Knute Rockne – Syndication Server

Fighting Irish Wire makes Notre Dame Stadium debut at Blue Gold Game

Major stepping stone for our site.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The first Notre Dame event Fighting Irish Wire covered on location was the final edition of the Crossroads Classic. That was in late 2021. Since then, we have covered many Irish men’s and women’s basketball games at Purcell Pavilion and elsewhere. We also traveled to Boston a year ago when the baseball team played at Fenway Park.

However, we never have had media access to any football events, let alone one at Notre Dame Stadium. That changes today with the annual Blue Gold Game to wrap up spring practices. Yes, you read that correctly. Fighting Irish Wire is covering its first event inside the House That Rockne Built.

As of this writing, we aren’t entirely sure what we’ll be writing about today. What we are sure of is we’re excited to be here, and we hope this will serve as a dress rehearsal to covering at least some regular-season games here this fall. We appreciate your support on this big day for our site.

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 Knute Rockne Coaching Spring Football

“necking and drinking…”

Spring football is in the air on college campuses around the United States and Notre Dame is no different.

Some questions for teams will be answered during the spring while transfer portal entries will be made during and immediately following the spring session.

Spring football goes back over a century as teams have been using it to get better for seemingly as long as college football has been played. That’s no different at Notre Dame where spring football has been a thing since at least the day’s of Knute Rockne.

With that in mind you can watch Rockne firing up the troops to kick off spring practice nearly a century below.

This past Sunday marked the 93rd anniversary of Rockne’s death.

How 12 football head coaches fared as the replacements for legends like Bill Belichick and Nick Saban

Who replaced Bear Bryant, Don Shula and John Madden and how did they do?

During one of the craziest weeks of football in recent memory, we saw the end of an era for legends like Bill Belichick and Nick Saban.

Belichick, 71, and Saban, 72, are easily two of the greatest coaches that the sport has ever seen. Next season, college football will look very different without Saban coaching Alabama. Meanwhile, the NFL will also look very different without Belichick coaching the Patriots.

Both teams will have huge decisions about how to fill these massive shoes. While there are some interesting candidates for the gig in New England and the job in Tuscaloosa, can either live up to the reputation that Belichick and Saban built?

We looked back at some of the most legendary coaches in football history, both in the NFL and in college football, to learn how these replacements have typically fared.

The results are a fairly mixed bag but if there is one thing we learned, it is that it is not easy to replace someone as accomplished as either of these two Hall of Fame-caliber coaches.

Notre Dame football announces their 4 captains for the 2023 season

The four are set for the Irish

It’s a right of passage at many schools to be named a captain and it’s no different for [autotag]Notre Dame football[/autotag].

The Irish have a storied tradition in South Bend and many of the luminary players were once named captain. Previous players like [autotag]Brady Quinn[/autotag], [autotag]Zack Martin[/autotag], [autotag]Knute Rockne[/autotag], and [autotag]Manti Te’o[/autotag] have all been named Notre Dame captain.

The 2023 season will feature four captain, two players on each side of the ball. It’s a bit different from last season, where six different players were captains at one point during the year.

Find out below which four were named Notre Dame captain for this coming season.

ChatGPT ranks top 10 running backs in Notre Dame history

How do you feel about this list?

We recently put AI writing tool ChatGPT to the test and had it list what it believed was Notre Dame’s top 10 quarterbacks. The list surely caused some debate for some readers, but guess what? We’re going to cause you to think again by having it generate its list of the top 10 running backs in program history.

Some of you might disagree with what ChatGPT says, and others might even say the list is too short. However, the point of this is to make you think and spark discussion. Also, even though ChatGPT has not been updated since September 2021, it’s a safe assumption that no one on the Irish since then has played well enough to have a place on this list with the possible exception of [autotag]Kyren Williams[/autotag]. Just out of curiosity though, would you include him?

Anyway, without further adieu, here’s the list with ChatGPT’s descriptions of each player. Some entries have been edited for clarity and updates:

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.

Notre Dame football: History of Notre Dame clues on ‘Jeopardy!’

Post how many you got right in the comments.

It has been established more than once on this site that I am fanatical about game shows. With Notre Dame athletics on hiatus until fall save for the track team at the NCAA championships, I have time to try ideas I’ve been wanting to try for a while now. One of them was planted in my head after our own Nick Shepkowski reported on a “Jeopardy!” category that was about ACC schools. I’ve decided to take that idea and narrow the focus to “Jeopardy!” clues about Notre Dame.

