The sleeping giant is about to awake:  N.D. football is going to be back and I have several reasons for thinking this.

Let's start at the top. There's a lot of reason to be encouraged regarding the hire of Fr. Jenkins. Now, I don't know Fr. Jenkins, but I have the slight advantage of knowing some of his immediate family. I get the distinct feeling that Fr. Jenkins is one of those people who knows what he knows and doesn't pretend to know about things he doesn't know. If there's a single, overriding weakness in ND's administration it's the essentially amateur meddling in a variety of matters, most notably athletics. Fr. Jenkins also was a student at ND for two ND national championships (1973 and 1977) and that should be plenty to convince anyone regarding the importance of ND football to the university and, frankly, the Catholic America. Naming Fr. Jenkins 14 months ahead of time sends a strong message that the direction needs to be changed. Nor is there any reason to think that Fr. Jenkins was in any way the hand-picked successor of the current administration. Ignore the verbiage; focus on the actions. A change in direction has been strongly indicated here and it had to start at the top.

I'm equally excited about the new EVP. Here's what's to like: He's a sports fan. He's had kids go to ND. His business background is exactly what ND needs in that position. And, he's apparently a great teacher. "So what?" one might rationally ask. About 80% of being a great teacher is wanting to be a great teacher. And the folks who want to be great teachers do so because they have a deep regard for the welfare of students. Being a great teacher is inconsistent with the pernicious notion that the point of having a university is to allow students to walk in the reflected glory of the faculty and if they learn something, well, that's a bonus. In a very real way, a hire like this helps to connect ND to its roots.

OK, now onto the football program. Willingham and the staff rightly took their lumps for the performance both on the field and in the recruiting wars last year. It's over; it doesn't necessarily mean that Willingham is destined to fail.

Let me begin with an elementary proposition. Willingham is a better coach than Davie or Faust. Willingham has gone 15-10 his first two years while ND was 14-11 the prior 25 games, so a one-game improvement. Willingham and Holtz also played roughly 75% of their games in their first two years against teams that finished the year at .500 or better, while both Davie and Faust played a lower percentage their first two years (Davie's collective schedule his first two years was one of the easiest in ND's modern history). Howell rated ND's schedule in 2003 at .783 and the 2002 schedule at .724 (average .753) and ND's 2000 and 2001 schedules at .722 and .671 (average .696). So, in other words, Willingham has had a slightly better record against significantly harder competition than ND faced in Davie's last two years. It may not be huge progress, but it's progress.

Now, let's compare that with Davie's first two years versus Holtz's last two years. In 1995, ND went 9-3 against a .809 schedule and then 8-3 against a .600 schedule. Davie then went 7-6 against a .743 schedule and then 9-3 against a .606 schedule. Thus, Davie went 16-9 against an average schedule of .675 while Holtz in his last two years (and two games) went 17-7-1 against a schedule that averaged .704. So Davie was 1.5 games worse against easier competition.

Now Holtz in his first two years was 13-10 against an average schedule of .830 while Faust was 12-11 his last two years against an even slightly more brutal .839. So, even Holtz wasn't able to make much of a dent in two years, though he was doing a fantastic job recruiting and the improvement on the field was obvious.

Faust his first two years was 11-10-1 against a schedule that averaged .774 while Devine was 15-6-1 his last 22 games against a schedule that averaged .811. So Gerry was 4 games worse against an easier schedule.

Now, on to recruiting. While Willingham doesn't appear to be near to Holtz's level on recruiting, very high marks must be given the rising sophomore class. The six who saw time on the field (Quinn, Abiamiri, Parish, Ndukwe, Harris and Samadzija) all look like they will be major contributors. Quinn, though baptized by fire, was 4-4 as a starter and the offense was about 1.5 yards per play better with him than it was with with Holiday. Harris could be a 4-year starter on the offensive line, as could his classmate Sullivan. Samardzija might be the second-best receiver behind a late Willingham recruit from the junior class, McKnight. Carlson is going to see some significant action at TE. There are enough players in the sophomore class to stock what might be a very good secondary. In the defensive front 7, Laws, Mitchell Thomas and Stephenson are getting very positive reviews and Abiamiri has All-American written all over him.

While the incoming freshman class isn't as highly regarded, it does address some critical needs. With Hoskins and Walker (along with sophomore Travis Thomas) we finally seem to have some talented depth. We have some scholarship depth at QB now. There are promising prospects at LB, OL and in the defensive secondary as well. Recruiting had better return to form this year, but frankly this freshman class could well be better, significantly, than this year's senior class. To be sure, the senior class has some very good players (Hoyte, Tuck, Grant, Stevenson and RPN come to mind) but it isn't loaded with players who have been huge contributors.

Finally, if you look at the teams that have re-emerged recently (Ohio State, Oklahoma and USC being the leading examples) they're all programs that have had major success in the past. Often they were way down. Oklahoma was 61-52 the decade before Stoops started. USC was 5-7 and then 6-6 before springboarding back. Ohio State was 7-5 before winning the national title and then a BCS bowl in back-to-back years. ND still gets more exposure than any other program and leads or nearly leads for putting players in the NFL.

The ingredients for success are there.