Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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12 OCT. 31, 2016 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME While Notre Dame prepared for the Oct. 15 Stanford game, popular opinion was that the outcome would likely be close, or come down to the final possession or play again like it did the previous four years. Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly concurred with that probability. "It's the nature of the games that we play here at Notre Dame," Kelly said. "They're going to be close games. We've won those games historically — and for this year we have not won those games." Starting with last year's 38-36 loss to Stanford in the regular-season finale, Notre Dame has lost four straight games decided by seven or less points: Sept. 4 at Texas (50-47 in double overtime), Sept. 24 versus Duke (38-35) and Oct. 8 against North Carolina State (10-3). That's not even including a 36-28 "one-score" loss to Michigan State Sept. 17. That four-game losing streak in games decided by four or fewer points is Kelly's longest — and the lengthiest by any Notre Dame coach since Charlie Weis lost the final four games of his tenure in 2009 to Navy (23-21), Pittsburgh (27-22), Connecticut (33-30 in two overtimes) and Stanford (45-38). Of the 84 games coached by Kelly at Notre Dame (prior to this year's Stanford contest), 44.0 percent of them (37) were decided by seven or fewer points. The only Notre Dame coach who has played a higher percentage of games than Kelly that were decided by seven points or less was Elmer Layden, who had a seven-year run from 1934-40. Interestingly, he and Kelly are the only two Fighting Irish coaches to last more than five years without a national title. Layden coached 63 games (47-13-3), and just more than half of them (32) were decided by seven or fewer points. He was 22-7-3 (.734), highlighted by a school-record 12 straight wins from 1937-39 in such contests. Kelly is second on the all-time chart with 10 consecutive wins — 5-0 in 2012 and then starting 5-0 in 2013 before losing 28-21 at Pitt later that season. Notre Dame has come up short in all three of its games decided by seven or less points so far this season. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA GARY GRAY SUES NOTRE DAME Former Notre Dame cornerback Gary Gray is suing Notre Dame and the NCAA, according to The South Bend Tribune. Gray, who played for the Irish from 2007-11, claims that he suffered repetitive head injuries and didn't receive the proper medical care. According to the report by The Tribune, Gray's suit claims that he suffered a number of concussions at Notre Dame and the university failed to provide appropriate medical treatment. The complaint states that when Gray suffered concussive or sub-concussive hits, he would "shake it off" and go back into the game. As a result and according to the complaint, Gray now suffers from mood swings, anxiety, depression and other debilitating issues. The lawsuit, per The Tribune was filed Oct. 4 in U.S. District Court in the southern district of Indiana. Chicago law firm Edelson PC has now filed 43 such suits since May. Gray claims that he suffered repetitive head injuries and didn't receive the proper medi‑ cal care while at Notre Dame from 2007‑11. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA Here is the year-by-year break- down, chronologically, under Kelly: 2010: 2-3 Lost to Michigan 28-24 Lost to Michigan State 34-31 (OT) Beat Pitt 23-17 Lost to Tulsa 28-27 Beat USC 20-16 2011: 3-3 Lost to South Florida 23-20 Lost to Michigan 35-31 Beat Pitt 15-12 Beat Wake Forest 24-17 Beat Boston College 16-14 Lost to Florida State 18-14 in Champs Sports Bowl 2012: 5-0 Beat Purdue 20-17 Beat Michigan 13-6 Beat Stanford 20-13 (OT) Beat BYU 17-14 Beat Pitt 29-26 (3OT) 2013: 5-2 Beat Purdue 31-24 Beat Michigan State 17-13 Beat Arizona State 37-34 Beat USC 14-10 Beat Navy 38-34 Lost to Pitt 28-21 Lost to Stanford 27-20 Note: The 10-game winning streak in games from 2012-13 is tied for the second longest, behind Elmer Layden's 12 from 1937-39. Knute Rockne won his last 10 such games from 1927-30. 2014: 3-3 Beat Stanford 17-14 Beat North Carolina 50-43 Lost to Florida State 31-27 Lost to Northwestern 43-40 (OT) Lost to Louisville 31-28 Beat LSU 31-28 in Music City Bowl 2015: 3-2 Beat Virginia 34-27 Lost to Clemson 24-22 Beat Temple 24-20 Beat Boston College 19-16 Lost to Stanford 38-36 2016: 0-3 so far Lost to Texas 50-47 (2OT) Lost to Duke 38-35 Lost to NC State 10-3 MUFFET MCGRAW NAMED 2017 LEGEND OF COACHING AWARD RECIPIENT Entering her 30th season at Notre Dame, women's basketball coach Muffet McGraw was recognized Oct. 11 by the John R. Wooden Award Committee as its 2017 Legends of Coaching Award recipient. The lifetime achievement award is presented to a singular college basketball coach who ex- emplifies Wooden's high standards of coaching success and personal achievement. An enshrinee in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and a 2016 finalist for induction in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, McGraw is the third woman to receive the Leg- ends of Coaching Award — an accolade which was first bestowed in 1999 upon Dean Smith of North Carolina. Its 18th recipient, McGraw joins Tennessee's Pat Summitt and Stanford's Tara VanDerveer as the lone female honorees. "It's humbling to re c e i ve a n award like this, particularly one which factors in coach Wooden's collegiate ideals off the court as well as on the court," said Mc- Graw, the Karen and Kevin Keyes F a m i l y H e a d Women's Bas- ketball Coach. "It really is a credit to a l l o f t h e great student- athletes and assistant coaches I have been lucky enough to work with during my career. I am grateful for this honor and to be included with these legends of college coaching." The winningest single-sport coach in school history with 732 victories for the Irish, McGraw has guided Notre Dame to 23 NCAA Tourna- ment appearances, seven Final Fours (includ- ing five in a row from 2011-15) and the 2001 national championship. McGraw is one of just five coaches of any gender with 800 career wins, seven Final Fours and five appearances in the NCAA championship game, joining Smith, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, Summitt and UConn's Geno Auriemma. Off the court, Notre Dame has scored a per- fect 100 percent NCAA Graduation Success Rate in seven of the last eight years. Meanwhile, McGraw is involved in numerous charitable en- deavors around the Michiana area and beyond, providing the all-around example of success worthy of the hallowed Wooden legacy. The award will be presented in April at the College Basketball Awards show. M c G r a w i s t h e t h i r d woman to receive the L e g e n d s o f C o a c h i n g Award. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND Close Encounters