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Term Limits for Notre Dame Head Football Coaches?
Leprechaun Express: Notre Dame Football Intel Update, May 28, 2010
Being Head Coach at Notre Dame is like being President of the United States. You only do it for five or ten years, and you only do it if you're at the top of your game.
As the dust settles on Notre Dame's most recent football coaching transition, what emerges, in effect, is a kind of historical term limit for Notre Dame head football coaches. With one exception, the only Notre Dame head football coaches staying longer than five years have been Hall of Famers who won a consensus national championship.
They include: Knute Rockne (13 seasons), Frank Leahy (11 seasons), Ara Parseghian (11 seasons), Dan Devine (6 seasons), and Lou Holtz (11 seasons).
Then there's Elmer Layden (7 seasons), the exception who did not win a consensus national championship as a coach (he was part of one as a player, as one of the Four Horsemen); Layden did win a non-consensus national title as a coach and left to become NFL Commissioner.
It's almost as if being head coach at Notre Dame is like being President of the United States (or, at least, what it used to mean to be President). You only do it for five or ten years, you only do it if you're at the top of your game, and at Notre Dame that apparently means the team being #1.
For a President, after four years the singular event that brings a term extension is winning a second national election. For the Notre Dame football coach, the singular event has been winning a consensus national championship.
And, as seen above, of those kept longer than five years, one actually only stayed six years. After winning a consensus national title his third season, Hall of Famer Dan Devine reputedly was a bit under fire, and only stayed six, finishing up going undefeated in his sixth regular season before losing a close bowl game to the national champions.
Technically, there was another coach who stayed past five years without having won a consensus national title by the five-year point. However, that coach was the winningest coach in football history; did already have multiple undefeated seasons and a non-consensus national title prior to that point; coached the greatest player to ever play the game prior to that point, who would have won a Heisman had it existed; went on to win multiple consensus national titles; and as a player ... had been an All-American, helped introduce passing offense to the game of football, was the first receiver in football history, and would have been a Heisman candidate had the Heisman existed. That was Notre Dame Head Football Coach and Athletic Director was Knute Rockne.
Notre Dame Coaches Staying Longer than Five Seasons
So here are the only Notre Dame Head Football Coaches staying longer than five years:
:: Knute Rockne - 13 seasons, 1918-30, .881 - winningest coach in football history, with multiple national championships; would have had multiple Heisman winners had the award existed; was also Athletic Director; we will never know how long Rockne might have remained as coach had he not tragically been killed in a plane crash; Rockne was in his early 40's when the plane crashed, and Rockne would have been in his 70's about the time that Ara Parseghian was taking over at Northwestern; alternatively, the concept of Rockne becoming more of a chairman-of-the-board kind of coach starting in the 1940's or 1950's, and having Frank Leahy there in tandem with him, is almost mind-boggling, when one thinks of what each man was able to accomplish
:: Elmer Layden - 7 seasons, 1934-40 - .770 - non-consensus national title, reputedly left when offered only a one-year extension, left to become NFL Commissioner, former national title winner as one of the Four Horseman; was also Athletic Director
:: Frank Leahy - 11 seasons, 1941-43, 1946-53, .855 - second-winningest coach in college football history (third-winningest at Notre Dame, for his Notre Dame tenure, after Jesse Harper); Leahy won the consensus national title his third season, and several more, including having an entire class go four years at Notre Dame never seeing its football team lose; Leahy also was Athletic Director, although during his tenure, Leahy Assistant Coach Moose Krause, another former Rockne player, took over as AD, serving in that role for decades (including when Krause was Head Basketball Coach)
:: Ara Parseghian - 11 seasons, 1963-1974, .836 - took a team with a losing record, nearly won the national title his first season before a close loss at Southern Cal, won a consensus national title his third season and another one before he was done; finished in the top-10 every year; had Notre Dame returning to bowl games and winning multiple major bowls
:: Dan Devine - 6 seasons, 1975-80, .764 - as mentioned above, won a consensus national title his third season, and won multiple major bowls as well as the Gator Bowl
:: Lou Holtz - 11 seasons, 1986-1996, .765 - won the consensus national title his third season, in what might have been the last true definitive national championship in college football, when Notre Dame essentially beat the entire top-6; Holtz won at least two additional non-consensus national titles
The point of this ...
