In Murray Sperber’s definitive Shake Down The Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football, former AD and head coach Jesse Harper explained the program’s national schedule: “I had to go someplace where I could get some ball games.”
The cause was prejudice and blacklisting from regional teams. The result was the national identity that caused ND football to become America's team and the university to grow into America's Catholic school.
Almost a century after Harper first coached the Irish, Brian Kelly, fearful that potential conference alignment could regionalize ND recruiting, inherits a roster whose geographic diversity lives up to the University’s identity and strengthens the case for continued independence.
The cause was prejudice and blacklisting from regional teams. The result was the national identity that caused ND football to become America's team and the university to grow into America's Catholic school.
Almost a century after Harper first coached the Irish, Brian Kelly, fearful that potential conference alignment could regionalize ND recruiting, inherits a roster whose geographic diversity lives up to the University’s identity and strengthens the case for continued independence.
