I think so too

Blarney Green posted this at Rock's House. It touches on the core of my doubts about ND. That the school and the population it serves have evolved away from the working class roots and become effete

"Our problems for the last 8 years have gone far beyond scheme -- we changed from a tough team to a soft team. (One thing I will grant Bob Davie is that his teams weren't soft -- poorly coached, but not soft. But I digress...)

Scheme does play into whether or not you're tough. Weis had soft teams, and that softness was enhanced by the scheme (pass protect, finesse, etc.). Kelly seems to be paying lip-service to increasing our toughness -- and hell, maybe he means it. But you cannot morph a soft team into a tough one when they have to play this scheme.

Scheme isn't the only issue though. Our whole University is soft. Being a "Notre Dame Man" used to mean something -- there was pretty heavy emphasis on the "Man" part. Now it is meaningless, or it means you're a dork, or a rich kid with pussified ways and designer clothing. Our University leadership is not tough in any way, and so they don't breed toughness. All the stupid Disney-land shit we have to witness -- the fund-raising and pep rallies and the ability to buy an ND-logo-emblazoned Barco-Lounger for only a quarter millions dollars -- it all contributes. The fact that our coach has to schmooze stupid alumni clubs, and we can't tailgate properly because of fear of litigation, and "Legends" -- its all symptomatic of a deep malaise

ND is no longer ND. Its not even Stanford. Its less about character and more about GPA, less about being an athlete/scholar/leader and more about getting research dollars. ND doesn't breed toughness in its student body, why should we expect it in the football program?"