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Imrem: Notre Dame just another school vulnerable to scandal

The first guy I saw in the golf-course parking lot happened to be a Notre Dame graduate.

Perfect.

"Hey," I said with a giggle, "anything going on in South Bend these days?"

Of course there is, like two embarrassing incidents over the weekend.

Included in the same news story were mentions of football players, marijuana, a gun, resisting law enforcement, battery to a police officer …

Not all the facts are in, but football head coach Brian Kelly heard enough to dismiss one player from the team and suspend another. Four face "internal discipline."

So what was the response from the Notre Dame alum?

"I hear," he said, "the players are going to transfer to Illinois so they can play right away."

Even this Illinois alum had to laugh at the counterpunch because Fighting Illini, especially basketball players, have had their own brushes with the law during the past year.

A Purdue grad with a natural contempt for ND and current ties to North Carolina also ribbed the Notre Dame grad.

But the ND alum countered by bringing up the Tar Heels' association with academic impropriety.

Last week we were paired with a Penn State alum who tried to convince me of the virtues of disgraced former coach Joe Paterno.

So it goes with college athletics these days.

Instead of conversations about how good alma maters will be this season, the exchanges have been about NCAA violations and criminal activity.

Transgressions are just sort of tolerated - if not endorsed - at the highest level of college sports.

Make no mistake about it: We're talking about the highest level of college football.

As Notre Dame reeled from fresh blotches on the police blotter Sunday morning, the season's first AP national rankings were released with the Irish at No. 10.

North Carolina was at No. 22, and even unranked Illinois has elevated expectations with Lovie Smith as head coach.

Opposing coaches aren't among those snickering at ND because, you know, "but for the grace of God go us."

Every school is at risk of athletes living on the wild side of young adulthood.

Is there a college sports department that hasn't had to deal with athletes who broke the law, cheated on exams or otherwise violated an honor code?

Maybe Northwestern hasn't recently, but football coach Pat Fitzgerald likely still lives in fear of a phone call delivering bad news.

Sports fans are polarized by Notre Dame, and I have been on the pro-Irish side. I grew to respect them while covering many of their football and basketball games.

Notre Dame appeared to try to do things right. Their players appeared to be better mannered and more intelligent than athletes at other schools.

Now ND is just another school vulnerable to scandal because of their own poor judgment and the poor judgment of immature athletes.

Not to absolve Notre Dame or other schools mired in the madness of misbehavior, but it does seem that player personnel risks have to be taken to compete with elite football programs like, say, Alabama.

Heck, the joke sure to go around after the weekend is that Notre Dame now is qualified to join the Southeastern Conference.

Can't wait to see an LSU grad on the golf course this week after that crack.

mimrem@dailyherald.com

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