NIL, the portal, and MF took the doughnut off our bat --

by omahadomer, Wednesday, June 17, 2026, 17:26 (1 day, 12 hours, 38 min. ago) @ beattherush

starting around 1994, ND lost its "cool" factor. Playing by the rules, tough academics, cold weather, thoroughly mediocre coaching, bad ADs, and an unsupportive administration drove into Stanford territory. Yes, a good team would occasionally emerge but everyone knew we didn't have the talent to compete with the top teams.

The SEC teams were throwing cash at players under the table and everyone knew it and nobody was willing to stop it.

The Davie extension followed by the Fiasco Bowl and the 5-7 2001 campaign was probably the worst 12 months of the program in relatively modern times.

The false dawn of Willingham's 2002 team was fun while it lasted but the 2002 USC beatdown left a mark. USC had more talent at just about every position. The 2004 firing led to a narrative that ND was racist.

Of the "failed" coaches, Weis was the best. He proved we could attract some elite recruits (Clausen, T'eo, Crist) and we actually had an offense that scared teams in his first couple of years. But it stagnated because he couldn't get or keep good defensive coaches.

Kelly is who he is. He did a lot for the program. But again, when we ran up against the Bamas and Clemsons of the world in playoff games we were toast.

We lucked into Freeman and it took him a bit to figure out how to be a head coach. But the guy is the top recruiting head coach in the country. The enormous financial resources of the university and supporters can be put to legal and good use. The portal has been a net positive. We've lost players but mostly for them to play at programs a tier below us. Freeman has managed to find the right balance. We had Hartman and then Riley at QB. But going to another portal QB would've killed high school recruiting and he picked the right guy in Carr.

Steele likes ND. He always has. I'm not quite as optimistic as he is but he's right that there are maybe only five other rosters in the nation that compare to ND's. OSU, Texas, UGA, Miami, maybe one or two others -- that's about it.

But OSU is our white whale. We're going to have to beat OSU. I know in theory we could win the NC without beating them, but in truth we have to beat them. We came close last time. We have to finish the job.

--
"It's our blood and bones and these whistles and phones against Miller's and Noem's dirty lies."