Its 1996 and all is well in South Bend.  The Irish are in the same sentence with the powers that be in college football and their coach is one of the best known figures in sports because he wins and is a great motivator.  If I had stopped by the campus at exit 77 of the Indiana Toll Road and told you to enjoy the fading days Notre Dame football, how crazy would that have sounded?

If I had told you then that in the next 13 years this storied program would have chewed up and spit out three coaches all of whom hovered around .500, not played in a national title game, and had its graduation rate equaled or surpassed by so called "lesser" schools what would you have thought?  How about that in the 13th year Notre Dame would ha...

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