Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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16 APRIL 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME MOVING? Call us at 1-800-421-7751 Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom Mary Closs — Tennis During Notre Dame's 5-2 win over Syracuse March 5, the senior from Menlo Park, Calif., clinched the victory for the Irish by grabbing a three- set win at the No. 5 spot in the lineup. Closs boasted an overall record of 10-5, but was 8-0 in dual singles matches through March 12. Six of those eight victories came at No. 5 singles. Garrett Epple — Lacrosse The senior defenseman f ro m C o c keysv i l l e , M d . , earned back-to-back ACC Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors Feb. 27 and March 8. Prior to the second accolade, he helped Notre Dame knock off No. 1 Mary- land 5-4 March 4 by leading the team in caused turnovers (six) and ground balls (four). Epple was also named SILA Defensive Player of the Week and the NCAA Lacrosse Player of the Week following his effort versus the Terrapins. Cal Petersen — Hockey The junior goalie from Waterloo, Iowa, was named one of 10 finalists for the Mike Richter Award, which has been presented annu- ally since 2014 by Let's Play Hockey and the Herb Brooks Foundation to the most out- standing goalie in college hockey. Peterson completed the regular season with a 19-10-5 record, a 2.12 goals-against average, a .927 save percentage and five shutouts. He is 10th in the country in goals-against average and second in shutouts. Morgan Reed — Softball In an 8-6 victory over Geor- gia Tech March 12, the junior infielder from Maylene, Ala., drove in all eight runs to set a single-game school record. Reed got things started with a two-run blast in top of the third to tie the game at two. She finished her day off with a grand slam that broke a 4-4 tie and gave the Irish a lead they would not relinquish. TOP OF THE CLASS ✦ GIMME FIVE Now that he is entering his eighth season as Notre Dame's head coach, Brian Kelly has moved up to sole possession of fifth place for most years with the Fighting Irish in his current role. Elmer Layden had been the head coach for seven years as well (1934-40) before sud- denly resigning to become the NFL commis- sioner in 1941. This year, Kelly also is expected to become the fifth Notre Dame head coach to be on the sidelines at least 100 games. Previously with nine- or 10-game regular seasons — and even no bowl games from 1925-68 — this couldn't have been achieved after just eight seasons. If Kelly is able to serve the duration of his cur- rent contract through 2021, he will easily hold the record for most games coached. Here are the top five most games coached at Notre Dame by a head football coach. Most Football Games Coached At Notre Dame Coach (Years) Games (Record) 1. Lou Holtz (1986-96) 132 (100-30-2) 2. Knute Rockne (1918-30) 122 (105-12-5) 3. Ara Parseghian (1964-74) 116 (95-17-4) 4. Frank Leahy (1941-43, 46-53) 107 (87-11-9) 5. Brian Kelly (2010-) 90 (59-31) Getting To Know … SENIOR GUARD STEVE VASTURIA Major: "Business management and consulting." Favorite Food: "Chicken Parmesan." Favorite Movie: "'Swing- ers.'" Favorite TV Show: "'The Sopranos.'" Favorite Type Of Music: "I like a lot of different kinds of music. I like country music a lot." Favorite Musician: "Old Dominion. They're a country band." Favorite Restaurant In South Bend: "Tap- house on the edge." Favorite Part About Playing For Notre Dame: "I would just say the relationships I've made. My teammates are going to be my friends for a long time, and my coaches, I've learned from them. I've loved being able to represent Notre Dame and be part of such a great tradition." Best Player You've Faced: "The best player I've ever faced was [former Duke and current Milwaukee Bucks forward] Jabari Parker." CHARTING THE IRISH RETURNING STARTERS IN 2017 College football expert Phil Steele tracks the number of returning starters annually. Returning starters, he claims, are among the best indicators for success the following season. According to Steele, there were 19 teams that returned 16 starters or more last year, including their quarterback. Of those 19 teams, 12 had a better record in 2016 than they did in 2015. On the opposite side, there were 14 teams that returned 11 or fewer start- ers that did not have a returning starter at quarterback. Of those 14 teams, none had a better record the next season. Notre Dame returns 15 starters in 2017, but loses its quarterback. Twenty- four teams return more starters than the Irish do, including four teams on their 2017 schedule: Georgia (17), North Carolina State (17), Miami (Ohio) (16) and Stanford (16). All four of those teams return their starting quarterback as well. Syracuse leads the country in returning starters with 20. Michigan returns the fewest starters in the country with just five. The metric isn't foolproof — Clemson (12) and Alabama (11) had among the fewest returning starters in the country last year and made the national title game. Notre Dame Opponents' Returning Starters Temple Georgia Boston College Michigan St. Miami (Ohio) North Carolina USC NC State Wake Forest Miami Navy Stanford 10 17 17 15 16 16 13 12 12 9 15 15