Reality is N.D. hasn't been power for long time

There's no denying that Charlie Weis hasn't gotten it done.

I'm as surprised as anyone, having believed that Weis would return Notre Dame football to powerhouse status.

However, Weis hasn't proved to be nearly the coach or teacher in college that he was in the NFL.

Overweight and arrogant, he's an easy target for the press, but as the media crucifies Weis, I wonder if maybe we've missed a much bigger point here.

Maybe Notre Dame football just isn't what it used to be.

Maybe the high academic standards have caught up to the Irish.

Maybe the rough Midwest weather just can't compete with the SEC, or with the Florida, Texas and California schools when it comes to recruiting.

Maybe this small school in a small Northern Indiana town, difficult to reach even when it's not snowing, doesn't have the lure it once did.

Maybe, just maybe, Notre Dame can't recruit anymore against schools in warm-weather cities offering loose admission criteria, a more modern standard of life, and Hollywood-style cheerleaders.

Maybe that's the reality.

Urban Meyer must have known it in December 2004 when he left Utah, turned down Notre Dame - which he called his dream job - and fled for the warm sun of Florida.

With apologies to those who, year after year, place Notre Dame among the nation's best recruiters, how can we say Notre Dame is enticing the best players to enroll when the Irish haven't had a top-5 finish in the AP Poll since 1993?

It's probably no coincidence that the last coach to succeed in South Bend was Lou Holtz, who has a storied history of bending the rules into a pretzel, if not altogether stepping over the line and then burying it in mud.

Holtz brought home the university's last national title in 1988, and had four top-5 finishes in six years from 1988-93.

But the Irish haven't finished in the top 5 in 15 years, and they weren't in the top 5 for 10 seasons prior to Holtz's big year in 1988.

So what are we talking about here?

If you toss the Holtz administration, the Irish haven't dominated in football since 1978, when they finished a 15-year stretch that included three national titles and 11 top-10 finishes, with eight in the top 5.

Throw out Holtz, and it's been 30 years since Notre Dame football was what people still expect from Notre Dame football.

Is that realistic?

Maybe, just maybe, Notre Dame is an excellent school with a grand history that can occasionally produce a decent football team, but otherwise is decades beyond the days of competing regularly for national titles.

It's still a place most students would give their left leg to attend, but apparently is not a place the best "student-athletes'' want to live their college years.

So go ahead and blame Charlie Weis for the failure of a football team, and scream from the rooftops about how horrible he is until the locals run him out of town.

But those same people calling for Weis' head also spend their waking hours railing over the disgusting manner in which the football factories conduct their business, so it seems there may be worse things in the world than a mediocre college football team at a terrific academic university.

If the screeching makes you feel better, go ahead.

But you may be a few decades too late.

Ivan Boldirev-ing

We have a word for guys like Sean Avery in hockey, and it's so offensive that Howard Stern probably wouldn't say it on satellite radio.

Avery is beyond pest, more than cheap, has surpassed gutless, and he serves no purpose in the NHL.

He is not your classic "love him on your team, hate him on their team'' player. They don't even want him in his own room anymore.

As for his shocking lack of intelligence and class, he once criticized the career of former Habs goalie Brian Hayward, who replied, "How would you know? When I played, you were in your third year of eighth grade.''

Pretty much says it all.

The good cause

Kudos to the Rolling Meadows High School men's basketball team, which has already raised more than $10,000 for cancer research, and holds its annual shoot-a-thon for the V Foundation on Jan. 6 at 10 a.m.

For more info, contact the head coach at kevin.katovich@d214.org.

Urlacher's role

From e-mailer Bob K.: "Man, I've often wondered what a beast No. 54 would be as an OLB. Sometimes late at night, I dream of what it would be like if we had a coordinator who ran a 3-4. Every year, we could draft a couple of college DE/LBs and plug them in. Those hybrids are everywhere on college campuses, and why every GM doesn't get it is beyond me.''

Best headline

Sportspickle.com: "Eli Manning accidentally shoots himself with water gun at Chuck E. Cheese.''

Just asking

If San Diego can be treated to an 82-minute documentary on Ryan Leaf, shouldn't we be able to see all 15 minutes of Cedric Benson?

And finally ...

Dan Daly of the Washington Times: "The Maryland football team caught a tough break last weekend, didn't it? It had to play Florida State on one of those rare days when it didn't have any players suspended."

brozner@dailyherald.com