Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ND SPORTS only DeCicco (680) and current wom- en's basketball coach Muffet McGraw (673 as of Dec. 16). The sabre specialist took over the Irish program in 2002 af- ter eight seasons as an assistant coach. "I would like to thank Janusz for all he has done for fencing at Notre Dame," director of athletics Jack Swarbrick said. "He inherited a pro- gram with an outstanding heritage, and three national titles in 12 years would suggest he added to it impres- sively." In addition to three Midwest Fencing Conference team championships (2010, 2011 and 2013) and the three NCAA team titles, Bednarski's pupils won 14 individual NCAA championships, in- cluding Mariel Zagunis's 2006 victory. Zagunis went on to win two sabre gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Foilist Gerek Meinhardt doubled Za- gunis's national championship count with titles in 2010 and 2014, before he rose to the No. 1 foil ranking in the world in 2014. A Polish native, Bednarski coached Poland's Olympic team for 10 years, beginning in 1978, leading his country- men to 11 medals in the Olympics and the World Championships. Kvaratskhelia will follow in the heavy footsteps of DeCicco (who re- tired in 1995) and Bednarski. "[Kvaratskhelia's] achievements in his time on staff are noteworthy," Swarbrick said. "He has earned the opportunity to take charge of the pro- gram at this time." Kvaratskhelia spent eight seasons as Bednarski's right-hand man, the last three as associate head coach. "Notre Dame fencing has been as successful as any collegiate program in the country over the last 50 years," Kvaratskhelia said. "It's an honor to be chosen to carry on that tradition." A foil specialist, Kvaratskhelia faces a steep climb to continue that tradi- tion. "I am pleased that Gia Kvaratskhe- lia has the next opportunity to lead the Notre Dame program," Bednarski said. "He knows fencing, he knows Notre Dame, and I know he is excited for this challenge ahead." DEBBIE BROWN NOT RETAINED Two days after Bednarski's retire- ment, Notre Dame lost another long- time head coach when it announced volleyball's Debbie Brown would not return in 2015 after 24 years at the helm. After finishing 20-10 in 2012, Brown's team spiraled to a 13-18 fin- ish last year before dropping all the way to 6-23 this season, including a 3-15 conference record and an 0-11 mark on the road. Those two seasons of disappointment coincided with Notre Dame's move to the ACC, a far tougher volleyball conference, al- though neither the ACC nor the Big East come close to matching the pe- rennial powers of the Pac-12 and the Big Ten. "Our expectations regarding com- petitive performance are also high, and we regrettably have not been able to meet those in recent years," athlet- ics director Jack Swarbrick said in a statement. "I'd like to thank her for all she has done for the program and, in