Using the site J-Archive, which has records of nearly every game during the show’s current run, I have come across several Notre Dame clues. Many of them were repeats because that’s what happens when you’ve been on for 39 years. However, I feel like I’ve compiled a diverse list of clues that you should be able to respond to if you have even a basic knowledge of Notre Dame, particularly the football program. Check the end of this list for the correct responses:

Memorial Day: The story of Notre Dame’s Jack Chevigny

Take a moment and remember an American hero and great Notre Dame man this Memorial Day.

When you hear the name [autotag]Jack Chevingny[/autotag] what comes to mind?

I’ll be honest, it wasn’t until not long ago that literally, nothing did for me. I hadn’t heard of him, didn’t know who he was or why he was important. But on Memorial Day it feels like the right time to share his story.

Chevigny was a favorite of [autotag]Knute Rockne[/autotag], a blocker for the Four Horseman, and screamed “That one is for the Gipper!” upon crossing the goal line and tying the legendary 1928 game with Army.

After college, he was Rockne’s right-hand man, believed to be the heir apparent of the legend but a feud between himself and Hunk Anderson caused Chevigny to depart the Irish staff at just 24 years old. The star coach in the making that left Notre Dame and became the head coach of the NFL’s Chicago Cardinals and eventually the University of Texas Longhorns, where’d he lead Texas to an upset victory at Notre Dame Stadium in 1934.

Those feats alone would make him a legend compared to most of us, but where it ultimately mattered he was even more heroic.

After resigning from the Longhorns job Chevigny found employment as a deputy attorney general in Texas before working on the legal side for a friend’s oil business in Southern Illinois.

Chevigny tried to volunteer his services when the United States entered World War II but was turned away because of a knee injury he sustained while playing football at Notre Dame. As the war wore on though the restrictions became more relaxed and Chevigny reported for duty late in 1943 at 36 years old.

Chevigny opted to be where the action was, asking to serve in the Pacific theater. Ultimately those requests were answered as he was one of 26,000 United States Marines lost on Iwo Jima.

Jack Chevigny was a star and folk hero in his football career but what he did away from football made him a true American hero.

For more information on Jack Chevigny:
The Last Chalkline: The Life & Times of Jack Chevigny
“One More for the Gipper” – Nov. 11, 2014

Knute Rockne, American Icon

To learn more about Knute Rockne, visit the Knute Rockne Memorial Society page at rocknesociety.org. #NotreDame #USC

USC-Notre Dame is as American as apple pie.

Knute Rockne, more than any other man, gave rise to the Notre Dame-USC rivalry. Interestingly enough, he was courted vigorously by USC in the mid-1920s, but he was still under contract at Notre Dame, so a possible deal to become USC’s new head coach did not get finalized. Rockne stayed at Notre Dame. Howard Jones became USC’s head coach and the man who, with Rockne, launched the Irish-Trojan rivalry which has meant so much to college football over the past 96 years, and which is always a great rivalry when both teams are at or close to their peak.

This year’s game will bring back some of the flavor of Notre Dame-USC.

We talked to Jim Lefebvre, the director of the Knute Rockne Memorial Society, about Rockne and his legend and the USC deal which almost was. The Rockne Society will have its annual Spirit of Sports Awards Celebration this Friday, Nov. 25, at the Center at Cathedral Plaza on 555 West Temple Street in Los Angeles. The festivities begin at 11 a.m.

Here is our podcast with Jim Lefebvre:

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Creator of the USC-Notre Dame rivalry will be remembered Friday in Los Angeles

Friday in L.A., one day before #USC vs #NotreDame, a special event will recognize Knute Rockne, who started the ND-SC rivalry and so much more.

Knute Rockne and Howard Jones launched the Notre Dame-USC football rivalry, arranging the game in 1926 which gave birth to one of the most special college football rivalries of all time.

USC-Notre Dame hasn’t been nationally relevant on both sides for most of the past 15 years. There were a few years in the early part of the century (2002-2006) when the rivalry had some significant games, but the vast majority of ND-SC games over the past 30 years have not been mega-events.

This 2022 game comes close, but with Notre Dame at 8-3, the Irish are spoilers more than title contenders.

We can say the game is a bigger deal than in the recent past, but it sure isn’t 2005, either. We can also say that if Notre Dame and USC play with both teams in the national title hunt, few college football games pop with significance and meaning more than this one.

Knute Rockne created this rivalry with Jones nearly 100 years ago. The coaches of Notre Dame and USC gave rise to something special.

This is part of why the Knute Rockne Memorial Society is bringing its awards celebration to Los Angeles this Friday. Learn about this event. You might want to attend and learn more about a part of Notre Dame-USC history: