Coach Brian Kelly’s Quest: Notre Dame Football Coaching Legends and the Gates of Greatness

 

Figure 1. Irish Coach Brian Kelly

The Gates of Greatness at Notre Dame Stadium

There are six gates around the perimeter of Notre Dame Stadium. Five of the six are named after successful Irish coaches, leaving one gate unclaimed and available. Fans and supporters of a coach will certainly claim this gate at some point in the future. What does it take to earn a gate? And does Brian Kelly, soon to be the winningest coach in Notre Dame history, have a shot at seeing Gate E renamed the Brian Kelly Gate?

Figure 2. Six Gates around Notre Dame Stadium

Here is a description of the gates:

• Starting at the top or the north side of the stadium is the venerable Rockne Gate, facing the heart of Notre Dame's beautiful campus. This gate and the one directly opposite it to the south have only 3 portals. The others have 5. 
• Moving clockwise around the stadium we find Gate A (aka the Dan Devine gate), in the northeast part of the stadium just north of Corbett Family Hall. This gate also honors Notre Dame’s 104 consensus All-Americans, the most of any college football program.
• Continuing clockwise, the next is Gate B (Ara Parseghian) on the southeast side. Here in this gate, all of Notre Dame’s 7 Heisman winners are honored. No school has more Heisman winners than Notre Dame.   
• Gate C (Frank Leahy) is the 3-portal gate in O'Neill Hall on the south side, facing South Bend. This is considered the main entrance to the stadium for most fans. Leahy was the football program’s most prolific coach, winning 4 National championships and 4 Heisman awards during his tenure
• Gate D (Lou Holtz) is on the southwest side. Gate D, designated the national championship coaches gate, features bas relief portraits of the five Notre Dame national championship coaches – Rockne, Leahy, Parseghian, Devine, and Holtz.
• Finally, Gate E (currently unnamed) is north of Duncan Student Center on the northwest side of the stadium. At the moment, Gate E is treated as the service entrance. With it's loading dock, Gate E is the preferred Gate for deliveries and load ins. 

Figure 3. The Rock guards his eponymous gate

With their recent (9/18, 27-13) win over in-state rival Purdue, Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly's teams have notched 105 wins, tying them with those teams who played under the great Knute Rockne from 1918-30. The Rock (shown in a photo I took at the Rockne Gate of Notre Dame Stadium after the Purdue game) needed 13 seasons to earn those 105 wins--a win count record that has lasted 91 years. Kelly is in his 12th season with the Irish. With 8 games left in the regular season and the possibility of a post-season bowl game, Kelly is poised to become the winningest coach in the nation's most storied college football program.

It's too early in the season to completely rule out a possible College Football Playoff berth. Such an outcome does seem like wishful thinking, but there is one thing I learned long ago--never discount the Luck of the Irish!   

But let's not measure Brian Kelly nor hire the sculptor just yet. Before Coach Kelly and his staff and players can claim a life-sized statue and get a gate named in honor of their accomplishments, they must achieve what only 5 of Kelly's 30 predecessors have been able to do: win at least one National Championship.

Championship

Here are the championship coaches sorted first by championship count, and then in chronological order: 

• Leahy (4: 1943, '46, '47, '49), 
• Rockne (3: 1924, '29, '30), 
• Parseghian (2: 1966, '73), 
• Devine (1: 1977), and 
• Holtz (1: 1988).

In terms of Coach Kelly's legacy, the greatness picture is clouded by the observation that not only has Kelly missed three chances to bring home the biggest prize (2012, 2018, 2020), but he is conspicuously the only coach with at least 50 wins who hasn't won a championship.

Here are the championship coaches in order of games won: 

• Rockne (105), 
• Holtz (100), 
• Parseghian (95), 
• Leahy (87), and 
• Devine (53).

One could say that Holtz had to win a lot of games to get his gate, compared to Leahy or Devine, but here is the point: no one cares about how many wins any of these coaches had. The only reason they "matter" is because they brought home the big prize at least once. 

Win Rate

Kelly's winning rate of 72.9% looks fantastic compared to recent coaches like Bob Davie (.583), Tyrone Willingham (.583), Charlie Weis (.565), and God bless him, Gerry Faust (.535). But here is an interesting stat: the average of all 31 coaches across 133 seasons and 1,289 games is 72.8%. In reality, Kelly is only 0.1% ahead of the average. 

In contrast, here are the win rates of championship coaches: 

• Rockne (.881), 
• Leahy (.855), 
• Parseghian (.836), 
• Holtz (.765), and 
• Devine (.764). 

Kelly's crew needs to step on the gas to break away from the middle of the pack and catch the Champions. By the way and just to put things in perspective, Rockne’s 88.1% is the best ever across all programs and throughout all time.

Heisman

Another measure of greatness is Heisman trophy winners. In a 3-way tie for first with Oklahoma and The Ohio State, Notre Dame has 7 of those. However, only 4 of 31 Irish coaches produced at least one Heisman winner. One of those coaches (Terry Brennan) did not win a National Championship, and 2 (The Rock and Dan Devine) won one or more championships without a singled-out "star" player.

Here are selected coaches in chronological order showing the Heisman count: 

• Rockne (0), 
• Leahy (4: Bartelli '43, Lujack '47, Hart '49, Lattner '53), 
• Brennan (1: Hornung '56), 
• Parseghian (1: Huarte '64), 
• Devine (0), and 
• Holtz (1: Brown).

Incidentally, Golden Boy Paul Hornung remains the only player in college football history to earn honors as the best all-around player while playing for a team with a losing record. It's not enough to have a star player but there is no denying that a Heisman-quality player can improve Brian Kelly's chances of winning his first championship with Notre Dame.

Other Measures

There are certainly other measures of greatness besides the three highlighted above: a sustained high win rate, Heisman winner production, and the elusive National Championship. Other meaningful measures of coaching greatness include:

·   Consensus All-Americans. Notre Dame leads the pack in this category with 104 ahead of The Ohio State (90) and Michigan (83).

·     Recruiting. Notre Dame does very well in this area, but still has trouble competing with powerhouse programs like Alabama. Clemson, and Oklahoma for 5-star recruits. Gerry Faust set consecutive records for recruiting in 1980 and 81 but wasn’t able to get results with that talent. Today, talented high school players look at Notre Dame’s recent performance in the big games under Kelly and conclude that they have a better chance of winning the championship at a place like ‘Bama. They are not wrong, for now, but: (a) Alabama is not invincible, and (b) Notre Dame is cable of attracting and retaining top talent. 

·      Academic All-Americans. Notre Dame now stands second all-time with 238 Academic All-Americans, trailing only Nebraska's 314, but well ahead of third-place MIT's 220;

·         Player success. Players who go on to successful professional careers. 520 NFL Draft picks are the most for any program ever; and

·         Coaching success. Assistant coaches under Kelly have gone on to successful head coaching careers. 

Kelly excels in these other measures largely because of his skill and experience, but let's be honest: the lore of Notre Dame itself is a powerful draw. Other coaches at Notre Dame with a tenure of at least 5 years have all done well in the other measures. In other words, being excellent is not good enough. If we are ever to have a Brian Kelly Gate at Notre Dame Stadium, there is one thing and one thing only that will do...

Beat ‘Bama!

…or Clemson, Oklahoma, The Ohio State—whatever it takes to bring home that biggest trophy.

 

Figure 4. The hardware in question

References

Statistics of Notre Dame Head Coaches 

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Notre_Dame_Fighting_Irish_head_football_coaches

Assistant ND football coaches who go on to successful coaching careers. 

• https://notredame.rivals.com/news/nd-assistants-through-the-years

Players in the NFL (520)

• https://www.drafthistory.com/n_college/college_n.html

Consensus All-Americans (104)

• http://www.winsipedia.com/ranking/all-americans

Heisman History (7)

• https://www.heisman.com/heisman-winners/  

Academic All-Americans (238)

• https://und.com/ot-cosida-category-rankings-html/

Recruiting success compared

• https://www.si.com/college/recruiting/football/2022-college-football-team-recruiting-top-25-rankings

The Gates at Notre Dame Stadium

• http://football.ballparks.com/NCAA/NotreDame/index.htm 

Brian Kelly knows he has to win a championship to secure his legacy. "I knew it coming in," he said.

• https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/set-to-break-knute-rocknes-record-brian-kelly-knows-notre-dame-legacy-rests-on-winning-national-title/amp/
• https://news.yahoo.com/amphtml/brian-kelly-knows-wins-record-181850242.html
• https://www.wndu.com/2021/09/21/brian-kelly-chasing-championships-not-wins/

 

Venn: Notre Dame, Architecture, Manhattan, and 9/11

Who stands at the center of a Venn diagram including the University of Notre Dame, the profession of architecture, a student newspaper called The Observer, the humor of a cartoonist, sketchbooks of a globe-trotter, Manhattan, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, CodeX, and 9/11? 

I know of only one man who fills the bill: architect, cartoonist, and lecturer Michael Molinelli.

 

"As you know, Michael Molinelli is a talented artist who worked for Notre Dame's OBSERVER daily student newspaper and received his degree in Architecture. He was the creator of probably the most beloved comic strip on campus, a daily must view for all of us Domers when the paper came out just before lunch. The strip was called "Molarity" (morality with the "l" and the "r" switched). He presents an interesting perspective about the Twin Towers from an architect's point of view. CAUTION: while one particular scene has been seen millions of times since that tragic day in 2001, it is still shocking and disturbing." --Eduardo Magallenez, ND '83

 

This 15th edition of Michael's CodeX project describes the design and construction of the Twin Towers and the force that brought them down on 9/11.

Before reading Eddielalo's post, I was not familiar with Michael's CodeX Series. After watching this one, I was inspired to watch more and wound up subscribing to his channel. The videos (currently about 24) are fantastic explorations of interesting and influential architects and the buildings they have given us. You need not be an architect to love these videos. 

Michael Molinelli, AIA, NCARB, LEED Accredited Professional holds a 1982 Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Notre Dame. Michael was best known to his fellow Domers as the creator of Molarity, a comic featuring the antics and exploits of fictional student Jim Mole and his friends. 

Since graduating from Notre Dame, Michael has built a successful architecture practice. He is an award-winning licensed architect, an award-winning cartoonist, humorist, lecturer, author, inventor, volunteer firefighter, husband, and father.

Visit Michael's websites:
His architecture practice 
The official website of Molinelli's cartoon strips including Molarity and Molarity Redux.
A site about the book he co-authored with his wife, Gina 
The YouTube channel for his ongoing CodeX series 

These websites about Michael are also worth a look:
His Amazon author biography featuring a nice pic with an ND hat

The Wikipedia entry describing his Molarity comic strip

2018 Cotton Bowl: My Fearless Prediction!

The 2018 Cotton Bowl will see #3 Notre Dame battle #2 Clemson

On December 29, in Dallas, Notre Dame takes on Clemson in the Cotton Bowl. The two are fighting for the right to play the winner of the Orange Bowl (Alabama vs Oklahoma) for the National Championship on January 7.

I pick Notre Dame to win the Cotton Bowl, and I base my prediction on tradition, strength of schedule, performance against common opponents, and more tradition.

Tradition

This is Notre Dame's first appearance in the now five-year old Championship Series format. Clemson has had more experience: this will be Clemson's fourth year participating. And they have been successful. They are 2-1 in previous appearances.

Notre Dame has had less time in the spotlight lately. As mentioned, this game will be their first appearance in the CFP. The last time Notre Dame played for a National Championship was under the CFP's predecessor, the Bowl Championship Series (BCS, 1998-2013). SEC juggernaut Alabama embarrassed the Irish 42-14 in the final BCS game (2012-13 season). Overall, the Irish were an unimpressive 0-4 in the 16-year history of the BCS. Furthermore, Notre Dame's last National Championship is now 30 years old (1988).

Despite lackluster post-season performance in recent years, Notre Dame football has one of the most impressive resumes in the sport: 7 Heisman winners, 34 All-Americans, 51 Hall of Fame inductees (45 players and 6 coaches), and 13 national championships recognized by the NCAA. On top of all of those athletic accolades, Notre Dame consistently ranks near the top of the NCAA for graduating scholar-athletes.

More:

Graduation Rates

College National Championships

Advantage: Notre Dame

Strength of Schedule

As an elite, independent program. Notre Dame typically has one of the toughest schedules in college football. During its 12-0 run, Notre Dame defeated #14 Michigan, Ball State, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, #7 Stanford, #24 Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Navy, Northwestern, Florida State, #12 Syracuse and USC. So they played and beat four ranked teams. Florida State, Pittsburgh, and USC are usually ranked teams that are having off seasons.

Meanwhile, Clemson only faced two ranked teams. To finish 13-0, Clemson took down Furman (are they even Division I?), #19 Texas A&M, Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech, #20 Syracuse, Wake Forest, North Carolina State, Florida State, Louisville, Boston College, Duke, South Carolina, and Pittsburgh.

Advantage: Notre Dame

Common Opponents

Safe to say, Notre Dame had the much tougher season. Despite the quality gap, you'll notice three teams in common to both Notre Dame and Clemson. How the teams fared against common opponents can be a proxy for head-to-head competition.

Here is how the two teams compare against three common opponents

Comparing the results versus common opponents, Clemson scored more points (132-111), Notre Dame allowed more points (44-36), and Clemson had the higher for-against delta (96-67). Based on how the two teams fared against common opponents, Clemson looks superior--on paper.

Clearly, Clemson's offense put up some big numbers, and not just against Furman and Georgia Southern. However, look deeper and notice that the Tigers barely eeked out wins against the two ranked teams they faced. They beat #19 Texas AM by only 2 points. Clemson's best win was versus #20 Syracuse, 27-23. In the most interesting result comparing common opponents, Notre Dame vanquished #12 Syracuse, 36-3.

Notre Dame also would have scored more points had they started quarterback Ian Book all season and had Dexter Williams not missed the first four games. 

Advantage: Notre Dame

Tradition, revisited

When I think of Notre Dame and the Cotton Bowl, I think of the famous Chicken Soup Bowl where a sick Joe Montana sipped soup on the sidelines between offensive series and led the Irish to one of the greatest come-from-behind victories in college football history. That was 1979: Irish vs Houston. I watched that game just after I learned that my application to attend Notre Dame the following fall had been accepted. The legend of Joe Montana was indelibly etched on my psyche that day.

What though the odds be great or small, I'll cheer for Notre Dame over all!

Advantage: Notre Dame

Prediction

I pick Notre Dame to win and I base my prediction on tradition, strength of schedule, performance against common opponents, and more tradition. Two explosive offenses, two stout defenses, and two impactful special teams meet in what promises to be one heckuva game.

Notre Dame enters the Cotton Bowl 12-point underdogs, but I'll take 'em straight up! 

As for what happens after the Irish win in the Cotton Bowl, I am somewhat more circumspect. I prefer to follow Coach Kelly and focus on One Game at a Time.

Go, Irish! Beat Tigers!

The AP Top 100 College Football Programs Over 80 Years

The Associated Press (AP) has been ranking the best teams in college football since 1936. Over 80 years and in 1,103 polls, a total of 165 schools have been ranked in the Top 25 on any given week.  Additionally, 44 of those schools have been ranked No. 1 at least once (Minnesota was the first).

To determine the all-time Top 25, the AP used the following formula:

• 1 point for each poll appearance to mark consistency, 
• 2 points for No. 1 rankings to acknowledge elite programs, and 
• 10 points for AP championships.

You can read the full article and see the Top 100 HERE. Where does your team fall in? I am a Notre Dame fan. We've not won a National Championship since 1988, but we had a great decade in the 1940s, and based on the AP formula, we came in 3rd overall.

I copied the results into Excel to look a little closer at the data. I wanted to know some relative measures instead of the straight ordinal measures. For example, Notre Dame is 3rd on the All-Time list. But how far behind Ohio State (#1) and Oklahoma (#2) are they? And how much cushion does Notre Dame have over Alabama (#4)? I added the 3rd and 4th columns to generate and explore some ratio data.

In addition, I was curious about the relative strengths of the various conferences the teams represent. Everyone talks about the powerhouse SEC. So how many SEC teams made the overall Top-25, I wondered? I added the 5th column and filled it in mostly from memory, checking a few on the NCAA website.

Here is a closer look at the Top 25 of the past 80 years with some additional information:

The all-time AP Top-25	Points	Pts Back	%	Conf
No. 1 Ohio State	1,112	0	100%	Big Ten
No. 2 Oklahoma	1,055	57	95%	Big 12
No. 3 Notre Dame	1,042	70	94%	Independents
No. 4 Alabama	993	119	89%	SEC
No. 5 Southern California	974	138	88%	Pac 12
No. 6 Nebraska	901	211	81%	Big Ten
No. 7 Michigan	894	218	80%	Big Ten
No. 8 Texas	822	290	74%	Big 12
No. 9 Florida State	714	398	64%	ACC
No. 10 Florida	674	438	61%	SEC
No. 11 LSU	655	457	59%	SEC
No. 12 Penn State	647	465	58%	Big Ten
No. 13 Miami	642	470	58%	ACC
No. 14 Tennessee	624	488	56%	SEC
No. 15 Georgia	572	540	51%	SEC
No. 16 Auburn	570	542	51%	SEC
No. 17 UCLA	535	577	48%	Pac 12
No. 18 Texas A&M	447	665	40%	SEC
No. 19 Michigan State	443	669	40%	Big Ten
No. 20 Washington	430	682	39%	Pac 12
No. 21 Arkansas	412	700	37%	SEC
No. 22 Clemson	411	701	37%	ACC
No. 23 Pittsburgh	356	756	32%	ACC
No. 24 Wisconsin	336	776	30%	Big Ten
No. 25 Iowa	329	783	30%	Big Ten

Notice that the Top 5 teams all come from a different conference. Isn't that interesting? Is that a measure of parity?

I made a table that counted the number of times any given Conference landed a team in the Top 25. Below is a recap by Conference, showing that the SEC has 8 college football programs in the all-time Top 25, more than any other Conference. But I noticed that the Big Ten has 3 teams in the Top 10 compared to the SEC's 2, so the Big Ten may have fewer teams in the Top 25 but the teams they have are higher up. Notre Dame's eventual move into the ACC from the Independents will not be enough to bump the ACC into 2nd place.

Conference	Count	Pts Back	%
SEC	8	0	100%
Big Ten	7	1	88%
ACC	4	4	50%
Pac 12	3	5	38%
Big 12	2	6	25%
Independents	1	7	13%

But of course, as many readers know, the Conferences are of different sizes, ranging from a low of 10 teams to a high of 14 teams, plus the 4 Independent teams. So that made me wonder if the SEC was performing so well as a conference because they field a lot of teams? Or, would the data show that the SEC is punching above or below its weight? To answer this, I gathered the total count of all the teams in all the NCAA Division I-A colleges and made the table below.

Conference	Teams	Top 25	%
SEC	14	8	57%
Big Ten	14	7	50%
ACC	14	4	29%
Pac 12	12	3	25%
Independents	4	1	25%
Big 12	10	2	20%
Conf USA	13	0	0%
American	12	0	0%
Mountain West	12	0	0%
Mid-American	12	0	0%
Sun Belt	11	0	0%

The SEC does have a lot of teams (14), but the bottom line is that 57% of those teams are in the all-time Top 25. That is more than any other conference in raw numbers and also tops when adjusted for the number of teams. The Big Ten has 14 teams (wait, what?) but they lag the SEC slightly in both raw and normalized numbers. Meanwhile, the ACC also has 14 teams but only half as many teams in the Top 25.

Looking over 80 years, the SEC is formidable, indeed. And of course recent years make them appear down right unstoppable.

H/T: CF

Notre Dame Fighting Irish versus Southern California Trojans

Notre Dame vs USC

Saturday, October 17, 7:30 PM on NBC

Notre Dame Stadium, Notre Dame, Indiana

The USC Trojans (3- 2) travel to #14 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5-1) for the 87th meeting between these two teams in what many consider to be the most tradition-rich match-up in all of college football. And I, for one, am excited to watch. I want to see the 46th emerald-studded shamrock added to the Jeweled Shillelagh!

"Notre Dame and USC have traditionally been counted among the elite programs in college football, with each school having won 11 national championships and 7 Heisman Trophies. This football rivalry, which began in 1926, is considered one of the most important in college football, and is often called the greatest intersectional rivalry in college football." --Wikipedia

Go, IRISH! 

Beat Trojans!

Gigapixel view of Notre Dame v. Michigan

Hey, Irish fans! Did you go to the Michigan game?

Can you prove it?

Check out this 26 billion pixel interactive image of Notre Dame Stadium just before kickoff at the Michigan game. The resolution is phenomenal.  

Notre Dame v. Michigan Gigapixel - presented by South Bend Airport

I enjoyed looking for friends who were able to attend the game, but retired without success. I guess I'll have to wait until they tag themselves. Or, maybe they will post their seat numbers in the comments. I have a stadium map!

I noted that relatively few people were honoring the flag during the playing of the National Anthem. In fact, it took me several seconds of scanning before I found a few people rendering honors, and figured out from them what was happening. How many people are wearing hats? How many have their right hand over their heart but are still covered? Search for the man who doffed his hat and covered his heart. He's in there, God bless him.

Notice the number of people who were taking cell phone photos while the Gigapixel Camera was simultaneously taking their pictures!  Kinda takes "living in a fishbowl" to a new level, doesn't it?

I zoomed in on the three parachutists, and was quite surprised to find the clear image of an airplane in the deep background behind the risers in one of the parachutes. Can you replicate the screen shot I pasted in below? Can you zoom in even more and recognize the plane?

Screen capture image shows one of three parachutists. See the plane in the deep background?

This image is presented by South Bend Airport. It's an interesting and entertaining bit of technology on display.

#ProudToBeND

Are YOU ready for some Notre Dame Fightin' Irish Football?

Get your Leprechaun / State Map mash-up banner HERE

ND Monogram / State Flag mash-ups are coming soon!

I suppose Countries of the World will follow soon--Notre Dame is everywhere! 

http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/archive/nd-m-footbl-sched-2014.html

Post Script to the 2014 Season: ND started 6-0 in 2014...

and then THIS happened!

Carnival 1981: New Orleans

This is the second part of an 8-part series about Carnival 

Dateline: NEW ORLEANS, March 3, 1981

In the United States, mention "Mardi Gras," and the first city that pops to mind is New Orleans. Fittingly, my personal story of Carnival also begins in this fabled town. Bourbon Street revelry. Parades down St Charles Ave. Hurricane daiquiris at Pat O'Brien's. Chicory coffee and beignets at Cafe du Monde. And beads. And doubloons. Lots and lots of beads and doubloons. What people will do to earn these trinkets is the stuff of legend.

Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday of course begins the solemn, 40-day long season of Lent culminating in remembering Christ's crucifixion and celebrating his resurrection on Easter. (Well actually, it's 46 days, but how one counts the days of Lent is the subject of a different post.)

A float is seen in the parade down St. Charles Avenue

I first experienced Mardi Gras as a cadet in the Army ROTC Drill Team in 1981. By day, we competed against other schools' drill teams, put on demonstrations for the public, and marched in parades like Endymion, Isis, and Apollo. By night, we attempted to pack as much of the intoxicating sights and sounds as possible, before curfew--complete with bed check.

Scene on Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras

I was out of the country in 1982, but I did return with the Notre Dame Army ROTC Drill Team to Mardi Gras in 1983. I've also been back for the Sugar Bowl to watch Notre Dame disappoint Steve Spurrier's  favored Gators on New Year's Eve, 1991. But I digress... My point: Pictures do not do this city or its beguiling scenery justice! The French Quarter of New Orleans is spectacular year round, but is not to be missed during Mardi Gras!

Carnival originated as a pagan ritual of spring, but it was co-opted by the early Christian church and incorporated into the liturgical calendar as a precursor to season of Lent. As the Church grew and spread her influence, the traditions of Carnival spread as well. Today, Carnival is celebrated around the world, particularly in Catholic areas which were, at one time, under the influence of the Holy Roman Empire.

New Orleans is synonymous with Mardi Gras in part because it was settled by French Catholics. (More information about the history of Louisiana and New Orleans available HERE.) In the next installments of our Carnival series, we'll call out similar Roman Catholic roots and notice local differences in how Carnival is observed in Venice, Mainz, Rio de Janeiro, Daytona Beach (?), and my home in Alexandria.

Let the Good Times Roll! Or, as we say in Nawlins, Laissez les bons temps rouler!