Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com JANUARY 2020 53 And above all, in what universe can one justify Urban Meyer at No. 46 and Schembechler at No. 20? When it comes to on-the-field achievement alone, which is what this is about, Meyer (a former Notre Dame assis- tant from 1996-2000) is top-10 wor- thy, maybe even top five. Meyer won three national titles at two different schools, and was 12-0 two other times, one of them at Utah. His career record of 187-32 is good for a .854 winning percentage — third on the all-time list behind Rockne and Leahy among major college coaches. He also was 11-3 in bowl games. THE NEXT FOUR In addition to four former Notre Dame coaches ranking among the top 25, four others made the top 150. • No. 88 was Dan Devine (1975-80). Not to pick on Schembechler alone — who was an outstanding coach in his own right, certainly top-40 caliber — but why such the disparity be- tween him and Devine when a case- can be made that Devine was overall more accomplished? Devine was 3-1 versus Schem- bechler, 2-1 at Notre Dame and 1-0 at Missouri. Devine put Arizona State on the college football map in the 1950s with a 27-3-1 mark, which led to the construction of Sun Devil Stadium and the Fiesta Bowl. He then guided Missouri to four top-10 finishes (something it has achieved only twice since his depar- ture after the 1970 campaign) and won a national title with the Fighting Irish (1977). As a footnote, Devine was 3-0 versus Bear Bryant, 1-0 at Missouri and 2-0 at Notre Dame. He also was 7-3 in bowl outings. • Right behind Devine at No. 89 is current boss Brian Kelly. Also taken into account are his two Division II national titles at Grand Valley State, a Mid-American Conference cham- pionship at Central Michigan and two Big East titles in three years at Cincinnati, highlighted by the 12-0 regular-season mark in 2009 before getting hired at Notre Dame. Kelly has had two more 12-0 regu- lar season outputs with the Irish. Among active coaches at the Foot- ball Bowl Subdivision level, the only four ranked ahead of Kelly are Sa- ban (No. 2), Clemson's Dabo Swin- ney (No. 31), North Carolina's Mack Brown (No. 59), and TCU's Gary Pat- terson (No. 74). Interestingly, a couple of former FBS national champs are behind Kelly: Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher (No. 110) and Kansas' Les Miles (No. 140). Fisher won his title at Florida State in 2013, while Miles did so at LSU in 2007. • At No. 95 is Elmer Layden (1934-40), better known as one of the Four Horsemen. He had previ- ous coaching success at Columbia and Duquesne, and his career .770 winning percentage at Notre Dame (47-13-3) actually tops Holtz (.765) and Devine (.764). Several times we've compared the current Kelly regime to that of Layden's in that some prosperity has been tasted, but there is still a frustra- tion of not quite reaching the Prom- ised Land. Layden had a couple of opportunities in 1935 and 1938, as did Kelly in 2012 and 2018. • Finally, it was good to see Jesse Harper (1913-17) at No. 131 receive rec- ognition for his 34-5-1 mark at Notre Dame, after previously serving at Alma and Wabash. It was Harper who was the table-setter for the Rockne era by creating a national schedule to earn recognition for the school, but then also defeating top schools such as Army, Texas, Penn State and Nebraska. ✦ MEMORABILIA Vintage Notre Dame Memorabilia Augie's Locker Room ND Stadium Items, Jerseys, Helmets, Autographs and One-of-a-Kind Rockne Items. COME INTO THE STORE TO SEE OUR RARE NOTRE DAME HELMET DISPLAY, 1900 - PRESENT!! Voted Best Notre Dame Collectibles in the Country! 1811 South Bend Ave. South Bend , I n 46637 574-277-NDND (6363) www.augieslockerroom.com FACEBOOK.COM/AUGIESLOCKERROOM NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL GAMES on VHS or DVD for sale, from 1928 to present. Contact Peter Rahas at 7700 Golden Filly St., Las Vegas, NV 89131 or call 1-702-395-2974 M A R K E T P L A C E PRAYER TO THE BLESSED MOTHER- (Never known to fail) Oh, most beautiful flower of Mount Carmel, fruitful vine, splendor of Heaven. Blessed Mother of the Son of God; Immaculate Virgin, assist me in this necessity. Oh, Star of the Sea, help me and show me you are my Mother. Oh, Holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart to succour me in my neces- sity. There are none that can withstand your power. Oh, Mary, conceived with- out sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. (3 times). Holy Mary, I place this prayer in your hands. (3 times). Sweet Mother I place this cause in your hands. (3 times). Thank you for your mercy to me and mine. Amen. This prayer must be said for 3 days and after 3 days your request will be granted and the prayer must be published. Thank you. D.L.S. PERSONALS For The Record • The top 10 in the ESPN list of 150 greatest coaches featured Alabama's Bear Bryant and Nick Saban in the top two spots, followed by Knute Rockne, Nebraska's Tom Osborne, Grambling's Eddie Robinson, Oklahoma's Bud Wilkinson, Penn State's Joe Paterno, Florida State's Bobby Bowden, Ohio State's Woody Hayes and Frank Leahy. Interestingly, Bryant was 0-4 versus the Fighting Irish, while Saban is 4-0, although three of his victories were at Michigan State (1997-99). Saban and Northwestern's Ara Par- seghian are the only two coaches since the 20th century to post a 4-0 record versus Notre Dame. • In addition to the 4-0 mark versus Bryant, Notre Dame was 5-1 versus Wilkinson. • Paterno and Bowden were 9-6 and 4-2 versus the Fighting Irish, respectively. • Among other coaches in the top 20, Notre Dame was 6-8-2 versus USC 's John McKay (No. 12), 4-3-2 against Army's Earl Blaik (No. 19) and 6-4 versus Michigan's Bo Schem- bechler (No. 20). • Those with at least five wins versus the Irish were USC's John Robinson (No. 33) at 8-3-1, USC's Pete Carroll (No. 37) was 8-1, Michigan's Lloyd Carr (No. 50) was 5-4, Michi- gan State's Duffy Daugherty (No. 51) 10-7-1, Iowa/USC's Howard Jones (No. 80) 7-8-1 and Purdue's Jack Mollenkopf (No. 146) 10-4. • Former Notre Dame assistant and defen- sive coordinator Barry Alvarez (1987-89) was No. 90 thanks to his work at Wisconsin which included three Rose Bowl wins. — Lou Somogyi Call 877-630-8768 to advertise!