Blue and Gold Illustrated

May 2018

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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6 MAY 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED FAN FORUM TRUE GRIT The women's national basketball championship is, I believe, one of the most gratifying in Notre Dame sports history. It was achieved against the odds and with grit and determination. The women got tougher and stronger as the season went on. Muffet McGraw had her finest hour in what has been a Hall of Fame career. I'm sure I'm not the first Irish fan to hope we will see the same kind of grit and determination from the Irish football team, and the same high quality coaching from Brian Kelly and his staff. Unlike the women's basketball team, the football team has not been a legitimate national power for the vast majority of the last two decades. Perhaps this championship, which so graphically showed the true spirit of the Fighting Irish, will provide the example and the impetus for the Irish football team to reach the same heights. Let's hope so. Don Gehring '72 Richmond, Va. EPIC ACHIEVEMENT Congratulations to Muffet Mc‑ Graw and the whole team for play‑ ing their hearts out all season and bringing the NCAA championship to Notre Dame, especially after losing four players during the season. What a remarkable last two games! Everywhere I turned on the televi‑ sion evening news programs that night, they were devoting time to the last few seconds of the title game between Mississippi State and Notre Dame with the fabulous shot by Arike Ogunbowale. Even Steve Ko‑ rnacki on his program on MSNBC devoted several minutes — and they rarely broadcast anything concerning sports. Chuck Lochary Via the Internet WORK OF ART Notre Dame has five statues sur‑ rounding our football stadium hon‑ oring the coaches who won national championships while coaching foot‑ ball there. I think it is time we now honor the women's coach who has won two national titles (2001, 2018), been in eight Final Fours and has an 800‑229 record over 31 seasons while coach‑ ing at Notre Dame. Muffet McGraw deserves a statue outside the entrance to the Joyce Center not only for her excellent coaching, but also for her athletes doing it the "Notre Dame Way," per‑ forming in the classroom and in the community. Muffet was selected to the Nai‑ smith Basketball Hall of Fame this past year, and now we should honor her with a statue outside the Joyce. Kevin Kennedy '70 Via the Internet Mr. Kennedy, you were not alone amongst our readers expressing this sen- timent, and it was a popular topic on our website. It will be only a matter of time. Notre Dame has generally done this after a coach's retirement. As to what the sculpture would look like, how about her trademark knee crouch with one hand on her chin, much like Rodin's famous The Thinker statue? BE HEARD! Send your letters to: Letters Blue & Gold Illustrated P. O. Box 1007, Notre Dame, IN 46556 or e-mail to: lsomogyi@blueandgold.com With a Notre Dame-Alabama home-and-home football series finalized to open the 2028 and 2029 seasons, our subscribers on BlueandGold.com weighed in on other future series they would most like to see. Here's a small sample: Monastary: Washington and TCU both would be very good games. GroggyGrizzly: Would like another LSU series … neutral site bowl games don't count. FightinMike87: Florida in a year without FSU or Miami would be cool. KevinPS: A two-gamer with Washington, Ore- gon or Auburn would be cool. I don't think more than 20 years should go by without a two-game set with Texas. DillonDomer2010: Strictly because of my inter- est in the venues — UCLA, Ole Miss (more so for the Grove experience), Tennessee. BSmitty08: TCU, Ohio State, Oregon. MikeOC: Anyone besides Navy. Nickc8692: VMI, Georgia State, Appalachian State, Louisiana Monroe. In that way, we could have an apples to apples comparison with Alabama. VictorMack: Boise State, California, Purdue, Rutgers, Auburn, Temple and Alabama. Indyogre76: Illinois, Oregon State, Kentucky. Power 5 beat downs. Besides, we've never played Kentucky. Also a 13th scheduled game against BYU first week of December. It may be against NCAA rules, but what the hell. Obeying the rules doesn't get you anywhere. NDrulzinwv: Iowa, Nebraska. Domergreen308: Army, played at West Point! I know, their stadium is too small. Edwards44: Nebraska, Cal, Colorado — decent names from good conferences who ND should beat. FWCOACH: Replace Navy with any of the fol- lowing. I hate playing Navy! Indiana (just because) Illinois (decent recruiting ground) Cincinnati (Ohio, and Cincinnati in particular, is good recruiting ground) Missouri (Underrated as a recruiting state) Kentucky (Developing into a decent recruiting state) Arizona or ASU (Developing recruiting state) UNLV (Bishop Gorman is there) Rutgers (N.J. recruiting) Penn State (Great state for ND) The theme: play games in states that ND needs to recruit. FROM THE WEBSITE After head coach Muffet McGraw led the wom- en's basketball team to its second national championship, Irish fans believe she should be immortalized with a statue outside the entrance to the Joyce Center. PHOTO BY MIKE BENNETT

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