Notre Dame

Irish, with the right coach Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times This one is, to mix my metaphors, a slam dunk. Notre Dame will return to glory as soon as it hires the right coach. People wondered if Southern California could ever win big again after going through the Ted Tollner, Larry Smith, John Robinson II and Paul Hackett years. USC had lost its mojo. Really? The Trojans shot back to the top after hiring Pete Carroll. Programs with tradition have the advantage in having that tradition.

The newly renamed Notre Dame of Maryland University has received a grant of $450,000 to award annual scholarships to undergraduates in its Women's College, who are pursuing degrees in physics, mathematics, engineering and computer information systems. Scholarships of $10,000 each will be awarded to academically talented undergrads through the university's Pathways to Excellence program, which is funded by the National Science Foundation. The program is designed to help train women for careers in high-demand jobs in so-called STEM fields, in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

School gets an F John Cherwa Los Angeles Times Perhaps the saddest part of the Manti Te'o Internet fraud story is the total lack of leadership shown by the once hallowed institution of Notre Dame. While a forensic examination of Te'o's statements would likely make it clear he was not telling nothing but the whole truth, the fact that the school allowed - and even encouraged - Te'o to not come clean on the hoax and focus on the BCS title game is appalling. Don't be persuaded by the near-teary news conference of AD Jack Swarbrick.

Notre Dame and Navy will play in Dublin, Ireland, in 2012. Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk says Aviva Stadium will be the site for the 86th meeting between the Fighting Irish and Midshipmen. The $410 million stadium opened in May and has a seating capacity of 50,000. "Obviously as an Irish-Catholic from Boston, Mass., I'm going to have a lot of requests for tickets — not airline tickets," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said after Tuesday's practice in South Bend, Ind. "No, I just think it's a great venue and I'm excited about it. That's one of the unique things about being an independent, that you can have a game like that on the schedule.

The College of Notre Dame will be known as Notre Dame of Maryland University starting next fall, school officials announced Tuesday at an on-campus pep rally. President Mary Pat Seurkamp said the new name, chosen by a unanimous vote of the board of trustees Oct. 30, is a nod to a long tradition of all-women's undergraduate education and to Notre Dame's evolution into a more complex institution that offers doctoral degrees in education and pharmacy. "We needed a name that pointed to the best of both worlds," she said.

John Kemp, Notre Dame Junior, Potomac, Goalie Kemp validated his presence on the Tewaaraton Watch List with his performance Saturday. The 5-foot-9, 170-pound goalkeeper tied a career best with 14 saves, propelling the No. 5 Fighting Irish to a 7-3 victory over then-No. 1 Duke. Kemp, who was named the Big East Defensive Player of the Week, last made 14 stops in the team's 12-7 win against the Blue Devils in last year's season opener. Kemp, who finished 2011 second in the country in goals-against average (6.60)

Enough is enough Desmond Conner, Hartford Courant Charlie Weis, the great offensive mind, went to South Bend apparently thinking defense was an afterthought. That was apparent Saturday in an embarrassing 23-21 loss to Navy. The Midshipmen gained almost 350 yards on 57 carries. Weis showed his arrogance, didn't change up a thing defensively, not even after halftime, and the Midshipmen made the Irish pay. So, yet another promising season has fallen short of expectations.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Maryland women's team buried itself with another big deficit Tuesday night against Notre Dame in the NCAA tournament regional final here at PNC Arena. Unlike defending national champion Texas A&M, the fourth-ranked, second-seeded Irish did not allow the Terps to get a second wind. In fact, Maryland could barely breathe at all. The result was a demoralizing 80-49 defeat for the second-seeded, fifth-ranked Terps that ended their season and their dream of going to Denver for this year's Final Four.

Maryland did some encouraging things Sunday, right? There was James Padgett with his first career double-double. There were Sean Mosley's 17 points. And, of course, there was Terrell "the Microwave" Stoglin and his 31 points. But, let's face it, this is hardly the Notre Dame that ended UCLA's 88-game winning streak so many years ago. Raise your hand if you remember that one. The Irish seem to play a variation of "small ball. " Three guards -- sometimes more -- out there at once.

It has come down to style now. It's the speed and athleticism of No. 5 Duke against the defense and overall discipline of unseeded Notre Dame. The national championship game is set for Monday, and it's an interesting matchup. As always, a traditional favorite makes it such as Duke (15-4), but Notre Dame (10-6) is the surprise team. Every year there is a Cinderella team, but that team usually gets knocked off in the quarterfinals, or, at the least, in the semifinals. But the Fighting Irish continue to make their run. Here's a team that stunned many lacrosse fans by making the 16-team field, and now Notre Dame is in the championship.