Once again, it seems, you can probably forget -- based on one East Coast report -- about Notre Dame and the Big Ten joining forces.
After it looked as if athletic director Jack Swarbrick had left the door open a crack back in March for the Irish to join the conference, it looks as if the door has been unofficially slammed shut yet again.
Citing an unnamed source, the Boston Globe is reporting that the Catholic institution is no longer an expansion candidate, and that “they haven’t been in the mix for awhile.”
Even with the rumors of the Big Ten performing a massive raid on the Big East, the source said the Irish, the Globe wrote, “are fairly confident that it can remain as a full independent in football and remain connected to the Big East -- even a smaller all-Catholic version” of the conference.
Of course, this is far from official, but it’s yet another sign -- after a glimmer of “hope” -- that the Irish in the Big Ten was simply never meant to be.