Big Ten Coach Calls on Notre Dame to 'Join a Conference'

June 4 sounds about right.

Sure, we're under 100 days until the college football season kicks off and that's great, but the flow of news isn't exactly popping this time of year, either.

So it being June 4 means it's just about a perfect day for the annual "Notre Dame should join a conference" takes to come out nationally, and what do you know, a Big Ten head football coach has entered the chat.

Bret Bielema Wants Notre Dame to Join a Conference

The Illinois head football coach was on X (the artist formerly known as Twitter) on Thursday, and quoted a post from Andy Staples of On3, that had video of Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua discussing how TV networks dream of there being a super conference in college football, because of the money that would come with it.

Bevacqua, who used to run NBC Sports, is clearly speaking from a place of expertise. He, like any college football fan that doesn't double as a TV executive (anymore), hates the idea of a super conference.

Yet Bielema took it as a chance to call out Notre Dame for being independent.

Some guys really like to talk about something that could happen and who they might play…. Actually it’s pretty easy just join a conference 🤷‍♂️👊🤷‍♂️ https://t.co/QMh8KEMiR3
— Bret Bielema (@BretBielema) June 4, 2026

That wasn't at all the point of what Bevacqua was saying or defending, but OK.

What Others Actually Hate About Notre Dame's Independence

This applies to Bielema, Joey McGuire of Texas Tech, and plenty of other head coaches and athletic directors that have complained about Notre Dame's independence.

Regardless of what they try and say, it's not that any of them actually hate that Notre Dame is independent in football.

It's instead that they hate that the program they're cashing a monster check from isn't.

The same goes for fans of countless programs nationally that line up to complain about Notre Dame's independence on a regular basis.

Deep down these people love the idea of being independent, they just hate that the football program they root for isn't able to pull it off.

Nowhere is that example greater than with Penn State, who ditched independence for the Big Ten in the early nineties because it couldn't land a TV deal and the money that came with it on its own, like Notre Dame was able to do.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Thought

As the college football world we all grew up falling in love with continues to look less like itself by the day, Notre Dame remaining independent is one of the traditions that should be celebrated.

Dozens of teams used to be independent by choice back in the day, Notre Dame was the only one to figure out how to stay afloat by doing so.

So some, like Bret Bielema, want Notre Dame to just be a sheep and follow the path of everyone else, because, why again?

Bielema's dog must not be playing with him lately because this feels like a cry for attention more than anything.

Certainly, some blinded-by-the-bright-lights of Champaign-Urbana dude from Gibson City, Illinois will see this post and scream "YOU TELL 'EM BRET!" into his phone.

Ultimately, Notre Dame being independent wouldn't bother many people if the Irish were still trotting out teams like they did under Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham, and Charlie Weis.

Now that Marcus Freeman has Notre Dame knocking on the door of winning a national championship, though, now anything Notre Dame does is bothersome to many.

As Lou Holtz famously said, "Because we're Notre Dame, and they ain't!"

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