SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Myth mixes regularly with reality at Notre Dame, sometimes making it hard to tell the two apart.

Irish fans don't worry whether coach Knute Rockne's famous pregame speech of "Win one for the Gipper" is based on fact, or whether the Four Horsemen were immortalized more for Grantland Rice's prose than their athletic ability.

	George O'Leary lost his dream job after just five days.

They are part of the Golden Dome mystique that celebrates everything from a walk-on player in the movie "Rudy" to Touchdown Jesus on the school library to the two coaches with the best winning percentages in NCAA history in Rockne and Frank Leahy.

Athletic director Kevin White is concerned, though, with what he describes as another myth: that Notre Dame's stringent academic standards and difficult schedule stop the Irish from vying for national championships.

After introducing George O'Leary as the new coach on Sunday, White said he has no doubt Notre Dame can be a powerhouse again.

"If you look at the past, we've recovered from difficult times," he said. "I think we'll find our way to do it again."

Ara Parseghian heard the questions about academics and schedule when he became Notre Dame coach in 1964. Lou Holtz heard it in 1985. They both won national championships in their third seasons.

Among those who follow college football closely, there's a firm belief that the Irish can quickly wake up the echoes.

"Notre Dame can win and they will win again," Holtz said.

College football pundit Beano Cook said Notre Dame should win a national championship every five years. Paul Hornung, who won a Heisman at Notre Dame in 1956, believes the Irish will win again. ESPN analyst Lee Corso said there is no reason Notre Dame can't vie regularly for the national championship.

"Notre Dame has no problems," Corso said. "None. Nada."

Before he was fired on Dec. 2, Bob Davie said that, even though the Irish haven't finished in the Top Ten since 1993, he had no doubt they could become a national power again.

But as he left the job, Davie talked about academics and the schedule making it harder at Notre Dame.

"All I know is the bottom line is there's some good college football players out there that we could not and did not recruit," Davie said.

White disagreed that Notre Dame can't recruit enough top players.

	“	I think we can be in the thick of it, Top Ten, Top 15 every year. ”
		— Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White

"I think we can be in the thick of it, Top Ten, Top 15 every year," he said.

Dan Saracino, assistant provost for admissions, said that every few years stories emerge that Notre Dame is either tightening its requirements to rein in a coach or loosening requirements to allow the football team to become more competitive.

"The facts don't support that," he said. "Since the '60s, when I was a student here, I've seen virtually no change."

But Tom Lemming, a recruiting analyst, said he interviews top recruits and finds out their grade-point averages and college entrance exams. He said Notre Dame has lowered its standards the past two years.

"They've allowed players in they wouldn't have allowed (in coach Gerry) Faust's last years and Davie's first couple of years," Lemming said. "They're bringing in kids with 2.3, 2.4 GPAs, guys that wouldn't even get to admissions before."

Saracino denies there's been a change. He said Notre Dame doesn't have a minimum grade-point average or a minimum college entrance exam. The most important factor in deciding whether a student is accepted is the classes the student has taken in high school, such as whether students have taken a minimum of three years of math.

"Because every research, and every study that we've done here, the most important predictor in success here is classroom courses, curriculum," he said.

Saracino agreed with Davie that there will be players that Notre Dame couldn't recruit playing for teams Notre Dame will face.

"There's no question about it," he said. "But is it a huge number and is it such that we cannot be competitive without admitting that type of student? I don't believe that at all."

Holtz, who couldn't get Randy Moss into the university, said he doesn't think Notre Dame should change its standards.

"That's the decision Notre Dame has to make, but I can't believe they ever would," he said.

The other big obstacle cited by Davie is the schedule.

But Davie, along with coach Elmer Layden, faced the lowest percentage of Top Ten teams of any Irish coach, at only 13.3 percent of his games. Even worse, he was 1-7 in those games.

Holtz played 28 percent of his games against Top Ten teams and went 21-15-1.

O'Leary doesn't think Notre Dame should soften its schedule.

"You're at Notre Dame, you need to play the best. That's the only way you end up being the best," he said.

Others disagree. Hornung, now a broadcaster, said the Irish should try to ease the schedule so they are on a level playing field.

"It's not who you play, it's how many wins you've got," he said.

Don't wait for softer schedules or lower class scores. The university president, the Rev. Edward A. Malloy, said the school can win the way things are.

"We never have and we never will," he said. "I think we can find the right mix of student-athletes and coaching skill to succeed at the highest level."

The last coach to bring a national title to the Golden Dome agreed.

"You don't change Notre Dame, and you don't want to change Notre Dame," Holtz said. "Notre Dame is a unique school and it's a special school. I'm not worried about Notre Dame or the future or anything else."