Recall that the point is not to have a walk down memory lane of great Notre Dame coaches. The point is, these were the only head coaches to stay past five years. The only Notre Dame coaches to stay longer than five years have been these historic figures with world-class results.
Some successful Notre Dame coaches who did not stay past five years
:: Jesse Harper - 5 seasons, 1913-1917 - .863 - second-winningest coach in Notre Dame history (ahead of Leahy when taking into account just their tenures at Notre Dame; Harper previously was at Adrian, while Leahy had a previous, near-perfect brief stint at Boston College that included a disputed national title); introduced passing offense to the game of football with quarterback Gus Dorais and receiving end Knute Rockne; Harper was not forced out, and when he stepped down, was replaced by one of his assistant coaches, former player Knute Rockne; Harper was also Athletic Director, and would return to the AD post after Rockne's untimely death in a plane crash
:: Terry Brennan - 5 seasons, 1953-57, .640 - hired at age 25, had a worse third year than Charlie Weis, going 2-8, but also finished in the top-10 three of his five years, and finished in the top-20 a fourth time, his final year.
Even with that one losing season, Brennan actually had a higher winning percentage overall than Barry Alvarez or Joe Tiller. If Terry Brennan had been at most schools, including most BCS-AQ schools, Brennan would have stayed for 20 years, been considered a coaching legend, and had buildings named after him.
:: Charlie Weis - 5 seasons, 2005-2009, .565 - for all practical purposes took his team to four bowl games in five years (most schools would have agreed to go to a bowl game after Weis's fifth year, had the coach remained), including two BCS bids in five years; a winning record, and a winning percentage of .565 that was not too far behind Joe Tiller's winning percentage of .584; inherited a program eroded to its weakest foundations in more than a century, Weis systematically rebuilt the roster to include top talent across four class years plus the fifth year, reaching its fruition this season; Weis and his elite coaching staff also developed skill-levels to an elite level, and built up strenght and conditioning to an elite level; at most schools, Weis would have stayed 20 years, ended up seeing his rebuilding efforts result in a dynasty, and had buildings named after him; (as an aside, Joe Tiller, with a winning percentage at Purdue not much higher than Weis's at Notre Dame, has been named Head Coach Emeritus at Purdue and was invited to address the crowd over the PA system at last year's game with Notre Dame, as a returning hero)
With Weis, because of the unprecedented rebuiling that was needed when he started, naturally one question raised by implication was, if Notre Dame "gave him his five years," when would the five years start. Would the five years start when Weis actually started, or when he got things rebuilt to a level more similar to what other coaches had started with. For example, after Gerry Faust proved an outstanding recruiter who went to a few bowl games, and won a bowl game, Lou Holtz actually had a lot more to work with when Holtz started.
But ultimately the point is not to rehash the Weis personnel decision. The point is to put into better perspective the context.
For Notre Dame, no coaches have really stayed longer than five years without being Hall of Fame legends of the game, at the college level, usually with a national championship of the equivalent within that first five years.
Conversely, Notre Dame has had great coaches, like Brennan and Weis, who only stayed five years, but would have been considered legends and some of the biggest success stories of a school's program, at most other institutions.
All-Time Notre Dame Football Coaching Tenures
Here's the tally for length of coaching tenures for Notre Dame Football, for roughly the past century, 1909-2009:
2 years - Frank Longman
2 years - John L. Marks
5 years - Jesse Harper
13 years - Knute Rockne (ended by his untimely death in a plane crash)
3 years - Hunk Anderson (two winning seasons, one losing)
7 years - Elmer Layden
11 years - Frank Leahy (2-year absence during World War II)
(1 year - Ed McKeever, interim coach during World War II)
(1 year - Hugh Devore, interim coach during World War II)
4 years - Joe Kuharich
1 hear - Hugh Devore (interim coach)
11 years - Ara Parseghian
6 years - Dan Devine
5 years - Gerry Faust
11 years - Lou Holtz
5 years - Bob Davie
3 years - Ty Willingham
5 years - Charlie Weis
Brian Kelly
For Weis and his successor, there is an added wrinkle. There really is a Weis-Kelly tandem at work. And if Brian Kelly can, indeed build on existing foundations and momentum and help lead the way forward, it truly will be Notre Dame as an institution, with the contributions of both in sequence and even in synergy, producing great results.
For Brian Kelly himself, he has shown he grasps the nature of the situation by articulating that there is no waiting period, that expectations are high, and for implying the concept from Holy Scripture that, "to whom much is given, much is expected."
Kelly also has echoed a sentiment that was also expressed a few years ago by one of Notre Dame's best assistant coaches of recent memory, defensive backs coach Bill Lewis. At a time when Notre Dame was actually somewhat thin and rebuilding in the secondary, Lewis, in just two short years before moving to administration due to health, managed to coach a two-time All-American and groom about a half-dozen NFL draft picks.
Like Lewis, Kelly has pointed out that each player needs to take advantage of every single rep, every single opportunity, every single play; because you only get so many, once it's gone it's gone forever, and you have to make the most of each opportunity, to get the most out of it and carry it forward.
For Kelly, he can only plan on the five years. If he ends up shooting to be the first 15-year, or 20-year head coach at Notre Dame, that's great for everybody.
But for Kelly, he heads into a 5-year stint, already bolstered by good recruiting, building on Weis's good recruiting. And, for Kelly, every rep counts, every play counts, every game will count. At Notre Dame, even with the talk of "eras" there's no settling into a tenure. Like a U.S. President with his first 100 days, and a four-year timeframe to build and react, for Kelly, every game is THE game. This first year is the beginning of a stretch of only several years that could well be a completed work when they're done. Kelly sounds like the kind of coach to make the most of it.
Kelly also is in an interesting position as a career head coach, in college football as a player and coach for about 30 years, a head coach for about 20 years, whose only time in big-time college football is three years at Cincinnati. Everywhere Kelly has been, bigger venue or smaller venue, one gathers that Kelly treated every opportunity like it was the Super Bowl, and kept building and building and building, working and honing his art and craft.
And now, like a career Congressman who then moved to the Senate, and is now in the White House, Kelly takes his big game onto the big stage. The Irish Catholic from Boston, who evokes a balance of passion, love of the game, well-honed excellence, and an appreciation for the big picture, seems primed to peak for his big opportunity, while challenging the same of his players.
Addendum: Dan Devine
(It is difficult to mention Dan Devine without also thinking to mention, as an aside, that the depiction of Dan Devine in the movie "Rudy" was the result of poetic license, reportedly with Devine's agreement for plot purposes. For plot purposes, exercising poetic license, the movie tried to depict him as a "screen heavy." In reality, Coach Devine was a very nice man, smiling a good deal. And during his tenure, apparently after a rule change, Devine actually would dress an enormous number of players. In at least one the games, the Notre Dame Football radio network estimated that there might have been 100 players or more dressed and at the Notre Dame bench for at least one of his games.
Now, Dan Devine, clearly, was indeed concerned for player safety. For example, during a road game at Georgia Tech, when bottles and dead fish were being rained down from the stands upon the Notre Dame bench during the game, with glass shattering on the helmets of Notre Dame players, Devine reportedly demanded that order be restored in the stadium, and reportedly informed the officials that, if order were not restored, for the safety of his players he would take his team and leave.
Back on the subject of Dan Devine being a nice man ... as a small boy, the author was on the Notre Dame campus with his father, to pick up much older siblings studying there. The author's father decided to roam by the football practice fields. There was somebody in a kelly green Notre Dame jacket with his back to the fence, at the far border of the whole area, sort of stepping back to take in the whole scene. The author's father went up to the fence, said hello, and the man in the green jacket turned around and took a moment to chat with the well-wisher. Dan Devine then turned, saw the little boy, and gave a big friendly smile. A national championship-winning, Hall of Fame coach, in the middle of a football practice, decided to take a moment, to make an effort, to let a little boy know that the little boy mattered, and that it was good to be kind to people. Coach Devine, Requiem In Pacem.)
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Keywords: Notre Dame Football Coaches, Knute Rockne, Frank Leahy, Dan Devine, Elmer Layden, Charlie Weis, Brian Kelly, Jesse Harper, Ara Parseghian, Winningest College Football Coaches, College Football, Football
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