Blue and Gold Illustrated

Oct. 15, 2012 Issue

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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27) and Bo Schembechler (No. 36). With all due respect, Schembechler never won a national title in 21 seasons with one of college football's blue- blood programs, and he was 4-11 in bowl games. At Northwestern, Par- seghian was 3-1 against Hayes' Ohio State pow- erhouse Buckeyes from 1958-63. That's like a Yugo out-racing a Fer- rari. However, there was a far greater mystery: How is Frank Leahy re- peatedly overlooked in these type of surveys or retrospectives? Boston College (1939- 40), Leahy returned home to Notre Dame, where he had played from 1928-30 under Rockne and become his protégé. His 11-year tenure with the Irish ran from 1941-43 and 1946-53 (in between those two stints, he served in the military for two years during World War II). • He coached the After two seasons at AN ASTOUNDING RECORD same number of years as Rockne (13) and their records were almost identical. Rockne was 105-12-5 (.881) with three consensus national titles and five unbeaten sea- sons. Leahy was 107-13-9 (.864) with four national titles and seven unbeaten campaigns. They are one-two on the major college football all-time chart for winning percentage among coaches who have been in the game at least 10 years. "Leahy is the Leahy finished unbeaten seven times. Bear Bry- ant, No. 3 on this list and No. 1 among college football coaches, had three unbeaten seasons in his 25 years at Ala- bama (1958-82). Bobby Bowden (No. 24), who had an NCAA record 14 straight top-four finishes from 1987-2000, had one greatest coach since World War II," said Beano Cook, the "Pope of College Football" at ESPN. "And you can make a case for him over Rockne as well, because Rockne didn't have to chase ghosts. Leahy had to chase Rockne's ghost — and he did just as well, if not better." • In his 13 seasons, unbeaten season during that time. • Leahy had a mind- boggling 23-6-3 record against teams that fin- ished in the final top 10 (13-6-3) or final top 10 through 20 (10-0). That .765 winning percent- age is by far the great- est among any college football coach on Sporting News' top-50 list. Lea- hy's nearest rival is Oklahoma's Bud Wilkinson with a .618 percent- age (20-12-2). Leahy de- feated Wilkinson's Soon- ers both times they met. • No school ever played a more difficult schedule than Leahy's 1943 Irish. They con- fronted the teams that finished No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 6, No. 9, No. 11 and No. 13 — and still won the national title. • Leahy's four na- tional titles are eclipsed only by Bryant's six. However, Bryant is cred- ited with national titles in 1964 and 1973. In both cases, Alabama lost its bowl game (to Texas in 1964 and Notre Dame in 1973). But because there was no voting by either the Associated Press or UPI in 1964 after bowls,

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