking?
Click to expand...

Despite being just outside Chicago, it's 70 and sunny every day and you should see the co-eds at the beaches on Lake Michigan. :cheer:
 

Schnauzer said:
I also think its popularity and following are due in part to its strong affiliation with the Catholic Church and Irish heritage. There are some people that identify with the school just because of one or both of those ties. Proud Irish descendants, and faithful Catholic congregations aren't bound by state lines.

That border-free popularity leads to a national following, and an attractive destination to any recruit (regardless if they are Catholic or have Irish heritage). The ‘sense of place’ popularity nationwide plus the deep college football traditions at Notre Dame mean that it will probably always have a national recruiting base.
Click to expand...

But there are many other Catholic colleges, none of which have anywhere near the fan base that Notre Dame has. The difference is sports.
 

RodentRampage said:
But there are many other Catholic colleges, none of which have anywhere near the fan base that Notre Dame has. The difference is sports.
Click to expand...

The difference is not only sports. Notre Dame is the premier Catholic University in the U.S. I know that this it not as applicable as it used to be, but many of the Catholic families that I grew up around dreamed of sending their sons to Notre Dame for the Catholic education. It would be just a bonus if they could also play football there.

I live across the street from a strong Catholic family whose two oldest sons played football for Cretin Derham Hall. The youngest son has already gotten a lot of attention for his football ability. If he continues to progress it is not out of the question that he will receive scholarship offers from both Minnesota and ND. If that happens, the mother and father (who graduated from the U) will be lobbying their son very hard to go play for the Irish.
 



What sets Notre Dame above all those many other Catholic Colleges is sports. That's what put it in the national spotlight. You can get a Catholic education at a vast number of colleges in the US.

Here's a list of Catholic colleges: http://www.stirenes.org/information/college_list.html
There are an awful lot of excellent colleges on that list, what sets Notre Dame apart is sports.
 

RodentRampage said:
What sets Notre Dame above all those many other Catholic Colleges is sports. That's what put it in the national spotlight. You can get a Catholic education at a vast number of colleges in the US.

Here's a list of Catholic colleges: http://www.stirenes.org/information/college_list.html
There are an awful lot of excellent colleges on that list, what sets Notre Dame apart is sports.
Click to expand...

We are talking about families who want a strong Catholic education for their sons. Notre Dame is at the top of the list for ALL Catholic Colleges and Universities. No other Catholic school compares to Notre Dame in reputation and prestige. Unless you grew up in that kind of environment you will probably never understand it.

I was not a college caliber athlete. My Catholic parents did not dream about sending me to Harvard or Yale for the best education money can buy. They wanted me to go to Notre Dame for the best Catholic education money can buy. There are still Catholic families like that all over the country.

It is a cultural phenomenon as well as a religious one. That is why Catholic parents in the Twin Cities pay all the money they do to send their kids to Catholic schools. The large majority are not doing it because the school fields a good football, hockey, or basketball team. I am very close to the situation and in my opinion most of the public high schools in the Twin Cities provide at least as good an education as CDH provides to its' students.
 

I think you underestimate how much or Notre Dame's prestive relative to other Catholic colleges rests on sports. When you think of a Catholic college, Notre Dame may be the first one that comes to mind, but its status as a household name is due to sports. Loyola Maryland outscores Notre Dame according to US News and World Report rankings, but Loyola isn't much of a sports name.

I'm not bad mouthing a Notre Dame education, I'm just saying that sports is what gives them the edge over a lot of very good Catholic colleges. I'm not saying that people directly choose to go to Notre Dame because of sports, but sports does give them a lot of name recognition.
 

I think people are vastly overstating the catholic thing. I was raised in about as catholic of a house as possible and ND never came up. Not once. We did make the 4 hr round trip to St. Johns a few times for football games, but ND was generally not viewed favorably. I only know one big ND fan in our entire congregation, and he is alumni so I give him a pass.
 

