Give Davie his due
Sean Vinck
Not Peace, But the Sword
The head coach of the Notre Dame football team is not named Gerry Faust.
His name is Bob Davie. And he has done a fine job.
I write this in response to the rather severe tongue-lashing that he has received — undeservedly, I might add. One student suggested that we ought to kill Davie's dog in order to get rid of him. It seems that anytime that every aspect of the football is not perfect, Davie is labeled the very personification of incompetence. And when the team wins a game, he is treated with grudging courtesy.
The truth of the matter is that Davie is a fine coach. His performance has been consistent. The team has made steady and measurable progress.
The record of the past 2 1/2 years may not seem to support this contention: Davie's cumulative record stands at 21-12. Statistically speaking, it is not spectacular. But looking at individual games proves the point that Davie and his players have treated us to competitive, exciting and ultimately successful football since September 1997.
During his first season, Davie was maligned for a 2-5 start. Yet, the detractors seem to forget a few pertinent facts about that season. Davie inherited a team headed by a senior class that suffered from a dearth of NFL picks. In spite of this lack of talent, Davie managed to coach his team to a near upset of eventual national champion michigan, stunning defeats of 11th-ranked LSU and 22nd ranked West Virginia and a five-game winning streak. He also has the distinction of being the first Irish coach to lead his team to a bowl game in his first season.
In 1998, Davie took a team that was plagued by low expectations and a perceived lack of talent and lead it to a 9-3 record, including an eight-game winning streak. Who can forget the stunning upset of defending national champion Michigan? I still savor the satisfaction of the thrashing of Stanford, occurring on the one-year anniversary of their band's tasteless insult of Notre Dame and Catholicism in general. Then there was the LSU game, where Notre Dame recovered from a 34-20 deficit to win 39-36, punctuated by Bobbie Howard's 89- yard interception return for a TD.
This year, we can look to the amazing come-from-behind victories over Oklahoma and USC, the utter annihilation of ASU and now the victory over Navy as examples of progress.
You might object to this. You may think that the failures of the Davie regime outweigh the positives, pointing to the 2-5 start in 1997 and the injuring of Jarious Jackson in '98, coupled with the USC and Georgia Tech defeats. You may point to the consecutive losses to Michigan, Purdue and Michigan State. And believe me, no one was more disheartened than I.
Yet, the point remains the same: Davie, a talented coach who continues to grow in his job. Both his talent for coaching and his team's talent for playing are developing. John Robinson, the former USC coach, said Bob Davie would win 100 games at Notre Dame. I think he's right on the money.
Sean Charles Vinck is a junior.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not neccessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, November 2, 1999
