Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1007651
52 AUGUST 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 1. NO. 1 FOR THE AGES Never was the "Fighting Irish" moniker more applicable than for head coach Muffet McGraw's 2018 national champions in women's basketball. McGraw was officially enshrined into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame last September, but it was in the ensuing eight months that she and her staff of Niele Ivey, Beth Mor- gan Cunningham and Carol Owens, and the entire operation, defined and validated "True Grit." From March 2017 through Dec. 31, 2017, Notre Dame graduated its all-time assists leader, lost two for- mer national players of the year to transfer and saw an astounding four players — All-American forward Bri- anna Turner and starting point guard Lili Thompson, plus top reserves in guard Mychal Johnson and forward Mikayla Vaughn — sidelined for the season with ACL tears/surgery. Every practice became like walk- ing on eggshells, subconsciously fearing "what else can go wrong?" Sophomore Jackie Young played with a mask to protect her broken nose, senior captain Kathryn Westbeld was BY LOU SOMOGYI I t was "The Year of The C's" in Notre Dame athletics from August 2017 through the end of this July. From championships — including a first-ever in the Big Ten Confer- ence as a hockey member — to Campus Crossroads, to myriad coaching changes, comebacks, the Citrus Bowl and, yes, some controversy, too, the letter C was prominent throughout the 2017-18 academic year. "C" represents average on a school grading scale, and in the final Learfield Sports Directors' Cup challenge, Notre Dame's placement was about where it's been recently — average. Nevertheless, it was beyond an average season in Fighting Irish athletics. As July came to a close, we reflected on 10 of the top stories over the past 12 months.