COLLEGE FOOTBALL Despite downturn, Notre Dame still demands football excellence

Fighting Irish program has been in decline for nearly a decade.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- The goals are as lofty as they were in Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy's day, the demand as unforgiving.
Winning is, and always will be, everything at Notre Dame. But the gilt has been flaking for years now, and the furor over Tyrone Willingham's firing only exposed the extent of the flaws. For all its rich history and tradition, Notre Dame's football program is now like so many others in need of a rehab.
"I think right now, when you're 6-5, you can't call yourself an elite program," athletic director Kevin White said. "I think historically we are, traditionally we are. But coming out of the 2004 season, we certainly are not. We have to find our way back to the pinnacle position, and that's what we're going to do."
But how? The harsh criticism and inside squabbling that accompanied Willingham's dismissal are only the latest problems for Notre Dame. In truth, the program has been in decline for nearly a decade.
"You are what you are, folks, and right now, you're a 6-5 football team," new coach Charlie Weis said. "And guess what? That's not good enough."
Started with Holtz
The Irish haven't won a national title since 1988, and it has been 11 years since they even contended for one. Their records have been mediocre at best, and any progress has been short-lived.
Lou Holtz lost 11 games in his last three seasons, two more than he'd lost in the previous six. Bob Davie was the first coach in 34 years to lose four straight, and his two losing seasons in five years matched Gerry Faust.
Willingham went 13-15 after winning his first eight games, losing five games by 31 points or more.
The Irish have been unranked for long stretches at a time and have been in a top-tier bowl game only once since 1995 -- a 41-9 loss to Oregon State in the 2001 Fiesta Bowl. They've had one first-round draft pick in the last five years.
Former coach Ara Parseghian, one of the most successful at Notre Dame, noted that the Irish have hit rough patches before -- and have endured.
Certainly, he said, the names Rockne, the Gipper and the Four Horsemen come to mind, as do 11 national championships.
But there were some pretty lean years under Gerry Faust and Joe Kuharich, too. When Parseghian took over in 1964, the Irish hadn't had a winning season in five years and had gone 15 years without a national title.
"If you go back and read the newspapers ... you'll get exactly the same thing you're reading right now: It's too tough academically, the schedule is too tough, they can't get the good players," Parseghian said.
"I honestly believe they're due for an up cycle."