In the weeks and months since the Big Ten announced plans to explore expansion, it’s been held up as the gospel that Notre Dame would be an unattainable pipe dream for the conference.
There was a good reason for that line of thinking, too, as the Irish had previously turned down serious overtures from the league in 1999, and athletic director Jack Swarbrick said shortly after the Big Ten announced their intentions that the Irish’s “strong preference is to remain” a football independent.
Based on the uncertainty over just how college football will look conference-wise after the next couple of years shake out, there could be some thawing in Notre Dame’s previously rigid stance.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the Big East basketball tournament, and as written by Andy Staples of SI.com, Swarbrick called the current situation “as unstable as I’ve seen it” in his 30 years. Not only is the Big Ten considering expansion, but the Pac-10 is doing so as well.
Of course, if either or both conferences expand, they’ll have to get the new schools from somewhere, which could result in major shakeups in both the Big East and Big 12 conferences.
There’s even been talk of so-called “super-conferences” emerging when all of the expansion dust settles.
Giving the murky nature of the situation, Swarbrick seemed to open the door to be wooed. Or, at the very least, give it stronger consideration than once was thought possible.
“I believe we are at a point right now where the changes could be relatively small, or they could be seismic,” said Swarbrick. “What I have to do along with [university president John] Jenkins is figure out where the pieces are falling. …
“What if realignment impacted the shape of the BCS? Also, the Big East has been a great home for us [in other sports], but if there are fundamental changes to the Big East as a result of realignment, what does that do? What if a few conferences further distinguish themselves from the field? What are the competitive ramifications of that?
“… That’s why I’m spending 50 percent of my time right now talking to people [about this].”
Even after being jilted once outright in the past, and told — basically — to not even bother recently, there’s little doubt that Notre Dame would be the school the Big Ten would most want to add, if for nothing more than the economic and academic aspects the Irish would bring to the table.
While it still seems likely that the Irish will do just about anything to retain their independence, the economic realities of big-time college football — “You have two conferences [the Big Ten and SEC] that have separated themselves economically,” Swarbrick said – may make the Irish-to-the-Big Ten talk a reality that didn’t seem likely even three months ago.
The landscape will change in college athletics very soon. The Big Ten, Pac 10, SEC and Big 12 will all move to 14 or 16 teams. The Big East, Mountain West and ACC will change drastically.
Notre Dame will have to join a league and their only logical choice will be with the Big Ten group.
A move with the eleven, plus Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Connecticut and Rutgers will be a good additon.
Please join the Big Ten. I would love to see them beat up every weekend. My two favorite teams;Penn State and whoever is playing Notre Dame. Their football program sucks and they play mostly patsies. Touchdown Jesus wishes he could put his hands over his eyes.
Screw the Irish – they are the only Div II football team on a national TV network – the Noter Dame Broadcasting Network – NBC and the Irish can SUCK together when it comes to quality college football.
ND dissed the Big Ten before – no more chances. Let them join the PAC-10 as that league’s perennial doormat. It would be easy for the Cryers to dump the rest of the cream puffs on their schedule to fill in the other 50% with PAC-10 teams.
Central Michigan plays better football than the Irish. Maybe ND’s best fit would be in the MAC – maybe then the Irish would be assured of a .500 record every season.
The best move is to make the Irish play in their current conference – the Big Easy – which has been holding high hopes that ND would come around and join in football after all the tough teams bolted for the ACC.
50% of his time talking about it?? What kind of business executive spends 50% of his time thinking about one thing that may or may not happen.
This is a FANTASTIC example of why the Irish are stuck in the Lou Holtz (I don’t want to pass Knute Rockne) days.
hey Penn State homo count the days til nd enters the big ten…..you dip s_it. you dare call nd overrated what a jackass…….that 100 year old washed up fossil you call a coach has done nothin but drag down that confeerence since comin in like the savior to be.perhaps notre dame has been down on the luck and things havent worked out well for them,but you dont see their fans in envy of your shitty program the way you and the rest of the world is of theirs.So careful what you wish for treeko cause all that the irish joining the big ten will do is move your shittney lions that much closer to the bottom of an already piss poor overrated group of big losers.
hey treeko wasnt it just a few seasons ago this so called patsy team you call the irish put a 41-17 beat down on your shittney lions
Just put a winning team on the field!! ND does not need to join any conference. A good team will ensure TV contracts and big money.
Stick with tradition. Stay INDEPENDENT.
It is very funny how all the talk here should be about the upside or downside of ND joining the conference. Instead, you all wanna bash PSU. I go to every home Penn State game, and you can make all the fun you want, but Joe PA is just as engaged as he was 20 years ago, and is every bit in control. He can be a cranky old crumudgeon at times, we can all see that, but he still is to be held up to a very high standard. What other guy his age would be out there working and helping his kids, and his university. He could just as well sit on his but and collect a well deserved pension for all the years he has given the school, and most notably the kids he has effected. Look past the football just once in you life, and see all that has been done by good men to make young men choose the right path in life.
Sure, Joe may not be what he once was, but he is still better than 2\3 of the coaches out there, and should never be given the “Bowden treatment on his way out the door. He has done too much to put PSU football on the map for that. Ask yourself, what would PSU football be today if not for Joe PA ……i will answer that……ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. You all get way too tied up in mud slinging, you can’t tell the trees from their leaves. Calm down and be nice, college football is a GAME and only a game. It starts and ends there. If football disapperared tomorrow the world would NOT come to and end, regardless of how much our President is trying to see to it that happens!