Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/92992
His love of football now comes in different forum BY LOU SOMOGYI Notre Dame as first-year head coach Lou Holtz's 26-year-old recruiting co- ordinator. Relentless and indefatigable, Cer- I t was half a lifetime ago that the now 52-year-old Vinny Cerrato arrived at Vinny Cerrato, 1986-91 Recruiting Coordinator WHERE HAVE YOU GONE? starting late in his first year while landing players such as receiver/ath- lete Pat Terrell from Florida, linebacker Michael Stonebreaker from Louisiana and — the player Cerrato called his most significant football recruit of all — quarterback Tony Rice from South Carolina. In his first full season on the trail, rato spearheaded a recruiting renais- sance in the program seldom seen in college football history. With a few exceptions, like a Tim the 1986-87 school year, Cerrato and Co. reeled in the first of four consecu- tive No. 1-ranked classes. The youthful Cerrato made Notre Brown (1984-87), the Notre Dame foot- ball program had become categorized in the 1980s as too slow across the board to compete with the likes of the rising new powers such as Miami and Florida State. Under head coach Gerry Faust, the Irish were 30-26-1 from 1981-85. Holtz told his staff in his first season that they were going to make a difference by out-coaching everybody. After the fourth game, a 28-10 loss at Alabama that dropped Notre Dame to 1-3, Holtz made a beeline toward Cerrato on the team bus and told him: "We need the kind of athletes they have." Notre Dame competed well thereaf- Dame the place to be with a combina- tion of salesmanship and charm, but he said recruiting is not necessarily a young man's game. "It's a game of work ethic," he said. "You have to be a worker, and it goes back to evaluation. It's not easy. When you go to the state of Florida, you're probably No. 3 at best for a prospect. You go to South Carolina or other top states with good programs, maybe No. 2. "It takes a special kid to play at ter against the nation's No. 1 schedule, but still finished 5-6. Meanwhile, more than ever, the Irish were expanding their recruiting base to SEC territory, Notre Dame. We need kids who wanted a great education and were not afraid to work — but also wanted to play in the NFL. And when you get them, now it's up to the coaches to develop them." A former wide receiver at Iowa State whose position coach was current Texas boss Mack Brown, Cerrato and the Irish staff made Notre Dame "the place to be."