Ara Parseghian, 1923-2017

Our entire program mourns the loss of one of the pillars of our University, Coach Ara Parseghian. pic.twitter.com/nXS3xyei05

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) August 2, 2017

Here are some other tributes on Ara Parseghian.  It's funny what I remember when it came to Dad and Notre Dame football.  The coaches of the modern era always seemed to disappoint him.  Even if Notre Dame bear USC that year, even if they went onto a national championship, he'd begrudgingly concede a fine effort or some talent by the coach.  But I can imagine it was hard for him to like Parseghian (who coached from1964-1974) or Dan Devine (who coached from 1975-1980).  

Dad frequently shook his head at Dan Devine, but his winning percentage .764 was comparable to Lou Holtz's, .765.  Devine's win-loss record was 53-16-1.  But I'll never forget a report of Devine's dog being killed.  But that was not in the context of his coaching performance during any Notre Dame season or specific game, it was in his 3rd and final year, 1974 as coach of the Green Bay Packers that Devine's dog was shot, one year before he was brought over to coach the Fighting Irish.  That certainly wouldn't be considered conduct becoming of a Catholic.  Someone shot his his dog.  

By then fans had grown disenchanted and ran Devine out of town. So angry were some, that Devine's dog was shot to death

Apparently, the shooting of Devine's dog wasn't done by some disgruntled Packers' fan.  

My dad was also a fan of the energized and devoted Catholic, Lou Holtz, loved him, in fact.  But it wasn't just a winning season that caused Dad to either love or be dismayed by a Notre Dame coach, it was also their devotion to the Virgin Mary and the Catholic Church.  If the coach demonstrated fervent devotion to the Virgin Mary AND coached Notre Dame to a commanding victory over USC, then he would praise the coach.  You see he was comparing all of the up-and-coming coaches and Notre Dame (for it was the entire franchise that he judged) to player and Coach Frank Lahey, Knute Rockne, the Four Horsemen

I had kind of forgot Gerry Faust (1981-1985).  Boy did his name cause Dad all kinds of grief.  Notre Dame hired Faust based on his successes at Archbishop Mueller HS in Ohio.  

It was his amazing high school record, sound ethics and the quality football players from Moeller who later played at Notre Dame, that led Notre Dame officials to take a calculated gamble and hire him when Dan Devine stepped down after the 1980 season. For Faust, a devout Roman Catholic, it was a dream come true. He had coveted the head coaching job at Notre Dame for years and said all along that he would never leave Moeller for anything else. Faust inherited a solid squad that included nine of his former players from Moeller. He switched the team's home jerseys from green back to blue, although initially it was a lighter Madonna blue shade than the navy blue that had been previously worn (and returned to in 1984), and kept the players' names on the backs. A self-proclaimed eternal optimist brimming with enthusiasm, Faust had visions of winning more games and national championships and coaching at Notre Dame longer than anyone else. Then when he saw Notre Dame's schedule, he was quoted as saying, "I hope my lifelong dream doesn't end in a nightmare." Sadly, it proved to be a prophetic statement and his era at Notre Dame, initially referred to as "The Bold Experiment",[3] fell far short of expectations.

 

But it was Lou Holtz (coached from 1986-1996 with a record of 100-30-2) who restored his faith in Notre Dame Football.  But his health was faltering that would lead to greater disability before ge passed in 1988.  But at least for a couple of years he git to see a kind if revival at Notre Dame and he loved reading about Lou Holtz's game strategies and Catholic devotions.  For it wasn't just the brawn and muscle on the grid iron, for Fad, it was always a spiritual battle about how much territory one's team, or one's convictions, would would cede.