Tag: Rev. John Jenkins

Notre Dame Basketball Won’t Be Able to Gather This Summer

When Notre Dame’s president, the Rev. John I. Jenkins, announced that the university would open for the fall, moods everywhere brightened

When Notre Dame’s president, the Rev. John I. Jenkins, announced Monday that the university would open for the fall semester, albeit two weeks early and with no fall break, moods everywhere brightened. The announcement meant a possible light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel. Maybe football would go on as scheduled. Just about anything was possible now.

However, what won’t be possible is the Notre Dame basketball team’s annual summertime spent together. Though the university will open Aug. 10, the second summer school session was canceled. That means the Irish basketball players won’t be on campus over the summer for the first time since 1998, the last year of the John MacLeod era.

Though Mike Brey’s staff hopes the team can gather at some point in July, it would be nothing compared to the six weeks the Irish usually spend working and bonding together. While some teams might embrace having to go right at it when they’re finally able to gather again, this is an especially challenging time for Notre Dame. With John Mooney, Rex Pflueger and T.J. Gibbs all having graduated, the 2020-21 season represents a changing of the guard by way of the junior class leading the way. Now comes a challenge Prentiss Hubb, Nate Laszewski and Dane Goodwin couldn’t possibly have prepared for.

True college basketball fans love seeing videos of their team working out together and maybe even taking trips together over the summer. They serve as hype for the coming season at a time when college basketball is out of the spotlight. This year, the world has changed, and no one knows what will happen when the games return. Summer school or no summer school, it will be time to play before the Irish know it, and with everyone is eager to get back on that court and win, no opponent’s going to feel sorry for them if they’re ill-prepared this fall.

Athletics Department Members Reduce Salaries for Relief Fund

Certain people in the Notre Dame Athletics Department will be paid a little less in order to help certain university students.

While many wonder if the 2020 college football season will start on time, certain people in the Notre Dame Athletics Department will be paid a little less in order to help certain university students. Notre Dame’s president, the Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., announced Monday that the university’s senior leaders will cut their salaries by as much as 20 percent. The resulting savings will be deposited into the Student Emergency Relief Fund, which will assist students with families suffering from unemployment and other hardships that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among those who were asked to reduce their salaries were the leaders in the Athletics Department as well as certain coaches. The salaries are being reduced on a sliding scale of 5 to 20 percent for those who have the highest compensation. Also involved in the reductions are the deans, the vice presidents and the university’s three executive officers.

It’s a small price to pay to lend a hand to the student population, but it’s a necessary one. Those still pursuing their education but struggling to pay for it are a bigger priority right now than when action will return to Notre Dame Stadium. We’re all in this together, and the university’s most influential officials, including Athletics Department leaders, recognize that.