Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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46 DECEMBER 2016 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED F rom the outset of Notre Dame's 2016 football sea- son from hell, a consistent question kept recurring: What else can go wrong? And just when you thought the coup de grace to the 4-7 start was scheduled at the Los Ange- les Coliseum Nov. 26, a kick to the groin came four days earlier. After two years of research, the NCAA decided to punish Notre Dame for the academic fraud the school self-reported and took immediate action against in August 2014 by having it vacate its 12 victories from 2012 and nine in 2013. If there was one season in head coach Brian Kelly's seven-year run so far that was cherished, it was the 12-0 start in 2012. For the first time in two decades, and for one glo- rious month, the Fighting Irish were back at the summit in college foot- ball, however briefly it was. Now, technically by the NCAA's edict — which Notre Dame will ap- peal — it never happened. Deep down, any Fighting Irish faith- ful will know it did. It is now sort of la "We'll always have Paris" moment to dull the current malaise and tempest that swirls around the entire operation. To many, this is also the ideal op- portunity and convenient alibi to jettison Kelly from his post. It's one thing to be underperforming on the field, but to now have a black eye under your watch for academic mis- conduct is even more damaging to a school that prides itself on "doing it the right way." What gets overshadowed is that Notre Dame did. As soon as Notre Dame found im- proprieties, it immediately took action, owned it and made the appropriate measures, which hurt the football team at the time, but kept its integrity intact. For that, it is now punished beyond the crime, unlike the George Washington and the cherry tree myth in which the virtue of coming clean is trumpeted. How easy it is to forget that during the 2013-14 school year, Notre Dame had maybe the most unprecedented "hat trick" in NCAA sports annals when it suspended its star quarter- back Everett Golson, future first- round NBA Draft pick Jerian Grant and future hockey captain and All- American defenseman Robbie Russo for academic mishaps. It cost all those teams dearly, es- pecially basketball finishing under .500 in its first go-round in the ACC before Grant led them to the Elite Eight the following year. Yet in each case the message was the same: Our values will not be compromised. That doesn't mean Notre Dame should have received any special treatment from the NCAA. But the message it may have inadvertently sent is if you find cheating or some other illegal activity going on — hide it. That is counterproductive. So often when the NCAA does investigations, the dreaded "lack of institutional control" label is almost automatically assigned via percep- tion. There is a significant difference between an individual(s) cheating and the school cheating. If everyone wore sins on his forehead, no one would see the light of day. Nevertheless, there always seems to be an element of Schadenfreude when it hap- pens to Notre Dame because it is perceived as a "holier than thou" institution. That is the wrong interpretation. Just be- cause one takes pains to do right doesn't mean you con- sider yourselves better, or def- initely shouldn't. It means you hold yourself accountable. One of the greatest bastions of honor is at Army West Point and other military academies that go by the code that they will not lie, cheat or steal, nor tolerate anyone who does. Yet scandals throughout the de- cades can be traced even there. No place on Earth will be uto- pia, not even the Ivy League, where a 2012 article in The Crimson found the suicide rate at Harvard University was twice the national average. In times like these, an individual or an institution needs to reference Mother Teresa's poem, "Do It Any- way," whose excerpts include: If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, some- one could destroy overnight; Build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway. The Notre Dame mission always has been to look to do what's right. It will fail on occasion, as any mortal will. What is more important down the road is it will continue to try any- way. ✦ Doing Right Won't Always Reap Rewards, But Do It Anyway THE FIFTH QUARTER LOU SOMOGYI Senior Editor Lou Somogyi has been at Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 1985. He can be reached at lsomogyi@blueandgold.com One year after helping the Irish to the national title game, star quarter- back Everett Golson was suspended for academic reasons. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA