Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2012 Notre Dame Football Preview
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36 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2018 FOOTBALL PREVIEW BY LOU SOMOGYI A t Notre Dame for the past 65 years, there has been an unofficial bio‑ logical clock for its football head coaches. • Frank Leahy lasted 11 years (1941‑43, 1946‑53), with a two‑year stint in World War II, and retired from football coaching at 45 with four national titles and two other unbeaten seasons. • Ara Parseghian lasted 11 years (1964‑74) while compiling a .836 winning percentage, two consensus national titles, one shared championship and a No. 2 finish in a fourth. He was only 51 years old — an age when most in his profession are reaching their prime — when he coached his final game. • Lou Holtz lasted 11 years (1986‑96) af‑ ter posting two of the three longest winning streaks at Notre Dame since 1931 — 23 in a row in 1988‑89 is No. 1 and 17 in 1992‑93 is No. 3 — while winning a national title and barely missing two others. Eleven ostensibly has become the some‑ what understood "term limit" even for the best of them, which might prompt belief that ninth‑year head coach Brian Kelly is heading into the home stretch of his Fighting Irish tenure. Not so fast, friends. His contract runs through the 2021 sea‑ son, which would entail 12 seasons at Notre Dame, and Kelly claims he hasn't come this far to sputter when he comes to the finish line — if he is indeed nearing it. "After that, we'll see," Kelly said of the 2021 season. "I have every want and desire to coach this football team the next four years and then see what the university wants to do after that." Of the 15 full‑time or non‑interim coaches hired by Notre Dame since 1913, Kelly is only the fifth to have such staying power. The longest tenure was Knute Rockne's 13 years (1918‑30) before his tragic death in a plane crash at age 43, but he was the one who set the immense bar for others to follow and a constant ghost to chase. Elmer Layden (1934‑40), who won 77 percent of his games, lasted seven years, while Dan Devine (1975‑80), the head coach of the 1977 national champions, stepped down after six. When Kelly turns 57 on Oct. 25, he will be only the second head coach for the Irish to reach that age while in office. Holtz was 59 when he retired in 1996. With 103 games already coached at Notre Dame, Kelly will this year eclipse the 107 that Leahy had and, with a bowl game, tie Parseghian's 116. Ideally, a 14th game in the College Foot‑ ball Playoff would put Kelly alone at No. 3 on the chart, with Holtz's benchmark of 132 to be surpassed early in 2020. In It To Win It Notre Dame head coaches are demarcated into two categories: Those who win a na‑ tional title, and those who don't. Those who do get immortalized in Notre Dame Stadium with a statue. Those who don't become a footnote. After a 12‑0 regular season, No. 1 ranking and a berth in the BCS National Champion‑ ship Game in 2012, Kelly appeared des‑ tined to join the path of Rockne, Leahy, Par‑ seghian, Devine and Holtz — all of whom either finished unbeaten or captured a na‑ tional title, if not both, in year three. The 42‑14 defeat to Alabama in that title game was a double‑edged sword for Kelly. On one hand, the mere fact that he took Notre Dame back to the summit in the polls for the first time in 19 years likely earned him another five years in itself. Prior to that magical run, the Irish in the previous 18 years had 11 seasons with at least five losses (32‑31 record overall in the five before 2012), with six of them .500 or under. Yet that success wasn't capitalized on with ensuing 9‑4, 8‑5, 10‑3, 4‑8 and 10‑3 outcomes. CHAMPIONSHIP MENTALITY As he embarks on year nine at Notre Dame, Brian Kelly is focused on developing his program and his players Since 2012, Notre Dame has finished No. 4 once (2012) and No. 11 twice (2015 and 2017), but Kelly and his troops are building to reach the ultimate prize. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA