Tag: Muffet McGraw

ACC honors galore for Notre Dame

So many Irish folks won awards that we had to make a listicle out of this story.

When you win the outright ACC regular-season championship, as Notre Dame did, many conference honors are sure to come. That’s exactly what happened when the ACC unveiled its annual honors. The best part is the honors weren’t limited to those who are on the court every game.

All of this is happening ahead of the ACC Tournament, which begins Wednesday in Greensboro, North Carolina. Having earned one of the top four seeds, the Irish received an automatic berth to the quarterfinals, which will take place Friday. As the top seed, they will play the winner of the second-round game between Syracuse and an NC State program that has given them problems over the past year.

Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology has the Irish holding steady as the No. 3 seed in the quadrant featuring undefeated and top-ranked South Carolina. Should the Gamecocks draw the Irish in the Elite Eight in that scenario, they’ll have to deal with these heavy hitters that have made the Irish such a force this season:

Notre Dame coaching legend Muffet McGraw laments NIL

Try as the Hall of Famer might, she can’t stop the winds of change in college athletics.

As far as Notre Dame legend and Basketball Hall of Famer [autotag]Muffet McGraw[/autotag] is concerned, she got out of coaching at the right time. With the emergence of NIL, one more layer has been added to a college athletics landscape that’s becoming as complicated to understand as tax law.

A few months after receiving the NCAA’s Pat Summitt Award, McGraw sat down for an interview with Andy Katz and discussed various topics. When Katz asked her opinion on NIL, she didn’t hold back:

McGraw seems to begrudgingly accept that today’s college athletes are a different breed. Not only are they looking to get paid, but they no longer have the patience to spend their first season or two on the bench. Loyalty in college sports has become as fragmented as it is at the professional level. The days of simply being happy to get a free ride at a prestigious university through an athletic scholarship are over.

No one can predict how this all ends, but we’re at a real crossroads with college athletics. We probably will see a different landscape in five years, let alone 10. College athletes will go where the money and playing opportunities are, and there’s nothing any coach, recruiter, athletic director or administrator can do about it. The balance of power has shifted at long last, and it’s time to accept that.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

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Notre Dame wins outright ACC regular-season championship

Feels nice to be alone on the conference mountaintop.

[autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag]’s transformation as a worthy successor to [autotag]Muffet McGraw[/autotag] officially has been completed. With Notre Dame needing a road win over Louisville in its regular-season finale to clinch at least a share of the ACC regular-season title, the pressure couldn’t have been higher. The road was made tougher with the sudden loss of [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag], one of the country’s best players, to a right knee injury. All signs pointed to a disappointing precursor to the ACC Tournament.

Instead, Ivey kept her team focused, and the Irish overcame a 10-point third-quarter deficit to come away with a hard-fought 68-65 win over the Cardinals. With Duke losing to North Carolina, the Irish won their first outright ACC regular-season championship since 2017. They last won a share of the ACC regular-season title in 2019.

The 24-4 Irish finished conference play with a 15-3 record. They will have the top seed in the conference tournament, which begins Wednesday in Greensboro, North Carolina. Their first game will be in the quarterfinals Friday against the winner of Thursday’s second-round game between NC State and Syracuse.

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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

Former Notre Dame Athletic Director Gene Corrigan Dead at Age 91

Gene Corrigan is responsible for hiring perhaps the two best coaches in Notre Dame’s recent history in Lou Holtz and Muffet McGraw.

One of my favorite things that has happened since I took over managing Fighting Irish Wire back in October is that things you thought you were aware of or hip to get magnified ten-fold.

That could be assistant coaches being hired or fired, recruiting information or simply something from the history of Notre Dame.

I’ll be honest here (I always am but that’s a way to transition myself out of my comfort zone a bit):

I had no idea who Gene Corrigan was until his death at 91 years old was announced Saturday.

Some quick research helped me discover he wasn’t just the former commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference, but was Notre Dame’s athletic director from 1981 to 1987.

That made me realize that hey, Gene Corrigan is responsible for hiring perhaps the two best coaches in Notre Dame’s recent history in Lou Holtz and Muffet McGraw.

I had no idea that Corrigan had three children graduate from the University of Notre Dame, or that one of them, Kevin, had been the lacrosse coach at Notre Dame since 1998.

It’s fascinating to read about a man who graduated from Duke in 1952 then got his start in coaching by leading the basketball, soccer and lacrosse teams of Washington and Lee in 1955.

From there he took a job at the University of Virginia where he spent time again coaching a variety of sports before becoming athletic director at Washington and Lee.

That led him again to Virginia where he was athletic director for a decade before a decade before he took the Notre Dame A-D job, replacing the legendary Edward “Moose” Krause.

I also didn’t know until reading Eric Hansen’s piece Saturday that Lou Holtz was anything but a knockout hire at his time and had been coming off a 6-5 season at Minnesota at the time of his hiring.

Corrigan would go on to commission the ACC after leaving Notre Dame in 1987 through 1995 when he became president of the NCAA.

Corrigan clearly lived an incredible life and oversaw the Notre Dame athletic department at an incredibly fascinating time.

Even if I didn’t know anything about him a day ago, he impact on Notre Dame athletics is clearly without end.

All the best to those who knew him and if you’re like me and didn’t even know of him until now, here’s to hoping you also learned a bit about his important legacy to Notre Dame and college sports.

Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey speaks at ACC media day

Think the Irish have another deep tournament run in them?

