Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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46 MAY 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED Y ou've just entered the grand open- ing of a new restaurant that is un- der new ownership for the fourth time in 10 years. The ambiance is ap- pealing, the aroma from the kitchen becomes alluring and the menu seems appetizing. Then as the waiter is prepared to take your order, he asks, "So, what do you think of the meal?" How can such an inquiry be answered when nothing has been sampled? Fur- thermore, excellence in the culinary field, in any business, or even personal relationships, is sustained through long-term consistency and trust, not opening-night euphoria or "first date" intoxication. That is how I preface my response whenever someone asks, "So, what do you think of Brian Kelly?" The actual, veiled gist of that inquiry is, "Is this guy the next Ara Parseghian or Lou Holtz?" The ambiance, aroma and menu around Kelly are catching on quickly, which is customary under any new regime. Don't believe it? While reviewing the archives in Notre Dame's student newspaper The Observer to assemble the "This Month in Notre Dame Foot- ball History" segment, I came across these tidbits regarding head coach Dan Devine's first spring with the Irish in 1975: No. 1 tight end Ken MacAfee: "There seems to be more excitement around here. Everyone is very anxious to play." No. 1 fullback Tom Parise: "The prac- tices seem to flow easily. We are going back to fundamentals, and the condi- tioning exercises are great." Starting split end candidate Kevin Doherty: "It's refreshing to have a change." And this was after one of the greatest regimes in college football annals! Parseghian had finished 95-17-4 with two consensus national titles (1966 and 1973) and one shared (1964) … yet now there's more excitement, the practices have better organization, fundamentals are suddenly emphasized with condi- tioning, and change is for the good? Oh, and while we're at it … what was so great about Holtz (1986-96) anyway? In successor Bob Davie's first spring in 1997, I'll never forget how in the opening practice one of the univer- sity's greatest benefactors gleefully told a mutual friend, "Have you ever seen such enthusiasm and energy in a practice?" Nah, Holtz was never any fun to be around. In virtually any coaching change, the newly hired elicits instant invigoration among the masses. To this day, I have not seen any coach at Notre Dame hailed like Caesar by the Romans than Gerry Faust in the spring of 1981. After all, he was replacing that drab Devine guy … you know the one also in the Hall of Fame who was a "refreshing change" from Parseghian. (Remember the bed-sheet banner, "Ara Was Fine, But Dan's Devine"?) After Faust assembled what was publicized as the greatest recruiting class in history — a record 13 Parade All-Americans — even the more cyni- cal Chicago press wrote the following headline: "New Problem: Will Irish Be Too Good?" Even Notre Dame's esteemed sports information director, Roger Valdiserri, a student at Notre Dame during the Frank Leahy era and an SID for Parseghian, said of Faust that first spring, "I've never seen such a magnetic personality." Wrote Sports Illustrated in that spring of '81: "If Faust's rookie season is any- thing like his spring debut, you should get to know him before he's canonized." We are in what I call "The Writes of Spring," where everything written about the new guy will likely be inter- preted — or want to be interpreted — as positive, encouraging and evidence that we have another coming of Ara and Lou. Barring a major injury (read: Dayne Crist), I have no doubt Kelly will post at least one or two nine- or 10-win campaigns in his first three years at Notre Dame. If Davie, Tyrone Willing- ham and Charlie Weis could do it, Kelly will, too, because he is more proven as a college head coach (although unlike a Parseghian or Holtz, he has not yet de- feated a titan such as Woody Hayes, Bud Wilkinson, Joe Paterno or Barry Switzer before coming to Notre Dame). Similar to Weis, who posted 19 victo- ries his first two seasons, Kelly inherits a stellar junior class that can carry the program for a couple of years. The issue is getting to the elite level of Florida, Texas, USC, Ohio State, etc., where anything less than 11 or 12 wins is cause for angst. The issue is avoiding the three-loss season — of which Notre Dame has had 16 straight — much more consistently. What is my impression of Kelly, the fourth new owner of Notre Dame's football franchise in the last 10 years? The ambiance, aroma and menu seem alluring, per usual. But ultimately it will be about the appetizers (BCS bids), main courses (BCS wins) and the piece de resistance (national title) for it to be really good eating. ✦ Like many of the coaches that came before him, Brian Kelly's first spring practice at Notre Dame in 2010 was met with great optimism and positivity. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND BEST OF THE FIFTH QUARTER ✦ LOU SOMOGYI ✦ MAY 2010 The Proof In The Pudding Is In The Eating EDITOR'S NOTE: The late, great Lou Somogyi possessed an unmatched knowledge of Notre Dame football and it was his mission in life to share it with others. Those of us at Blue & Gold Illustrated would like to continue to share his wisdom and unique perspective from his more than 37 years covering the Fighting Irish for this publication.