ND has set their standard way too high for the current NCAA. How are they supposed to get top notch recruits with all those academic standards? Like players really want to start off the semester with Calculus on their schedule, along with other hard courses and ND forces them to take to stay academically eligible, all while playing football.
ND WAS a great program, NOW they're mediocre and they'll NEVER get back to the aura that they used to have. Sad that the alums and the pressure of NBC cannot see it and now they'll just be canning coaches every couple years until they realize it.
Willingham went over my expectations of ND this year, especially with that schedule. Sure they got drilled by USC, but beating superior Michigan and Tennessee teams gets you the axe? They had a tough schedule that most team would've only gone 7-4 or 8-3 with, ND managed to get a 6-5 season and became bowl eligible as well, and Ty is out, makes no sense to me.
First ever coach out at ND before his 1st contract is up, he still had 3 more years on it. It won't be the last cause they'll sign the next guy for 5 or 6 years and after another 3 years of mediocrity, they'll can him as well, and the cycle will continue until ND and all the affiliates realize that the golden helmet isn't the big dream of every high school kid anymore and they need to make changes to become a national power again, or just accept that they're not that good of a program and be happy with 6-5 and 7-4 seasons.
They have 2 options, time to decide on it.