Tag: Digger Phelps

Happy birthday to Notre Dame coaching great Digger Phelps

Happy birthday Coach!

On this birthday of the United States of America a Notre Dame coaching great is also celebrating.  Former men’s basketball coach Digger Phelps, the only men’s head coach to ever reach a Final Four in program history, turns 82 today.

Phelps coached Notre Dame from 1971-1989, leading the Irish to a 393-195 record.  Phelps coached Notre Dame to the NCAA Tournament in 14 of those seasons and to the NIT three more times.

Phelps held Notre Dame’s record for wins by a men’s basketball coach until Mike Brey passed him.  For a generation of college basketball fans he’s most-known for his contributions as an analyst on ESPN.

Before today ends we wanted to share birthday well-wishes to Digger Phelps and of course the United States of America.

Check out some of the best photos of Phelps over the years below!

Notre Dame appearances at MLB ballparks through the years

The Irish have been well-represented during ceremonial first pitches.

This is an exciting week for Notre Dame. Not everyone can say they’ve been at MLB’s two oldest ballparks during the same week, but this year’s Irish will be able to make that claim. They’ll face Northwestern at Wrigley Field on Tuesday before meeting Boston College at Fenway Park on Friday. The best part for us at Fighting Irish Wire is that we’ve been credentialed for both games, so we’ll be reporting the action directly from these historic venues.

With these two games taking place during the final week of the regular season, we thought it would be nice to take a look back at Notre Dame figures making appearances at MLB ballparks over the years. We’re not talking about when the football team has played games there or former Irish players who have made the big leagues. We’re talking about when figures have made appearances on behalf of the university. If you have a really good memory, maybe you can recall at least one of these:

Notre Dame Men’s Basketball NCAA Tournament History

Notre Dame has made a trip to the NCAA Tournament 37 times to date, the ninth-most of any basketball program.

Unfortunately Notre Dame won’t be making [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag]’s final year as head coach one that ends with a trip to the NCAA Tournament.  However, he did bring the Irish to the dance over 1/3 of their times in program history since taking over the job in the summer of 2000.

Despite being known as a football school or women’s basketball school, the Irish have now been to the NCAA Tournament 37 times – the ninth most of any program in all of college basketball history.  They’ve also played in more NCAA Tournament’s without winning the whole thing than any other program.

How has Notre Dame fared during their 37 trips to the big dance?  Just once they’ve made a Final Four but have had a few close calls to winning a regional as well.

Here is how Notre Dame has fared in all 37 of those trips to the Big Dance:

More NCAA Tournament History from the College Wires Network:

Alabama / Aub / Fla / LSU / Tenn. / UGA // Mich. / Mich St. / Ohio St. / Penn St. / Wisc. // Okla. / Texas // ND // USC

 

Photos of Mike Brey through the years

Hopefully, this are what you think of when you think of the Irish coach.

[autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag] established his legacy at Notre Dame a long time ago. From being named national coach of the year to making back-to-back Elite Eights to passing [autotag]Digger Phelps[/autotag] as the Irish’s winningest coach, the list of accolades is an impressive one. However, there have been too few positives for the program lately, and even he has started to doubt his effectiveness. We don’t know for sure if that factored into his decision to retire at the end of the season, but that decision has been made either way.

While many Irish fans are happy to see a new voice in charge on the horizon, they shouldn’t forget all the good Brey has brought to South Bend. You don’t achieve everything he did by chance. It takes real coaching ability to hold a job like this for as long as he has. Whatever you think of the job he’s done lately, Notre Dame won’t be the same without him.

Before Brey inevitably takes his rightful place in the Purcell Pavilion Ring of Honor, here are some of the best images of him as Irish coach over the years:

Photos from last Notre Dame-Michigan State game at Purcell Pavilion

This was a memorable game in a memorable season.

As Notre Dame prepares to welcome Michigan State to Purcell Pavilion, one can’t help but think of the last time these programs met there. It was the 2014 ACC-Big Ten Challenge, and fans filled the seats to witness the first meeting between the teams since Magic Johnson’s Spartans eliminated the Irish in the 1979 NCAA Tournament en route to the national title. Also helping was the great reputation Tom Izzo had long established by then.

The game lived up to the billing as the Irish won a 79-78 overtime thriller. [autotag]Jerian Grant[/autotag] played the entire game, scoring a career-high 27 points and dishing out six assists. [autotag]Demetrius Jackson[/autotag]’s 22 points also set a career high, though he would pass that mark five times after this game. The Irish also got 11 points apiece from [autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] and [autotag]Steve Vasturia[/autotag].

Before these programs battle in the final ACC-Big Ten Challenge in 2022,  take a look back at this memorable 2014 contest. Don’t miss the rather festive photo of [autotag]Digger Phelps[/autotag] while you do:

Digger Phelps speaks after Juwan Howard incident

A Notre Dame legend has an opinion.

Few if any names are bigger in the history of Notre Dame basketball than Digger Phelps. So anytime he gives his take on something, Irish fans and at least some college basketball fans in general tend to listen. After Michigan coach Juwan Howard threw a punch at the end of his team’s loss to Wisconsin, Tom Noie of the South Bend Tribune reached out to Phelps to ask what would have happened to him in a similar situation. Phelps couldn’t have been more clear in his response:

It’s hard to believe that any athletic director or university president would tolerate what Howard did even now. However, we’re not in charge of making these decisions, so we don’t know what grounds today’s leaders have for immediate dismissal of a coach. What we do know is that Howard’s actions are completely unacceptable, and anything less than a swift and harsh punishment for him would be mind-boggling. Let’s hope that’s exactly what happens.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

WATCH: Star-Filled Notre Dame Zoom Meeting

The fun started with Lou Holtz and Digger Phelps jumping on a Notre Dame Zoom meeting but it certainly didn’t end just there!

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…

Lou Holtz and Digger Phelps log into a Zoom meeting…

And Justin Tuck, Rudy, Tim Brown, Raghib Ismail, Ian Book, Hannah Storm, Brandon Wimbush and a ridiculous amount of other former Notre Dame stars are there to join them.

That’s exactly what happened Tuesday night and the Twitter account @NDLoyal was there to share it with all.

Every Zoom call I’ve ever been on I find myself being like Ian Book is for the majority of that two minutes.

Pretty cool to see that many familiar faces getting together on a random Tuesday night.

Notre Dame Basketball: Irish Never Let Up vs. UCLA

When one thinks about Notre Dame and UCLA coming together, only one memory comes to mind: Two figures involved in that historic game, Digger Phelps and Bill Walton, were part of the ABC broadcast when these teams met again Saturday. If viewers …

When one thinks about Notre Dame and UCLA coming together, only one memory comes to mind:

Two figures involved in that historic game, Digger Phelps and Bill Walton, were part of the ABC broadcast when these teams met again Saturday. If viewers tuning in were more focused on the shenanigans between those two, it probably was because the Irish had what became a 75-61 win well in hand.

The Irish (7-3) continued the 3-point barrage they had against Detroit Mercy. After John Mooney’s opening two-point basket, Notre Dame’s next six field goals came from beyond the arc.  In fact, 24 of their 31 first-half points were scored there. Any second-half run by the Bruins (7-3) was answered (a total of 15 3-pointers helped), and that was the game.

Prentiss Hubb scored 15 of his game-high 20 points from 3-point range. Dane Goodwin made 3 treys off the bench while contributing 16 points. TJ Gibbs had four 3-pointers as part of his 15 points, and John Mooney joined the double-double club again with 14 points and 15 rebounds.

John Calipari Takes in Notre Dame/Detroit Mercy

I see Calipari at Notre Dame and immediately have flashbacks to the close-call that was the 2015 Midwest Regional

There was an all-time college sports heel in attendance last night when Notre Dame’s basketball team got back in the win column after beating Detroit Mercy, 110-71.

Kentucky head basketball coach John Calipari and his wife made the trip north from Lexington to take in the game, specifically to see their son Brad play and score 12 points for Mercy.

Calipari and Digger Phelps – I can only imagine those conversations.

I see Calipari at Notre Dame and immediately have flashbacks to the close-call that was the 2015 Midwest Regional final that the Irish lost in the closing seconds despite leading most the night and were that-close to ruining Kentucky’s perfect season.

Instead Wisconsin did so in the Final Four a round later.

Whatever the case at least Notre Dame handled business in a game against an inferior opponent. Hopefully last night breathes some air back into the lungs of a team that has looked largely dead the last week as a good showing against UCLA Saturday would be welcome.