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Message: [QUOTE="Dillon77, post: 2454914, member: 6620"] The part of your comment that I think is absolutely spot on is the part I've highlighted in [B]bold. [/B]Geno not only gets to the Final Four (which a lot of people consider "the accomplishment"), but if he gets to the final, paydirt. As you said, "other worldly." Tip of my entire hat collection. MM has gotten to those final fours multiple times. I can only think of two instances that -- as a long-time ND alum, fan and (sometimes) somewhat objective watcher - that I'd like to have back. - The final vs. Texas A&M. I think Muffet, Skylar Diggins and company relive the latter part of that game over and over. - The Perfect Season finale against UConn. Not the final game itself, but the moment Natalie Achonwa went down with a season-ending ACL in the Final Eight game against Baylor. It sucked the air out of the arena because Achonwa as such a critical part of that team. Not saying it made the difference in the final, but any ND fan has bittersweet, "what if..." thoughts about it. BTW, I'm well aware that many teams lose players, such as UConn's during ND's run to the championship with Ruth Riley and Niele Ivey. But those are two instances where I thought ND came up short. Maybe you can attribute one to "failure," but Texas A&M had something to do with that, too. As for the other year, UConn was not around. I don't think anyone outside of a WNBA team was going to stop Ms. Griner and Baylor that year. I've noted that several people have given Tara V at Stanford a slight nod over Muffet or thought they're some combination of 2-3. Tara has those two championships in the early 90s and MM hers at the turn of the century. They've both won their conference championships and been back to the final four (a bit more for ND recently). Solid, solid work...good enough for peers to induct them into the highest honors. So I don't think of these in terms of failure, but rather just how awesome Geno's track record is. P.S. ND's longtime soccer coach, Bobby Clarke, recently retired at age 72 after coaching for more than 30 years at Dartmouth, Stanford and ND. The "Boss" won his one NCAA championship in 2013 and everyone in men's soccer in the country (save Maryland fans) were rooting for him because they know hard it is. If he had not won, would it have diminished what he did for ND, for soccer and the young men he coached? No. Everyone was lucky to have the Boss around. But the championship was the validating frosting. MM and Tara have not failed anyone. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach