Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1543321
6 MARCH 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED MANDATORY READING I very much enjoyed the article "Notre Dame In- dependence, 'Chose Hard' Ethic: Rooted In History, Front and Center Today" in the February 2026 Blue & Gold Illustrated. I also learned a lot of informa- tion and historical background that I'd like to share with my ND-hating friends. Your article provides a very needed historical perspective, and in an excellent manner explains why we are not in a conference for football. Pete Callahan Lafayette, Calif. I'm a longtime subscriber to Blue & Gold Illus- trated. Your column, "Irish Echoes" is the first thing I read. Your latest effort on Notre Dame independence should be mandatory reading for all the sports writers, coaches and talking heads that have been disrespecting the Irish regarding their cherished independence. You did a masterful job outlining the history and prejudice against Notre Dame. I will keep this issue forever. I thank you again for your great column and tremendous knowledge of not only Notre Dame football, but the history of the school in general. Bill Dolan Billings, Mont. Mr. Callahan and Mr. Dolan, Jim Lefebvre noted that his "Choose Hard" column generated more feed- back than anything he's written for BGI. It definitely struck a chord with Irish fans, and for good reason. LEARNING A THING OR TWO I am a Notre Dame football fan and I have been a Blue & Gold Illustrated subscriber since April 2025. I was wondering why redshirt sophomore safety Adon Shuler's pick off of Pitt freshman quarterback Mason Heinstchel on a two-point conversion and return for two points is not counted as an intercep- tion? He also does not appear to be credited with these two points in his statistics. Elijah O'Sullivan Hey Elijah, that's a good question. Interceptions on two-point conversion attempts don't count in NCAA (or NFL) player stats (like passing attempts, intercep- tions, receptions, or rushing attempts) because these plays are treated as special situations outside of regu- lar downs, with only scoring or penalties recorded. The play is considered a "try," not a scrimmage down, so traditional stats like QB attempts, interceptions, or receiver catches aren't credited, even if a defensive player intercepts the ball and returns it. Shuler, however, did eventually get credited with scoring the two points in Notre Dame's official statistics. Because of how the statistics software is set up, he originally was not credited but that has since been fixed. IRISH POETRY Marcus is staying, ND is paying, Four-star recruits will be playing, Beating USC will no longer be a cause for praying ND will leave the ACC decaying That's all I'll be saying Edward Fechtel FAN FORUM BE HEARD! Send your letters to: steve.downey@on3.com or mail to: Blue & Gold Illustrated, P. O. Box 2331, Durham, NC 27702 Notre Dame was dealt a blow to its coaching staff Jan. 26, when it was announced that defen- sive backs coach Mike Mickens was leaving for a job with the NFL's Baltimore Ravens after six years in South Bend. Here is a sampling of what Irish fans had to say about losing Mickens on our message board at BlueandGold.com. et1513: Knew this day was coming. Happy for Coach Mickens he did an incredible job. Need to hit a home run on this hire. ND35USC0: Things will always change. Notre Dame will reload. Thank you Coach Mickens. You made a difference for a lot of families. Best wishes young man. Go Irish! Koichan: Thought he was leaving last year so at least we got '25 … sad to see him leave but happy for him. Excited to see who we'll get to replace him! SDS123: I'm pretty sure CMF has a short list in hand. Congrats to Coach Mickens. He did great things for us and will be missed. Adam Blair: Congrats to him!! Our DB room was awful when he came and now it's the best in the country. HC92: Hard to overstate his importance to the team over the last few years, starting with the recruiting and coaching of the DBs, but extending well beyond that. Hope it's a good move for him and we find another stud to try to fill his shoes. o_Fenton_mobile: Hard to imagine Mickens could've done much of a better job for ND as the DB coach. Will be rooting for him wishing him the best wherever he goes. It was really a matter of time I'm shocked a big CFB program didn't poach him to be a DC. Mickens is one of the best recruiters in CFB and was developing his players. Really wish he had gotten the DC job instead of Ash but it is what it is. ajmeehan: Best in the biz, he'll be missed tre- mendously. Thankfully an experienced secondary coming back but gonna need a big-time recruiter to fill this void. Mickens turning everyone into All-Americans was all the recruiting juice he needed. Tfish08: Tough loss, no doubt. Stud recruiter/ developer. When Marcus didn't promote him to DC he had to know A. He wasn't ready and B. He's probably going to leave at some point. Self- ishly wish he would have stayed but have to think Marcus has a plan. This DB room is stacked too. Go get a DOG and let's go win the natty. FWCOACH: Honestly just happy we had him for this long. Dude certainly has had opportunities to leave before now. He has a great secondary to work with in Baltimore. I hope he kills it there and maybe comes back to ND as DC or HC some- day. Huge fan. JohnsonBadMiles: Thanks for the time spent. He turned a perennial weakness into an elite, elite, elite strength. CMF can't be too surprised and I bet (hope) the short list is excellent. Has to be an attractive opening you would think with the talent and how MF seemingly springboards all of his assistants into huge gigs. It's very hard to recognize in the moment, but this is the price you pay and a testament to the program to consistently promote position coaches to bigger jobs. Raphael9: The beauty in this is that coaches leaving are no longer a sky is falling scenario. Truly trust Freeman to nail these hires. FROM THE WEB .com .com JOIN THE CONVERSATION AT BLUEANDGOLD.COM! Mike Mickens spent the past six seasons with Notre Dame, helping to build one of the nation's best second- aries. The 38-year-old was hired as the defensive backs coach and defensive pass game coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens Jan. 26. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER