Tag: Frank Leahy

Marcus Freeman could tie a Notre Dame record with another top-25 win

Is it in the cards for Freeman?

While many aren’t happy with Notre Dame football head coach [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag]’s slip ups against average at best teams, he’s doing some great work against top competition.

The win against Louisville was No. 9 in his three years in South Bend, which is right behind the school record for most wins against top-25 opponents to start one’s career. [autotag]Frank Leahy[/autotag] is the current holder, with 10 wins, started all the way back in 1941.

It seemed at the beginning of the year that Florida State would be one of those opponents in that range, but they have since fallen hard and won’t be ranked when the Irish face them in early November. Most likely USC will be ranked, as they are currently ranked, and should stay that way after they rallied to defeat Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon.

There is potential that Navy could eek its way into the top-25 as well, and a big time bowl matchup would give Freeman yet another opportunity to either break or tie the record.

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Kentucky Derby Racehorse Names, Notre Dame Style

The Kentucky Derby is Saturday as we’re into May and the weather is finally starting to turn in the Midwest. I won’t pretend to be a horse racing expert by any means and honestly, I wouldn’t even consider myself a horse racing fan. The so-called …

The Kentucky Derby is Saturday as we’re into May and the weather is finally starting to turn in the Midwest.  I won’t pretend to be a horse racing expert by any means and honestly, I wouldn’t even consider myself a horse racing fan.  The so-called “sport of kings” does very little for me but if I’m around a betting window then I’ll throw 10 bucks on the 10-horse to win.

I do always enjoy seeing the names of the racehorses however.

So my mind got moving a bit before Derby Day.  If I had a racehorse and was naming him after something Notre Dame related – what would that name be?

In the spirit of the annual “Run for the Horses” here are a lucky 13 of the best Notre Dame themed racehorse names I could come up with.  

One of the most popular campus landmarks on a campus full of them meets an Elvis classic. One can’t help but think this one might have just a little bit more of that “Notre Dame Spirit” Lou Holtz and others always talk about.

An ode to Notre Dame’s most famous professional player, Joe Montana, who used a little “Chicken Soup for the Soul” to help the Irish to an unforgettable comeback win over Houston in the 1979 Cotton Bowl.

For the first roughly 20 years of his life Joe Theismann’s last name was pronounced “THEEZ-man”.  Then at Notre Dame the eventual Washington Super Bowl winning quarterback’s “Theismann rhymes with Heisman” campaign resulted in how his name has been pronounced ever since.

There is no better way to honor Lou Holtz than by using perhaps his most famous quote at Notre Dame (spoken to the team just before kickoff in the ’88 game vs. Miami).

This one covers a couple of bases as legendary Notre Dame radio play-by-play voice Tony Roberts used to use this phrase whenever Raghib “The Rocket” Ismail found an open field.

Speaking of – remember that time Bo Schembechler decided to kick it to Rocket a second time?

Michael Stonebreaker was a darn good football player for the Irish, helping guide Notre Dame to a 1988 national championship and eventually became a College Football Hall of Famer.  The last name alone is horse-naming worthy.

There have been plenty of megastars from the Notre Dame women’s basketball team but no name plays as well when naming a filly as that of [autotag]Skylar Diggins[/autotag].

It may not be the most original but you can’t pass on the opportunity to blend a line from Notre Dame’s alma mater with one of the most electric players in the history of Notre Dame football, Golden Tate.

The Kentucky Derby takes place each year in Louisville so how could you possibly pass up having a horse named after Paul [autotag]Hornung[/autotag] in the city he grew up in, and the fact that plenty of people would bet on it would only honor the Heisman Trophy winner more!

[autotag]Frank Leahy[/autotag] was as successful of coach as Notre Dame has had and that includes Knute Rockne.  Leahy’s teams went 87-11-9 in his 11 seasons as Notre Dame head coach.  On top of all that did we mention he left his post to go serve his country in World War II?  

Perhaps that nice lady named Mary on top of the Golden Dome deserves a horse being named after her. She was rather important after all.

You could fall out of Notre Dame Stadium and practically land at Linebacker Lounge.  Nearly every Notre Dame fan who has attended a game has at least stepped foot in “The Backer”, easily the most popular bar in the area.

You can’t have this makeshift horse race themed around Notre Dame names and not include an ode to the greatest and most important head coach in the history of college football, Knute Rockne.

Notre Dame Football: All-Time Losingest Coaches

The program has lost more than 300 times in its history. So which coaches are responsible for most of those?

Notre Dame has a long football history that fans nationwide flock to.  “Win one for the Gipper”, the Four Horsemen, and the “Play Like a Champion Today” sign are all parts of Fighting Irish lore.  In that long football history that has been played at the university since an 8-0 loss to Michigan in November of 1887, it hasn’t always been national championships and 10-win seasons.

In fact, Notre Dame has lost a total of 330 times in the more than 13 decades they’ve been playing football.  We know which coaches won the most of those games as Brian Kelly set that record before leaving in 2021.  But who has lost the most as Notre Dame’s head coach?

Marcus Freeman isn’t there – yet – but with five in 13 career games he’s already in the top 16.

We went ahead and listed the the top 13 in program history as that’s how many have lost double-digit games at Notre Dame.  Here they are, the all-time losingest coaches at Notre Dame.

Did the mob bomb Knute Rockne’s plane?

Yes or no?

I feel like I’m a very passionate Notre Dame fan and know a lot more than just the current day stories.  It was as much the history and mystic of the football program that drew me in as a fan in the early-nineties as it was [autotag]Lou Holtz[/autotag]’s teams competing for national championships.

From the [autotag]Four Horsemen[/autotag] to [autotag]Frank Leahy[/autotag], [autotag]Ara Parseghian[/autotag], and [autotag]Rocket Ismail[/autotag], I thought I had heard and at least been aware of everything major in Notre Dame’s football history.  I certainly realized I was wrong semi-recently in regards to the man most responsible for Notre Dame football being what it is today, and how that man died.

Or at least a belief some hold about that.

I’m talking about the most notable head coach in college football history of course, [autotag]Knute Rockne[/autotag], and the belief that the mob was responsible for the plane crash that took his life.

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Former Notre Dame captain, All-American passes away

A former Notre Dame captain and All-American football player died this week. Find out more about the life of Dan Shannon here.

The Shannon name has been around Notre Dame football for a very long time.

Most recently it was long snapper John who finished up his collegiate career by winning the inaugural Patrick Mannelly Award, given out to the nation’s best senior long snapper.

Before that it was his father, Gerard, who played for the Fighting Irish in the 1980’s.

And before both of them was Gerard’s father, Dan, who has passed away at the age of 86.

Dan Shannon played for Notre Dame from 1951-54 as the Irish accumulated a 32-5-3 record in that time.

Shannon tied for eighth in program history in recovered fumbles (season), with four in 1951, and he served as a team captain in 1954, the season in which he was named a Sporting News All-American linebacker.

Shannon played under both Frank Leahy and Terry Brennan.

Shannon graduated from Notre Dame in 1955 with a degree in accounting and went on to serve in the Air Force before being elected to president of the Chicago Park District, a post he held from 1969-73.

Shannon also served as president of Notre Dame’s Monogram Club from 1995-97.

Shannon was living in Lake Barrington, Illinois when he died this week at 86 years of age.

Our condolences to the Shannon family.

Notre Dame’s best teams not to win a national championship

Notre Dame has had a few great teams that didn’t win a national championship. Inspired by a bad ESPN list here are seven of the best here.

I was scrolling through different pages over the weekend and this morning and stumbled upon an interesting sounding list at ESPN:

“Our top college football teams that failed to win the national championship”

Certainly this list will create some discussion and without a doubt, Notre Dame will be represented on here a few times over.

Or so I thought.

If you clicked the link and read/scrolled through you probably realized that in that list of 25 teams, Notre Dame was never listed.

Uh, what?

No offense to Bill Connelly, I’m sure he’s a stand-up human but what on God’s green earth are you talking about on this list?

I can see Notre Dame not having a top team on the list but none in the top 25 of it is just absurd.  Here are just a few for Mr. Connelly and yourselves to freshen up on as each could have won a title.

1941 – Frank Leahy’s First Notre Dame Squad…

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Notre Dame, Frank Leahy Load Up All-Time Sagarin Ratings

Jeff Sagarin’s all-time ratings were released by USA Today on Thursday and to the surprise of nobody, Notre Dame was all over the list making up more than 10% of the 150 spots.

With it being college football’s 150th season there have been lists in regards to everything in college football deciding the best this, that or the other all season long.

Who is the best team in any given year in the history of the game?

We finally have an answer.

At least according to a computer.

Jeff Sagarin’s all-time ratings were released by USA Today on Thursday and to the surprise of nobody, Notre Dame was all over the list making up more than 10% of the 150 spots.

You may notice as well that Frank Leahy’s squad have a few appearances on the list. Here’s where Notre Dame’s teams each checked in:

No. 2 – 1943 Notre Dame

No. 15 – 1946 Notre Dame

No. 17 – 1949 Notre Dame

No. 29 – 1966 Notre Dame

No. 40 – 1977 Notre Dame

No. 44 – 1970 Notre Dame

No. 46 – 1973 Notre Dame

No. 53 – 1947 Notre Dame

No. 56 – 1988 Notre Dame

No. 63 – 1930 Notre Dame

No. 71 – 1953 Notre Dame

No. 105 – 1921 Notre Dame

No. 117 – 1989 Notre Dame

No. 122 – 1993 Notre Dame

No. 135 – 1924 Notre Dame

No. 144 – 1948 Notre Dame

There are a few things to take away but to me none greater than six of the 11 teams Frank Leahy coached at Notre Dame being considered among the 150 greatest in the history of the sport.

The formula used to find the greatest teams included win-loss record, strength of schedule and margin of victory.

The No. 1 team historically graded out to be 1945 Army who went 9-0 with seven wins over top-30 squads and four against top-ten teams.

Also worth noting is that 1993 Florida State finished 12-1 with their lone loss coming to Notre Dame while the Irish finished 12-1 as well, with their loss coming to Boston College. However Notre Dame finished ranked 108 spots lower than Florida State in this poll.

Check out the full rankings right here and if you’re up for it, discuss them in the Fighting Irish Wire forum.

Notre Dame Football Well Represented on ESPN’s Top 150 Coaches List

Knute Rockne was the highest former Fighting Irish coach to make the list, coming in at three. He trails only Paul Bryant and Nick Saban on the list.

In honor of 150 years of College Football, ESPN and other publications have been releasing their lists of greatest all-time everything this year.

Earlier we went over the 150 greatest games list and the incredible games Notre Dame contributed to that list both good and bad.

Today ESPN released their rankings of the 150 greatest coaches in college football history.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Notre Dame is again well represented.

First up – “Rock”

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