Tag: Knute Rockne

Notre Dame football: Brian Kelly wins 100th, ties Holtz

Brian Kelly joined rare air for Notre Dame head coaches on Saturday. More on his accomplishment right here.

With Notre Dame’s 45-31 win over Boston College on Saturday, Brian Kelly joined a club that only only two other Fighting Irish head coaches have membership to.

The win was Kelly’s 100th at Notre Dame, tying him for the second most all-time in program history with Lou Holtz who went 100-30-2 between 1986 and 1996.

Kelly now sits at 100-39 since taking over the Notre Dame job in 2010 and is just five away from tying Knute Rockne for the most ever in program history.

Ara Parseghian sits fourth all-time with 95 career wins while Frank Leahy finished his illustrious career with 87 wins heading the Irish for fifth most.

In case you were wondering, Charlie Weis, Tyrone Willingham, George O’Leary and Bob Davie combined to win 92 games during their runs of head coach from 1997-2009.

See it: Dabo Swinney’s tour of Notre Dame

Dabo Swinney took the opportunity to go full-tourist on Friday on his first trip to Notre Dame. See the pictures from him around campus.

Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney did something I thought was pretty cool this week.

Often times you’ll hear coaches talk about “business trips” and “eyes on the prize” and “tunnel vision” when their teams are playing in big games.

Clemson is ranked first in the country and clearly has a huge game at an iconic venue this week as they’re at No. 4 Notre Dame.  But instead of Swinney downplaying the opponent or the venue, he embraced it as it’s Clemson’s first trip to Notre Dame since 1979.

Instead of avoiding the opposing stadium like he said Clemson usually does, Swinney made it a point for his team to have a walk through at Notre Dame Stadium on Friday afternoon.

He then took it a step further and took a tour of the Notre Dame campus.

For those that don’t know, Tim Bourret was the football SID at Clemson for 40 years and is a 1977 graduate of Notre Dame.  It’s safe to say Swinney saw all the necessary sites on campus that a first-time visitor to Notre Dame needs to see.

I won’t say any names (cough, NICK SABAN, cough) but plenty of coaches act too cool or above embracing anything in regards to the history of college football so seeing Swinney eat up some of the landmarks of the campus just over 24 before his biggest game of the regular season is pretty cool to see for this college football fan.

Notre Dame football notes: Longest regular season break since…

This Saturday, Notre Dame will conclude their longest break between regular season games in a long time. Find out details here.

Notre Dame’s game against South Florida feels like forever ago.

By the time the Irish and Florida State do battle on Saturday night at Notre Dame Stadium it’ll have been a full three weeks since Notre Dame suited up for a regular season game.

Does that feel like a long time?

Of course, as well it should.

In case you were wondering, that’s the longest break between regular season games Notre Dame will have had since Knute Rockne’s first year as head coach.

The following from Eric Hansen of the South Bend Tribune:

The last time the Irish went as many as 21 days between regular-season games was 1918, coach Knute Rockne’s rookie season, during the Spanish Flu pandemic. Thirty-five days elapsed between the Sept. 28 opener against Case Tech, a 26-6 win, and a hastily scheduled 67-7 rout of Wabash on Nov. 2.

The original opponent, Nebraska, canceled just as the Irish were departing for Lincoln, Neb.

Hopefully that long of a break doesn’t mean it’s too rusty of a Notre Dame team we see on Saturday night.  Based off how North Carolina looked against Boston College last week though I’m not expecting anything close to a flawless showing for the Irish.

However, it’s no excuse not to still cruise to a victory and 3-0.

Stay tuned to Fighting Irish Wire as we’ll release our staff predictions on Friday morning.

 

WATCH: Notre Dame Updates, Re-releases ‘Here Come the Irish’

A song that has become part of Notre Dame football’s game day festivities got an face-lift over the weekend. Check it out right here!

If you are a fan of Notre Dame football or just admire the University in any way you’ve heard the song “Here Come the Irish” that was performed by Cathy Richardson of Jefferson Starship after being written by Jim Tullio and John Scully.

The song has taken on a life of it’s own since being written in 1997 and many have put together slideshows and their own videos with it’s audio accompaniment on the internet.

Over the weekend the University of Notre Dame’s athletic department released a new video to go along with the song you hear just before kickoff at Notre Dame Stadium and it’s worth your five minutes today.  Watch the video in the tweet below.

LET’S GO!

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

When you hear the name Jack Chevingny 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, or the day after, …

When you hear the name Jack Chevingny 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, or the day after, it feels like the right time to share his story.

Chevigny was a favorite of Knute Rockne, 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 knee injury he sustained while playing football at Notre Dame.  As the war wore on though the restrictions became more laxed 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

The Athletic in Love/Hate Relationship with Notre Dame Alternate Uniform

The Athletic listed several alternate college football uniforms that they both love and hate. Notre Dame had one get both love and hate.

The Athletic has been on a uniform kick lately.  In the NHL they’ve been discussing the best sweaters in the history of each franchise and tackled recent alternate college football uniforms today.

Notre Dame has been wearing an alternate look at least once a season each of the last ten years and a couple times wearing a second alternate look twice in the same year.

Notre Dame didn’t get any love from The Athletic today for any of their alternate uniforms.  At least not none that was categorized under “favorites” on the list.  Notre Dame did get listed under “hated” for one of their alternates, however and I assume you already know which recent alternate it went to.

Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Pete Sampson and Nicole Auerbach said the following about the uniforms from the 2018 Shamrock Series game against Syracuse at Yankee Stadium:

Against:  These were less alternate jerseys than Halloween costumes, a Notre Dame football player trick-or-treating around the Bronx dressed up like a New York Yankee.  Most of Notre Dame’s alternates for the Shamrock Series have been edgy with some homage: military green for the game against Army, or touches of the Golden Dome on fabric for the Purdue game.  Even the Knute Rockne jerseys (faux old-school leather cleats!) from 2017 leaned into something Notre Dame.  Dressing up like a baseball player did none of that.  And replacing Notre Dame’s iconic gold with a dingy batting helmet?  Just thinking about it makes me clutch my pearls. – Pete Sampson

For:  Yes, I am aware that most of you hated these.  But that doesn’t mean you are right.  These jerseys paid homage to the most successful professional sports franchise in the United States on said franchise’s own turf.  They mixed elements of traditional baseball and football designs beautifully, from the pinstripes on the pants that looked classic and clean to the matte helmet that looked like a batting helmet.  I believe the backlash to these uniforms was not about the uniforms themselves but rather the success of the Yankees.  Just because you personally didn’t have the honor of growing up a Yankees fan doesn’t mean you have to disrespect the pinstripes.  They’re iconic, much like Notre Dame’s gold helmets.  You’re all just haters. – Nicole Auerbach

And people wonder why the Yankees get so much hate even if they’re not in the business of winning the World Series anymore.

I looked over all of the semi-recent Notre Dame alternates back in the fall ahead of the Irish wearing the ’88 tribute throwbacks against Boston College.  I agree with Sampson in that it wasn’t overall a good uniform but I did think they looked a ton better when the game actually came around than when they were unveiled during the previous summer.

Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

That said there is no excuse for the Rockne tribute uniforms to not get some praise in the “love” category.  Those are as perfect of alternate uniform that Notre Dame has ever worn and whenever they wear them again won’t be soon enough in my eyes.