Returning to Glory, Episode I: What does this really mean?

The fact is Notre Dame fans were spoiled during a majority of the Lou Holtz era. I believe if you take any of his squads from ’88-’93 and time warp them to recent past seasons, they win 6 consecutive National Championships! Yeah, that’s a homer call; blasphemous to Satan himself, Pete Carroll and all of his evil minions, ala Les Miles, Mack Brown, and Bob Stoops, but those Notre Dame teams trump all we’ve seen through the BCS Debacle Years. But I’ll take off my blue and gold goggles for once and look at the more recent history sans ’88-’93.

Save 1977 of course, you would have to go back to the early 70’s, during Coach Parseghian’s, time to really appreciate the successful storied program we always hear about. And being only 29 years old, that was a little bit before my time. Again with my dodgy math, I’ve added up the wins from ’78-end of Willingham era again leaving out ’88-’93. 133-87-3, or reality to Notre Dame fans, 133-90 is the outcome. That would be an ass-whuppin’ 59% winning percentage over the course of 19 seasons. So, I ask again, what the hell are we talking about when we say “Returning to Glory”? It sounds nice; it sounds a lot better than “attempting to develop a winning season after a string of mediocrity”, but really, the Rock ain’t comin’ back. Last time I looked Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley, and Layden aren’t on the commitment list for 2009. It’s time to stop reveling in the past. It’s time for change, for the future, and for a “New Glory”!