Entering her third season as the legendary [autotag]Muffet McGraw[/autotag]’s successor, Notre Dame coach [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] has every reason for optimism. She went from .500 in her first year at the helm to 24-9 and an appearance in the Sweet 16. But for a late Irish collapse against NC State in their final game, the Final Four would have been within their reach. Alas, neither Ivey nor her team could be disappointed by how far they had come.

All of that is history now, and Ivey is ready to see what she can do with this year’s Irish. She answered questions about it during the ACC’s media day Tuesday in Charlotte, North Carolina:

Notre Dame, UConn will renew rivalry for Jimmy V Classic

Get your tickets for this one, or at least stay home for it.

One of the biggest rivalries in women’s basketball is returning for 2022-23. Notre Dame has been one of the few programs to challenge UConn’s supremacy in the sport, so you know any game involving these teams will be good. [autotag]Muffet McGraw[/autotag] might be gone from the rivalry, but the feelings between these programs surely remain. That’s why their Dec. 4 clash at Purcell Pavilion as part of the Jimmy V Classic should be filled with great anticipation.

These programs met last season with the Huskies taking a 73-54 victory in Storrs. Of course, that game couldn’t compare to the numerous Final Four games that have paired them over the past decade-plus. For Irish fans, none of those contests stand more than the first of back-to-back late [autotag]Arike Ogunbowale[/autotag] heroics during the 2018 semifinals. Not only did it set her up for her championship-winning buzzer beater against Mississippi State two nights later, but it ruined the Huskies’ perfect season.

If you watch only one women’s basketball game this season, make this one it.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Four former Notre Dame players named WNBA All-Stars

Which All-Star is your favorite?

[autotag]Muffet McGraw[/autotag] isn’t long removed from coach, so her legacy in form of WNBA players will continue for some time. Eventually, we hope to see the same effects from [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag]’s coaching. For now, Notre Dame fans should be pleased that four former Irish players have been named to the 2022 WNBA All-Star Game. No other university has more representation in this year’s event.

The number of Irish alumni in this year’s game became official with the announcement of the 12 reserves, On Saturday, they, along with the 10 selected starters, will be split up into teams captained by A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces and Breanna Stewart of the Seattle Storm. The teams then will face off in the game, which is being held in Chicago.

If you’re a Notre Dame women’s basketball enthusiast, you won’t be disappointed with this game. Here are the players for you to watch and reminisce about:

Watch: Muffet McGraw gives Ring of Honor induction speech

Great honor for an Irish legend.

LaPhonso Ellis wasn’t the only Notre Dame legend to be inducted into the Purcell Pavilion Ring of Honor this weekend. One day after Ellis was honored during the men’s basketball team’s upset win over Kentucky, women’s basketball coaching legend Muffet McGraw got her day during the Irish’s 78-41 victory over Purdue-Fort Wayne. Athletic director Jack Swarbrick indicated that McGraw also eventually would get a statue outside the building. With all these good things happening to her both now and in the future, the Hall of Famer addressed the crowd and everyone else who was in attendance to honor her:

McGraw’s honor did not go unnoticed by men’s coach Mike Brey, a school legend in his own right:

McGraw retired after the 2019-20 season, and two national championships and four national coach of the year awards among many other accolades meant this honor was a long time coming. Here’s to others in her former position following her example in the years to come.

Notre Dame makes final cut for basketball recruit Ashlynn Shade

This would be a huge get for the Irish.

After a long period of sustained success, Notre Dame has been in a rut the past two seasons. Niele Ivey’s first year succeeding the legendary Muffet McGraw as coach had a respectable 10-10 record. While an improvement from when the Irish went 13-18 in McGraw’s final season, it still was nowhere near the 30-plus wins they had over the previous nine years. However, the Irish have real cause to hope that a light could be at the end of the tunnel with this tweet from five-star recruit Ashlynn Shade:

The 5-foot-11 Shade, who is entering her junior year at Noblesville, has been turning coaches’ heads since at least third grade. As a sophomore, she averaged 23.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 4.3 steals a game. She’s well on her way to becoming one of the best girls players in the history of Indiana prep basketball.

With Notre Dame and Indiana both on Shade’s final list, it isn’t clear which school has the home state advantage. On one hand, the Irish have had more success in their history. It also will be tough to compete with legendary programs like UConn and Tennessee, programs with recent success like Stanford and Louisville, and schools with solid academic reputations like North Carolina and Vanderbilt. The only thing to say here is may the best program for her be chosen.

Notre Dame’s NCAA Tournament streak ends at 24

All good things must come to an end, but that doesn’t make whenever the time comes any easier.

All good things must come to an end, but that doesn’t make whenever the time comes any easier. After 24 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, Notre Dame was left out of this year’s Big Dance. A 10-10 overall record and 8-7 ACC record was not nearly enough to merit an at-large bid, although this was known already. This streak would have come to an end with last year’s 13-18 squad but for COVID-19 canceling the tournament, and it turned out that only prolonged the inevitable with Muffet McGraw retiring and Niele Ivey taking over.

The Irish will not play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1995. They also were shut out of the Women’s NIT. You have to go back to 1993 for the last time Notre Dame was completely absent from the women’s basketball postseason. Entire families have been born since then.

Hats off to the Irish on a terrific run. Two national championships, seven title game appearances and nine Final Four berths are nothing to sneeze at. Here’s hoping that dominance will return soon.

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