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Its Gruden Stupid
UHND.com - Derek Drushel
11/15/2001
My lucky friends in green, we have a problem. No, not Bob Davie. That problem, has been addressed. I guarantee you that. Folks I'm talking about a crisis of a much more horrifying nature. That problem is the answer that I hear to the question of who the next Head Coach at Notre Dame should be. You see good people, names such as Coughlin, Mariucci, Bellotti, Alvarez, Stoops, and even O'Briend are being whispered as possibilities for the job. We as Notre Dame fans, as strong and battle tested warriors, must fight these dilusional barbarians, and guide Notre Dame Football back to its continual upward path. That's right, we must take a stand, and scream our vocal chords beyond their own tolerance in the name of Jon Gruden. Certainly there are many good Irishmen who are with me in this venture, however, countless people including world leaders, and Bob Davie if he knew what he was doing, would tell you that you never win a war because you are sloppy. So I've taken it upon myself to round up the troops, and make new recruits, and lead "Team Gruden" to victory. Well, at least pretend I'm the leader for the remainder of the article. Jon Gruden MUST, I say again, MUST be hired. Here's why.
Reason number one: Intensity
Many of you have probably forgotten the meaning of the word if you've ventured anywhere near Notre Dame Stadium in the past five years. The toughness of past Irish squads has all but vanished. Enter into the days when gangsters from Michigan State, and Boilermakers from Purdue, push the Irish around in the trenches. Jon Gruden will put an end to this. I guarantee it. Don't expect to see anything less than that classic GQ scowl on his face when players mess up. I recall a time when Holtz patrolled the sidelines with wreckless abandon. He didn't just yell in your ear as you walked with your head down toward the "cool zone." No, no, no. This man yanked you right into his eyes using a handful of your own facemask. If he had something to say to you, you were listening, whether you liked it or not. Intensity needs to be restored to the people in the seats too. That's right, we the fans. 80,000 fans should sound like 160,000 at Notre Dame. Gruden is one of the most intense guys you'll ever see. This is the level of intensity that rubs off on players, and drives them to succeed and improve. Improve? Ahhh yes, that brings me to reason number two.
Reason number two: Player Development
Unlike intensity we've heard this word all too often the past five years, and it makes me cringe. Where have all the superstars gone? Zero Heisman winners since the previous eight (I include the Rocket's obsurd second place finish to BYU QB Ty Detmer) that seem so long ago. All-Americans? Forget it. No national titles either. Many say its due to lack of talent. Not quite. Michigan State FIVE years in a row? ALL GAMES WE GAVE AWAY? Lack of COACHING. The Irish recruit as well or better than one hundred percent of their schedule. There's no doubt about it. You don't believe me? Allow me to list a "few" highly touted recruits who have all but not shown up, reminding you that this only includes CURRENT players. Which means there are even more coaching failures.
Carlos Pierre-Antoine:
We wanted this guy so bad that we started recruiting him as a SOPHOMORE.
Arnaz Battle: Quarterback, I MEAN receiver. Wasted two years behind Jackson.
Insulting.
David Givens: Allen Wallace said he was the number one player in the country.
I guess Davie disagrees.
Tony Fisher: Top recruit doesn't guarantee a lot of carries anymore. More on
carries below.
Clifford Jefferson: 4.3 speed? 5'11" and not 5'9"? Maybe I'm not supposed to
understand.
Gerome Sapp: A Junior now, finally starting and hitting like they said. Was
ranked 6th nationally out of HS.
Javin Hunter: Just like Givens, if you want to see a receiver "step up" Davie,
you need to throw him the ball.
Julius Jones: So much for developing lateral moves and vision.
Terrence Howard: What's that? A fumble? HOW DARE YOU!
Vontez Duff: Tell these DB's to look back for the ball. Should've started last
year. Bench Jefferson.
Tom Lopienski: Give him the ball. Remember Bettis, Zellars, and Edwards? Guess
not.
Jason Murray: Glaring example of the durability problems. Remember Ronnie Nicks.?
Mike Goolsby: Still backing up a converted running back as a Soph. This guy
is pure blue chip.
Grant Irons: Am I a LB? DE? DT? PUNTER???
Mike McNair: Blue chip talent LITERALLY means no carries in this case. FB size,
4.3 speed. Oh well.
Cedric Hilliard: So he wasn't in that great of shape. Gruden will take care
of that. Get him on the field.
Darrel Campell: He and Hilliard continue to fight the likes of B.J. Scott and
Andy Wisne for starting jobs.
Ryan Scarola: Not the only giant OL that hasn't fallen into obscurity.
Kurt Vollers: Defense? Offense? Either way another starter that should be a
superstar.
Greg Pauly: No DL talent at ND? This guy was top 3 out of HS. Does he play?
See if you can spot #77.
Jordan Black: Blah blah blah.
Oh yeah, does anybody remember Albert Poree, Neal Ambron, Jovan Witherspoon, Zak Kustok, or Jamaar Taylor? They all jumped ship before they could get wasted like Jabari Holloway did. Poree? He's at Georgia Tech, Witherspoon and Kustok at Northwestern. I venture to say we'd lose to both is we played them now. Anyway you get the idea. Next reason.
Reason number three: Transition
Trust me folks. Nobody's going to complain if Davie were fired today, and Gruden hired the same. What about our recruits you ask? The committments haven't moved. The Irish have more early committments than they've had in a long time. Notice anything about recent weeks though? That's right, no committments. Davie isn't too excited about recruiting anymore, and players aren't too excited about Notre Dame recruiting them. Losing is hurting us. A top NFL coach who "has an offense for everyone" certainly will not hurt us. Prep players are drooling over the chance to get the kind of touches on the ball that the Raiders distribute so well. One thing I will say is that we must ANNOUNCE it as soon as the season ends. The playoffs go right through January. What comes after January you ask? Well February of course. And what does that mean? AH HAH! National Signing Day.
Reason number four: Marketability
I mentioned the GQ face earlier. This guy married a cheerleader. People Magazine noticed him. People watching NBC on Saturday's will too. Hating Notre Dame has been in style for a litle too long. Time to turn the trend.
Reason number five: Leverage
This guy is way too high profile and will be too well loved for the BWS (Beauchamp/Wadsworth Syndrome) to strike again at Notre Dame. See if two morons with an agenda of their own can ever force out a football deity like Gruden without committing political suicide. No more hiring of figureheads like Davie. I declared at the time that he shouldn't have been hired. Skeptics are all but convinced of that now.
Lastly, Gruden is a Notre Dame man. We all know this thanks to the press coverage as of late. Someone who loves Notre Dame, respects the place that employs him, and makes others want to love it the way so many of us do. Gruden expects excellence. Just like great coaches of the past, he instills the belief in his players that they can, and will beat anyone, anywhere. That's the Notre Dame mystique. The Davie mystique is if we don't turn it over today, and the weather is good, and we don't have too many injuries, and our opponent comes out flat, and the wind is blowing in just the right direction that it blows a possible game tying field goal kicked right before the half wide right and retains the lead and the momentum for us going into the locker room, we just might be able to pull off the win, but don't count on us. Which do you prefer? The choice is yours fans. Join me. Comments? E-mail me at ddrushel005@home.com or post a message on the board for DomerDerek