Coaching dominates college football

Before each home football game, the players of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are reminded why they came to the university. Above a staircase, a plain sign reads: "Play Like a Champion Today."

A national championship is expected every year at South Bend, and at the outset of this season, expectations were high. Quarterback Ron Powlus was returning for his final year behind one of the strongest Irish offensive lines in years. Fifteen starters were back from a team that went a solid 8-3 in 1996. But four games into this season, the Irish have only one victory. Following last weekend's tough 21-14 loss to unbeaten Michigan, the team realized that the fall to mediocrity can be much more painful than losing a national championship on a last-second field goal.

A recent New York Times article attributed the fall of Irish excellence to a "national obsession of creating a level playing field...[where] a lower level of recruiting success, for whatever reasons, has lessened the talent level at Notre Dame from the time the current seniors were being pursued." The writer, Malcolm Moran, overlooks the most logical reason for the fall of Notre Dame football, as well as the deterioration of football programs at other former national powerhouses like Miami and Alabama: the loss of a great coach.

Last season, legendary Irish coach Lou Holtz stepped down after eight seasons leaving assistant Bob Davie to step in. Fans and players knew that the transition would not be smooth, but they did not expect the complete team collapse that has occurred. In the past 10 years, the Irish have only once lost more than three games in an entire season.

Davie has revamped the Irish offense, creating a more wide-open, aggressive passing attack with Powlus calling the plays. But so far, the offense has shot blanks, scoring a meager 45 points over a four game stretch, the lowest in 15 years. Irish fans are in for a long season.

It's early, but there are four teams with a realistic shot at winning this year's national title: Florida, Florida State, Nebraska, and Penn State. Each of these teams have coaches that are larger figures than any of their players. Meanwhile, of Notre Dame, Miami, and Alabama--programs that have spiraled downward after just recently being on top--only the Crimson Tide, ranked No. 20, appears in this week's AP top 25. In the past decade, the three of them combined won four titles, yet it has been three seasons since either of the three have appeared in the final top 10. It's no coincidence that all each has seen coaching changes during that time.

Steve Spurrier, Bobby Bowden, Tom Osborne, and Joe Paterno, coaches of Florida, Florida State, Nebraska, and Penn State, respectively, have led their teams to a remarkable level of consistency in recent years. Spurrier, Osborne, and Bowden own the past four national championships, and there is a strong chance that one of them will pick up another title this year. So far this season, Florida and Nebraska have picked up big wins over Tennessee and Washington while Florida State keeps rolling. Penn State, meanwhile, has outscored its opposition by a whopping 143-48 margin.

Five years from now, it is unlikely that either Paterno, Osborne, or Bowden will still be coaching, and the days of Nebraska, Penn State, and Florida State dominance will be over. The three caoches are now fourth, fifth, and sixth, respectively, in all-time victories. A new wave of coaching powers will join Spurrier as Davie, Colorado's Rick Neuheisal, and Auburn's Terry Bowden (Bobby Bowden's son), will one day be leading the next generation of college football powerhouses. Davie, Neuheisal, and the younger Bowden, as hungry as they are for a championship, need not look far to see that it takes a lot of time to build a champion in college football. It took Osborne 22 years to win a title. For Bobby Bowden, the wait was 17 seasons. Paterno didn't win it all until 1982, 16 years into his tenure. It took Spurrier the shortest amount of time, but it was still a six year battle.

This year, don't expect anyone to come close to touching the big four. Their coaches have created juggernauts, programs so far superior to their opposition that none will be tested until they play each head-to-head.

Until then, the frustration in South Bend will go on. There is a good chance that the Irish losing streak will continue this weekend, as Notre Dame heads to Palo Alto, Calif. to take on No. 19 Stanford. It will probably be years before the Irish are in the hunt for a championship again; Davie's road to greatness will most certainly be a long one. While they wait, Irish fans unaccustomed to mediocrity will have to lower their expectations. And as for Notre Dame players, to "Play Like a Champion Today" will take on a whole new meaning.

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