RaT said:
How is the stadium and/or the campus?

Does it appear outdated or still very classic looking?
Click to expand...


I have been to a game there every year since 1982. The campus is fantastic. While there are some older buildings, they are very well maintained. Many more brand new buildings that were built to fit into the older architecture. The administration building with the gold dome is spectacular as is the cathedral. The bookstore is beautiful. Could go on forever. The place reeks of money.

The catholic/irish angles are way overrated. Notre Dame is just a national university with a national following and they have always promoted it as such, which is why it remains popular.
I remember as a kid growing up in Detroit Lakes in the 60s, I couldn't wait to watch the Notre Dame football highlights show, narrated by Lindsey Nelson, that aired for 1 hour each Sunday. This was being broadcast from a Fargo, ND station. They had a huge national network to run the replay every week.
 

Notre Dame

I was watching highlights of the Notre Dame Spring game on TV. Didn't see Gopher Spring game highlights on national TV. Then it looked like their game was packed even though it was raining. I hate Notre Dame but I can see why they don't have to work hard to get recruits even when they are bad. Just think how they will do when things pick up.
 

Been there a lot. Place is totally sui generis. Literally incomparable to other places.

I currently hold the world record for Fan Who Has Sung the Rouser the Most Times as the Irish Take the Field.

Freakin' Lou! :(
 

Are there any other D1 BCS Catholic universities in the country? It seems to me St.Johns and St. Thomas etal aren't really in this discussion.
 


RaT said:
How is the stadium and/or the campus?

Does it appear outdated or still very classic looking?
Click to expand...

Try visiting when there's no game and you will see why some people hate it there. There's one bar and nothing else on campus. Downtown South Bend isn't much better.
 

I once peed on Notre Dame Stadium while on a road trip in college. It was a proud moment because of the way I feel about ND, and a shameful moment because of the way I feel about my maturity at the time.
 

Schnoodler said:
Are there any other D1 BCS Catholic universities in the country? It seems to me St.Johns and St. Thomas etal aren't really in this discussion.
Click to expand...

There are several when it comes to basketball in the BCS (all Big East):

Georgetown
St. John's
Seton Hall
DePaul
Marquette
Villanova
Providence

It leads me to believe that these schools avoided Division 1A or football all together in order to "stay out of the way" of Notre Dame.
 

ruralgopher said:
I think people are vastly overstating the catholic thing. I was raised in about as catholic of a house as possible and ND never came up. Not once. We did make the 4 hr round trip to St. Johns a few times for football games, but ND was generally not viewed favorably. I only know one big ND fan in our entire congregation, and he is alumni so I give him a pass.
Click to expand...

I think the Catholic thing is a big deal in some families. I know of strongly religious families don't consider ND because of the cost, but did send their kids to another Catholic university. Those who could afford ND (no athletes involved) did so. IMO, there is still an aura about a ND education.
 

SelectionSunday said:
If one is generally not a fan of Notre Dame (I fall into that category), your perspective will change once you attend a game or two at Notre Dame. Hands down the best college football experience(s) I've ever had in terms of game-day atmosphere. Most impressive thing is the way the game-day workers, parking attendants, concessions people, ushers, etc., treat the opposing fans. It's very obvious Notre Dame puts a lot of effort into making sure people have a great game-day experience. Everything done is first class all the way.

Tocuhdown Jesus, Concert on the Steps, the Notre Dame Fight Song and even the annoying leprechaun (my least favorite mascot in all of college sports) . ... those are all extra things that add to the experience.
Click to expand...
I have been to two games at South Bend and still loath Notre Dumb. Of course I have a highly developed B.S. meter. I am both Irish and Catholic and have never bought into the hype.I remember too many fraudalent N.C.'S and Heismans. I would have thought that a 25 year bowl win drought would have driven away some of the myths, but like Vikings wearing helmets with horns on them, some stories are more powerful then the massive pile of facts proving them false.
 

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