Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/276022
12-15 season by the Fighting Irish, she was eager to run right away again. "I would like to see the program get into the top 20 within a three- or four- year span," she said upon her hiring. Alas, there were roadblocks she didn't anticipate. The Irish played in undervalued leagues such as the North Star and Midwestern Collegiate Conference, where even a 16-0 con- ference record her third year earned neither a ranking nor an automatic NCAA Tournament bid. Notre Dame did appear in the top 25 her fourth year, but the season ended with consecutive losses to Santa Clara, Louisville and Northern Illinois in the Women's National Invitational Tour- nament. In year five, the bottom fell out. Al- though the Irish had signed some All- Americans, including top-rated guard Michelle Marciniak, the ambitious Mc- Graw and Co. overscheduled early en route to a 14-17 campaign. Marciniak transferred to the premier program in the country, Tennessee, and the follow- ing year the Irish were only 15-12. It wasn't until McGraw's ninth year (1996) Notre Dame actually finished in the top 25 — the same year it ended a 22-game losing streak to ranked oppo- nents with its first NCAA Tournament victory, versus No. 15 Purdue. Similar to former Northwestern head coach Ara Parseghian noting he learned the most during his 0-9 season at Northwestern in 1957, or Lou Holtz building a future champion during his 5-6 debut at Notre Dame in 1986, Mc- Graw said her toughest times forged wisdom. "I had a lot of on-the-job training and I learned a lot about recruiting after that losing season," she said. "It was not fun going through it, but cer- 2013-14 SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Nov. 9 UNC Wilmington W, 99-50 Nov. 11 Michigan State W, 81-62 Nov. 16 Valparaiso W, 96-46 Nov. 23 at Penn W, 76-54 Nov. 26 DePaul W, 92-76 Dec. 1 vs. Duquesne# W, 100-61 Dec. 4 at Penn State! W, 77-67 Dec. 7 UCLA W, 90-48 Dec. 14 at Michigan W, 86-64 Dec. 22 Central Michigan W, 106-72 Dec. 29 at Oregon State W, 70-58 Jan. 2 South Dakota State W, 94-51 Jan. 5 Clemson* W, 71-51 Jan. 9 Boston College* W, 95-53 Jan. 12 at Virginia* W, 79-72 Jan. 16 at Pittsburgh* W, 109-66 Jan. 20 at Tennessee W, 86-70 Jan. 23 Miami* W, 79-52 Jan. 27 at Maryland* W, 87-83 Jan. 30 Virginia Tech* W, 74-48 Feb. 2 at Duke* W, 88-67 Feb. 6 at Florida State* W, 81-60 Feb. 9 Syracuse* W, 101-64 Feb. 13 at Boston College* W, 82-61 Feb. 17 Georgia Tech* W, 87-72 Feb. 20 at Wake Forest* W, 86-61 Feb. 23 Duke* W, 81-70 Feb. 27 North Carolina* W, 100-75 Mar. 2 at North Carolina State* W, 84-60 Mar. 7 vs. Florida State ^ W, 83-57 Mar. 8 vs. North Carolina State^ W, 83-48 Mar. 9 vs. Duke^ W, 69-53 Mar. 22-Apr. 8 NCAA Tournament TBD # at Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto; ! Big Ten/ ACC Challenge; * ACC game; ^ ACC Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C.