[NU Sports] bowl frustrations

[DPENDERG at aol.com]

For the record and from a very reliable source (on the coaching staff at NU 
 after Ara left), Ara was not seduced by the prestige of coaching in South  
Bend.  He wanted to stay in Evanston but was basically pushed out (or  
encouraged to leave) by then AD Stu Holcomb.  The exact reason is hard  to 
determine, but it's not fair to think Ara bolted from NU in the way that  Barnett 
did some 30 years later. Ara obviously, however, fared  much better in his 
post-NU career than Barnett did at Colorado. 
 
 
In a message dated 1/1/2012 8:52:53 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  n
olan at tssi.com writes:

Back in  Ara's day at NU, coaches didn't get the kinds of salaries, shoe 
payments,  
TV show appearance fees, commercial endorsements, etc. that they get  now.  

That didn't start happening until the early 70's.   

Bob Devaney remarked around the time he retired as Nebraska's AD that  Tom 
Osborne
was making something like 10 times what he got in his last year  as a coach 
('72)
and even that was a lot more than he got when he was hired  at Nebraska 
('63).  

I suspect Notre Dame paid more than  Northwestern did back then, but I 
don't really
think that was the factor  with Ara, I think the prestige of coaching at 
Notre Dame 
was irresistable,  especially to a coach who didn't have purple in his 
veins.  

These  days I doubt Notre Dame is THE destination job for coaches, and  the
unrealistic expectations probably justify the money, because I doubt  any 
coach 
is going to last long there.  

Holtz was 100-30-2  and left for 'undisclosed reasons'.  (The rumors at the 
time was
that  some Notre Dame administrators didn't want him to surpass Rockne's 
105  wins.).  
So far none of his successors have come remotely close to  his win-loss 
record there.
--
Mike  Nolan

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