Notre Dame Athletics Trying To Bounce Back From Rough Week
Sixteen years ago, I unofficially proclaimed the Dec. 5-7 , 2003 weekend as the worst on the field or in a playing arena in Notre Dame athletics history. The following four events occurred to make it such:
• The football team under second-year head coach Tyrone Willingham was crushed 38-12 by a 5-6 Syracuse outfit in the Carrier Dome to finish 5-7. I distinctly remember senior offensive lineman Jim Molinaro commenting afterwards that the primary issue was “this team forgets too easily,” where losing does not hurt anybody.
• Men’s basketball, coming off three straight NCAA Tournament bids under fourth-year head coach Mike Brey, was shocked at home, 69-68, on a basket at the buzzer by Central Michigan — which would finish the season 6-24.
That setback would play a crucial role in the 19-win Notre Dame team slipping just off the bubble and not receive a fourth straight NCAA Tournament bid.
• Head coach Muffet McGraw’s women’s basketball team, two years removed from a national title, fell to 3-4 following an 85-74 defeat at Washington. It also was the third defeat in four games.
• After a strong 9-3-2 start, head coach Dave Poulin’s hockey Irish were swept 8-6 and 6-4 at Western Michigan.
As an addendum, the Fighting Irish volleyball team went down to defeat in the first round of NCAA Tournament action (to Louisville).
Fast forward 16 years, and history practically repeated itself in four of the sports this first weekend of December:
• Volleyball lost in first-round NCAA Tournament action, this time to UCLA, although the program has made dramatic strides since collapsing earlier in the decade.
• Now in year 20 and owning the most coaching wins in the program’s history, Brey said this was the worst coaching week of his career.
Like on Dec. 6, 2003, the Irish suffered a one-point defeat at home on Dec. 7, 2019, this time to ACC bottom feeder Boston College, whom Notre Dame had defeated 13 straight. Earlier in the week the Irish were easily whipped by No. 3 Maryland, 72-51, and lost sophomore guard Robby Carmody for the season to an ACL injury.
Brey chided himself for not having a better pulse on the team. This has prompted questions on whether his coaching career is reaching the end of the line with the Irish. He’s bounced back strong on too many occasions to automatically assume that the current down trajectory will remain.
• For the first time since that Sunday in 2003, McGraw’s Irish found themselves under .500 (5-6) after losing at home to Minnesota earlier in the week and then at traditional superpower UConn, 81-57 — on Sunday afternoon again.
This came two years after capturing another national title — also just like in 2003. The rough road continues when No. 16 DePaul comes to town on Wednesday.
It’s the ultimate rebuild after losing all five starters, two transfers and a knee injury to junior center Mikayla Vaughn in the Nov. 5 opener. She is projected to return for the ACC opener versus Clemson on Dec. 29.
“We just have to figure out how we’re going to score, because we’re not a great defensive team,” McGraw summarized. “Going into the season we knew we weren’t going to be able to score, so we worked a lot on our defense — and we haven’t been able to play great defense.”
• In hockey, 15th-year head coach Jeff Jackson has enjoyed a prosperous Notre Dame career like Brey and McGraw that has included four Frozen Four advancements and winning the Big Ten title each of his past two years, yet never had he started off faster than a 7-0-1 start this season to rise to No. 3 in the country at one point.
This weekend versus No. 7 Boston College, the No. 10 Irish were throttled by 4-0 and 6-1 counts to run their losing streak to five games.
“Hopefully we’ve bottomed out,” Jackson said. "We’re not playing with the level of confidence that we had earlier in the year. It’s really hard to describe.”
Fortunately, a 5-0 November enabled the football team to finish 10-2, although merely No. 15 in the final College Football Playoff poll — which is what keeps the weekend from 16 years ago as still the worst.
Yet the football frustration was exacerbated when despite the 10-2 mark, head coach Brian Kelly’s Fighting Irish were matched up with 7-5 and unranked Iowa State in the Dec. 28 Camping World Bowl.
In days of yore, a 10-2 Notre Dame team would be an automatic major-bowl figure versus another marquee opponent. In today’s postseason world, conference tie-ins with bowls make such matchups less possible for the Irish, or at least did this season.
It’s all part of the ebbs and flows that occur in intercollegiate athletics, or in the way history can sometimes eerily repeat itself.
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