After five sub-par football seasons, Notre Dame is without a head coach, and most fans let out a sigh of relief at Bob Davie’s removal.

While Davie may have led the Irish to a 5-6 season this year, more important to athletic director Kevin White was the overall 35-25 record of over Davie’s five-year reign.

Davie was fired for having the third-worst winning percentage of any coach who has called Notre Dame home for at least three years.

He had an 0-3 record in bowl games, a 4-9 record against Big 10 opponents and an even more dismal 6-15 record against Top 25 teams.

And while the numbers are tilted to the losing side of the scale, the numbers that have been swept under the rug are the positive ones.

Most recently, Notre Dame defeated Purdue 24-18 Saturday, less than 24 hours before Davie’s release.

The Fighting Irish also continued their expectations of a high graduation rate while upholding Notre Dame’s history of class and etiquette.

But despite ending the first year of a five-year contract, Davie was never going to meet Notre Dame’s expectations of its football coaches. The role of the head coach is more of an icon than a leader – and Notre Dame is just continuing its game of musical chairs in the coach’s office.

As much as Davie is to blame for his overall 35-25 record while at Notre Dame, the university’s reputation itself has slipped as one of the top football programs in the nation.

But will firing Davie eventually bring Notre Dame its 12th national championship?

Definitely not in the 2002 season. But in the cycle of recruiting, coaching and winning, it’s could still happen in the future – Davie or not.

But White and staff have pointed the finger at Davie and decided the national championship would come without him at the helm of the Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame fans are still living in its days of glory as the team dashes onto the field, pressing the rewind button on the VCR as the movie “Rudy” plays. The Fighting Irish require results from the head coach within the first two years. Davie didn’t perform in five.

White sums summed it up in three simple words: “non-negotiable expectations.”

It is a mold that few coaches fit in, and the narrow quest begins again for a face to take shape. Maybe South Bend will welcome back Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden, whose father was among the Fighting Irish past. Maybe not.

But I’ll guarantee Davie will be more successful as coach anywhere other than at Notre Dame. I guess it’s true what they say – the three most difficult jobs in the world are the Pope, the president of the United States, and the head coach at Notre Dame.