Sport-Blog.com

by Tom Hanson

Every man remembers his first loves. Sometimes those loves recross a man's path as he ages.

Growing up I had two favorite football teams. At the collegiate level, the legendary Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the storied Knute Rockne caught my attention at a very young age. With Ara Parseghian behind the bench and quarterbacks like Terry Hanratty and Joe Theismann, Notre Dame was at the very top of the college football world.

Conversely, my Boston Patriots were anything but a legacy. Babe Parilli and Jim Nance were fun to follow but when it came to winning the Patriots always seemed to come up short. Throw in the later trade of Jim Plunkett to the hated Oakland Raiders and well, it was tough being a Patriots fan.

Of course today, the football world has reversed. Notre Dame has lost its luster while the New England Patriots are seeking their third Super Bowl title in four years. While Notre Dame struggled to find a new head coach and to recruit quality athletes, the Patriots are now the desired franchise for professional players and coaches.

The downward trend for Notre Dame has been a long slow process, partly by virtue of fewer gridiron successes but more due to leadership failings within the University sports leadership. The downward trend spiraled out of control when the university chose to hire then Georgia Tech football coach George O'Leary.

Notre Dame hired O'Leary despite his failure to graduate his football players. Among the 50 football teams that appeared in a Bowl game the year O'Leary was hired, O’Leary’s Georgia Tech team had the fifth lowest graduating percentage. Later, sports reporters researching the coach's background determined that O’Leary had dramatically falsified his resume. O'Leary was not a three-time college football letter winner as his resume claimed nor had he ever been awarded the masters degree from NYU that was listed in his paperwork.

After O'Leary resigned in embarrassment the University selected its first ever black head coach, Tyrone Willingham. Willingham appeared to be everything a first rate academic institution would want in a coach, bright, articulate and a leader of men. But Willingham was unable to win often enough for the alumni and the athletic boosters, so the University discharged him, depriving him of an opportunity to coach his team in a post-season bowl game. Then the University struggled as the caliber of coach they thought they needed did not seem to have any interest in the once storied program.

For the Patriots, the world has been on the upswing for quite some time. Three Super Bowl championships from a team that focuses upon the concept of team and playing together, the Patriots are now the poster child for professional success. Throw in an owner who has constructed one of the NFL's most attractive stadiums and the Patriots are the envy of football fans everywhere.

Enter Charlie Weis, offensive coordinator of the Patriots. A Notre Dame graduate, Weis has long sought a head coaching position. The idea of reviving the Fighting Irish, his own alma mater, led Weis to consider the enormous challenge at Notre Dame an opportunity to finally be in charge of his own team. Ultimately Weis signed on as the next head coach of the Fighting Irish, effective at the end of the current NFL season.

So now my revered Patriots are giving up a critical piece of their championship staff to my once cherished Fighting Irish. Make no mistake about it, Weis will have his work cut out for him. He will begin the job late, exceedingly late as the Patriots made another Super Bowl run. Weis will also have to tackle a 2005 schedule that would challenge any collegiate team in the country. Five of the Irish opponents finished in the top 25 of the final 2004 AP Poll and of course their schedule includes two time defending National Champions Southern California. Overall, the Irish opponents for 2005 had a combined 2004 won lost mark of 78 wins and 53 losses. That includes the 1 win, 10 loss, Washington Huskies who should be sky high when they take on the Irish next year. You see the Huskies hired Willingham to take over their struggling program.

On the flip side, I worry now for my Patriots. They managed to survive the distraction of losing a coach as they preparing for the playoffs and the Super Bowl. But more importantly, not enough attention is paid to the assistants who work for the head honcho. Lest anyone fail to underestimate the importance of the assistant coaches, one need only check out Bill Parcells' won-loss record with Bill Belichick as an assistant and Parcells' record without the current Patriots head coach.

Not too long ago I was distraught with the O'Leary hiring debacle and the Willingham firing fiasco. Now I find myself upbeat and filled with hope that Notre Dame will once again be on top of the college football world. I just hope that it will not be at the expense of my Patriots.

But then, I wonder. Is it safe for an old timer like myself to dream that the two early loves of his life could actually have success at the same time?