Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SUMMER 2025 15 55 Years Ago: June 4, 1970 Notre Dame head coach Jake Kline's baseball team, which briefly had quarterback Joe Theismann playing for it during the spring, was invited to the 26-team NCAA Tournament for the first time in seven years. Kline's teams made it six times in the eight years from 1956-63, highlighted by the College World Series in 1957. After starting 1-10, the team won 15 of its last 17 games. In the tournament it defeated Minnesota, but lost twice to Southern Illinois to get eliminated in the district round held at Columbus, Ohio. It would take 19 years before the Fighting Irish would be invited again. 30 Years: June, 1995 Notre Dame's 25-man and No. 1-rated recruiting class took a huge hit in the third week of June, the start of summer school, when the nation's top receiver, Randy Moss, was denied admission. He was rejected after the evaluation of his application, which was received four months after signing his letter of intent. Meanwhile, Moss also was involved in a legal battle because of a fight he was involved in from a racial incident at his West Virginia high school (DuPont), but Notre Dame officials claimed Moss' application form was "not acceptable." "Were we aware of what happened in West Virginia? Certainly," said Pat Leonardo, Notre Dame's associate director of admissions, in an interview with Blue & Gold Illustrated. "But that was not the central factor in the decision. "The application was presented to us, which was a few months late. It gave us a strong indication that this was not a good match. … People have called and some reporters have blasted us for denying Randy due to his situation in West Virginia. That is not what the decision was based upon. … "No one outside the admissions departments has the right to see a student's file. So, people can either trust what we tell them or not. … For Randy's sake, I hope this awakens him. As a football fan, I would have loved to have seen him wearing a Notre Dame uniform." Later the same month, running back recruit James Jackson from Belle Glade, Fla., also was lost from the class when his ACT test score did not meet Notre Dame requirements. He enrolled at Miami (Fla.). 25 Years Ago: June 2000 In the opening days of June, Notre Dame found itself dealing with a press release sent out May 30 by AllSports.com which stated: "Several Notre Dame alumni members have confirmed that current Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Tom Coughlin will resign from the Jaguars on June 1 and take the head coaching job at Notre Dame." The report was considered legitimate on the outside for at least two rea- sons. One, Irish head coach Bob Davie was coming off a 5-7 record in his third season after losing the last four games. Second, two of the people behind Da- vie's hiring, athletics director Mike Wadsworth and executive vice president E. William Beauchamp, had left their posts during the spring. ESPN reportedly also promised a live information report on Davie's status following its broadcast of an interview with embattled Indiana University head basketball coach Bob Knight. In only his third month at Notre Dame, Irish athletics director Kevin White denied the rumors. "We are enthusiastically moving forward to the 2000 football season with Coach Davie at the helm," White told Blue & Gold Illustrated. "There have been absolutely no conversations relative to deviating from the current leadership." UNDER THE DOME Anniversaries In Notre Dame Athletics History: June/July ✦ Your home address will be automatically changed to the mailing address on file with the US Postal Service? ALL addresses are cross-referenced with the USPS National Change of Address database. ✦ Your postal forwarding order expires in 60 days or less? Most forwarding requests expire in 60 days and DO NOT include periodical mail. Issues are discarded at their discretion. ✦ It can take up to 7 days for the USPS to update your address in their database? Don't assume the post office knows your vacation or moving schedule! To prevent missed issues, please notify the US Postal Service ASAP and verify your delivery address with your local post office. DID YOU KNOW... AVOID COSTLY DELAYS & REPLACEMENTS! Blue & Gold Illustrated Customer Service: 1–800–421–7751 (Monday – Friday, 10 am to 4 pm) We are happy to assist, but due to privacy laws all postal address changes must be completed by you. Future Pro Football Hall-of-Fame wide receiver Randy Moss was set to headline the Fighting Irish's No. 1-rated recruiting class in 1995, but was denied admission to Notre Dame and instead ended up at Marshall. PHOTO COURTESY MARSHALL ATHLETICS