Davie at the End of the Road
UHND.com - Frank Vitovitch
11/3/2001
Notre Dame, Ind (UHND.com) - On the morning before #7 Tennessee comes to town to battle the 3-4 Fighting Irish, one has to think that the outcome of this game will have little effect on Bob Davie's job status because last week Bob Davie sealed his fate with the Irish's loss last week in Chestnut Hill.
For Davie to hold onto his job after the 0-3 start, the only thing he could have done was win out. He started out on the right foot by getting his team back to .500 with wins over Pittsburgh, West Virginia, and USC. That brought Notre Dame into last weekend's game against Boston College at 3-3 with a chance to salvage the season. However, poor play calling (that's a surprise) and an overall lack of execution lead to a Boston College win despite Notre Dame owning the clock all game long.
That game was a microcosm for Bob Davie's tenure at Notre Dame. Despite having all the opportunities in the world, he couldn't close the door on an opponent his team should have beaten especially since he claims this is his most talented team.
The fact that Davie has stated that this is his most talented team is another factor that has sealed his fate as the head coach at Notre Dame. If this is his most talented team (and one of his most experience I might add) why then are the Irish at 3-4 with little hope left?
Left on Notre Dame's schedule yet is #7 Tennessee who they play today along with #13 Stanford, #15 Purdue and Navy. Of those games Notre Dame will only be favored against Navy and could be double digit underdogs at Stanford and Purdue if both teams win out before playing Notre Dame. Notre Dame a double digit underdog to Purdue? Welcome to Notre Dame football under Bob Davie.
Davie has teased Notre Dame fans with two good seasons, 1998 and 2000. 1998 could have been some special had Jarious Jackson not gotten injured on Bob Davie's worse decision as head coach at Notre Dame. Who knows what 2000 could have been had Arnaz Battle not gotten hurt as well. Davie has never taken that next step however. In fact, both of his good seasons have been immediately followed by one horrible season in 1999 and what now looks like the makings of another horrible season.
Some Tennessee article earlier this week pointed out the fact that Bob Davie would have to win something like 70 games to equal the winning percentage of Phillip Fulmer, head coach of Tennessee. That is unacceptable. Notre Dame gets as much talent as Tennessee every year, yet Tennessee has managed to be a perrenial top 10 team while Notre Dame has slipped into the lower tier of college football.
I have supported Bob Davie since he came to Notre Dame and will continue to support him until he is no longer the coach of Notre Dame, but the time has come for Notre Dame to make a change. Bob Davie does love Notre Dame though and Notre Dame fans should respect him for that. If he did not love Notre Dame he would not be out there trying to win the rest of the games and would not be recruiting as hard as he has this year. I am sure that some day Bob Davie will become a fine head coach somewhere, but that time is not now and that place is definitely not Notre Dame.