Jim O'Donnell: Students' rush could speed exit of Notre Dame president
WHEN NOTRE DAME is at its best, even a devout atheist would likely admit it's among the top 20 private research universities in America.
When it's not — as it low-cased Saturday when its football team beat Clemson Lite during a labored prime-time telecast on NBC — the school of Our Lady of the Lake can come across as extraordinarily déclassé.
Scenes of self-absorbed Notre Dame students ignoring all reasonable national health guidelines to storm the home turf will linger in the American consciousness.
Man on the hottest pulpit near Touchdown Jesus now becomes university President John Jenkins.
Rev. Jenkins has seen more golden autumns.
In 2005, at age 51, he succeeded the Rev. Edward “Monk” Malloy as ND's 17th chief administrator.
Malloy followed the iconic Rev. Ted Hesburgh. During a remarkable 35-year tenure (1952-1987), Hesburgh grew both the prestige of the university as something more than “a football school” and his own standing as a vital voice of faith-based progressiveness.
In transition, Jenkins was not guilty of the nonsensical contract extension signed by Charlie Weis in October 2005. That deal would ultimately cost Notre Dame more than $35 million and paid Weis through 2015, six years after he was waxed as head coach.
Jenkins also greatly benefitted from the school's unsung MVP, financial wizard Scott Malpass (Class of '84).
When Malpass assumed the role of ND's chief investment officer in 1988, the university's endowment was $453 million.
When he retired four months ago, Malpass had that fund close to $15 billion.
Jenkins — now 66 — could be gliding toward his own comfortable golden years.
Instead, the scene following the win over Clemson has only accelerated speculation that he will withdraw from events before events are withdrawn for him.
In September, he attended the White House event at which President Donald Trump nominated ND law professor Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.
He appeared without a mask along with other luminaries in the Rose Garden and later — like the President — tested positive for COVID-19.
In the opinion of some members of Notre Dame's faculty senate, Jenkins also ignored the dynamic of an intense presidential race and opened the image of the university for “political exploitation.”
Both the faculty senate and student senate subsequently engaged in pitted debate on whether to formally adopt resolutions of “no confidence” in Jenkins.
Instead, both downgraded to “votes of disappointment.”
So today, Brian Kelly and his football Irish stand at 7-0 and No. 2 in the nation.
If they do meet ace QB Trevor Lawrence and a fully healthy Clemson in the ACC title game, they'll probably be double-digit underdogs.
The same probability could be applied to the chances of Jenkins still being the president of Notre Dame next fall.
ALEX TREBEK WILL go into the record book as one of the most successful game-show hosts in TV history.
There are some inherent ironies in that. “Jeopardy!” classicists have long insisted he never matched the compelling theatricality of original host Art Fleming and in one studied insouciant's opinion, he never did.
Fleming was Sid Luckman; Trebek was Rex Grossman.
But there is no denying that Trebek held the role for 36 years — far more than Fleming's 11, in two iterations — and that Trebek's public grace during his final two years of life was transcendent.
According to multiple media reports, he has also left producers with a most unexpected candidate to be his replacement.
That's Alex Faust, the 31-year-old TV voice of the L.A. Kings.
The only certainties forward are that producers now have a window to tweak (ever so slightly) and hire with an eye to freshness and resonance for at least 12 to 15 years.
For Alex Trebek, it was a career-making opportunity well done.
STREET-BEATIN': Telling headline in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: “Even in Chicago, Vikings should outclass Bears' brutal offense.” (Monday, ESPN, 7 p.m.). Maybe Dalvin Cook can rush for both teams. ...
Kirk Herbstreit and Rece Davis host “College Game Day” from the Masters in Augusta Saturday (ESPN, 8 a.m.). Herbstreit then eagles it to Ann Arbor, where Jim Harbaugh and Michigan can only hope Wisconsin doesn't show up (6:30 p.m.) ...
Three excellent college QBs worth searching the cable jungle to watch: Zach Wilson of BYU, Desmond Ridder of Cincinnati and Grayson McCall of Coastal Carolina. (Their teams are a combined 16-4 against the spread.) ...
And Phil Mushnick reports Fox analyst Spencer Tillman credited a recent Oklahoma touchdown to “Eye discipline.”
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports & Media column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.