IrishR#1
11-30-2008, 05:40 PM
So Notre Dame has had 5 national championship coaches: Rockne, Leahy, Parseghian, Devine, and Holtz. Since there has been an extensive discussion on whether we go after a championship coach like Urban Meyer or a proven winner, albeit at smaller schools, like Brian Kelly. I decided to look at the background of our former coaches.
Knute Rockne
~Player for Notre Dame
~Assistant to great but forgotten head coach Jesse Harper
Later coaches with a similar background: Bob Davie (bad coach), Terry Brennan (was way too young at 25)
~If we were to follow that route, we would hire Mike Haywood
Frank Leahy
~Former player
~Line coach at a bunch of different schools
~Head coach of Boston College, won Sugar Bowl and national championship
~Urban Meyer would be the closest thing to Leahy
Ara Parseghian
~Played for Miami of Ohio
~Coached at Miami of Ohio
~Took job at Northwestern and coached there for 2 years
~Freakishly similar to Brian Kelly as Kelly coached at a small school and won then at a slightly bigger school and won quickly
Dan Devine
~Head Coach at Arizona State
~Left to go to Mizzou and was followed at ASU by the legendary Frank Kush
~Went to the pros to coach the Packers and failed miserably
~This would be fairly similar to hiring someone like Jon Gruden but with college experience
Lou Holtz
~Coached at William & Mary, a D-1AA school
~Coached at North Carolina State and won some bowl games
~Sucked with the Jets
~Came back to coach Arkansas and made it to the Orange Bowl
~Rose Minnesota from the dead and then took the ND job
~A lot like Nick Saban
So there you go. I'd also like to note that the Parseghian route led to Ty, the Rockne route led to Bob Davie, and the Devine route is similar to Weis'. It's interesting to see the way our great coaches came and the coaches that would fit the bill today.
Knute Rockne
~Player for Notre Dame
~Assistant to great but forgotten head coach Jesse Harper
Later coaches with a similar background: Bob Davie (bad coach), Terry Brennan (was way too young at 25)
~If we were to follow that route, we would hire Mike Haywood
Frank Leahy
~Former player
~Line coach at a bunch of different schools
~Head coach of Boston College, won Sugar Bowl and national championship
~Urban Meyer would be the closest thing to Leahy
Ara Parseghian
~Played for Miami of Ohio
~Coached at Miami of Ohio
~Took job at Northwestern and coached there for 2 years
~Freakishly similar to Brian Kelly as Kelly coached at a small school and won then at a slightly bigger school and won quickly
Dan Devine
~Head Coach at Arizona State
~Left to go to Mizzou and was followed at ASU by the legendary Frank Kush
~Went to the pros to coach the Packers and failed miserably
~This would be fairly similar to hiring someone like Jon Gruden but with college experience
Lou Holtz
~Coached at William & Mary, a D-1AA school
~Coached at North Carolina State and won some bowl games
~Sucked with the Jets
~Came back to coach Arkansas and made it to the Orange Bowl
~Rose Minnesota from the dead and then took the ND job
~A lot like Nick Saban
So there you go. I'd also like to note that the Parseghian route led to Ty, the Rockne route led to Bob Davie, and the Devine route is similar to Weis'. It's interesting to see the way our great coaches came and the coaches that would fit the bill today.