The winter chill still hung in the northern Indiana air that day in early March of 1954. As the sun glistened off the landmark dome of the University of Notre Dame, administrators met to discuss the hiring of its next football coach. On the desk lay a note from recently retired Coach Frank Leahy with words seemingly supporting the candidacy of one of his own assistants- Terry Brennan, a former player and a Leahy man. The note was solid in its support but not overly generous with plaudits; common for Leahy who minced words. So nothing more was read into what was essentially a 'middle of the road' recommendation to hire Brennan.
Brennan had one year of collegiate coaching experience, and three high school state championships, coming to South Bend the year before. When asked if he thought he was too young to be named head coach at the age of 25, Brennan replied, "Oh, I don't know. I'll be 26 in a few months." Brennan was the first coming of Gerry Faust. Clearly a lesson not learned by Rev. Theodore Hesburgh who presided over both the hiring of Brennan in 1954 and Faust in 1981.
Several hundred miles away, Vincent Lombardi, the man who would eventually and universally be recognized as the greatest football coach who ever walked the planet, was eking out a living on the bluffs called West Point, New York.
Not much was known of young Lombardi. And the coaching profession was not covered by the media like it is today. Heck, the media was infantile compared to the saturated coverage of today.
No wonder then that the powers that administered the most famous collegiate football program in America had their eye on other business. The public of that era would find it hard to believe, but the University of Notre Dame was not all about football. Despite huge success on the gridiron since 1920, Notre Dame's leadership in the Spring of 1953 was not much different than their predecessors of the twenties -- or successors of the nineties. Education remained the focus. Building young men -- and in 1971, young women, took center stage. Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, if anything, placed an emphasis on academics, handicapping Brennan's talent pool. He mused at the time: "I used to think it was like a zoo," he said of the all-male campus. "That's probably overstating, but it gets a little rough when you have all men living together. We can't run the country on men alone, never could," he added. "Women ought to have the same opportunities to develop their talents as men do."
A tremendous leader, a visionary, he changed Notre Dame and brought it into the modern age. By 1970, the country was going through major social changes, and Hesburgh decided the time might finally be right to bring women to Notre Dame. Today, Women make up 45% of the 7,800 students.
But Father Hesburgh and the powers that made so many great decisions made one oversight in 1954. And it was the transition from Leahy to the next football coach that got short changed. And it would have huge implications bringing a dark age of a lost decade of football to the lads who played under the golden dome and the fans who loved them so.
1954. !963
Those in between years defined a lost opportunity to continue the pre-eminent legacy of a growing sport called football at the center of its universe- a University in northern Indiana.
Perhaps it is only fair then that the search for the vacant head coaching position of the football team in 1954 did not get the attention it warranted. And after all, as a former Leahy assistant and a Notre Dame man, Terry Brennan was waiting in the wings only needing the anointment of holy water from the holy men.
One of the former "Seven Blocks of Granite" at Fordham, Lombardi began coaching as an assistant in 1938 at St. Cecilia High School in Englewood, New Jersey. At his father's insistence, he needed a steady job to support himself and a family. So he became an educator and a coach, trying to gleam as much money as he could by double tasking. He taught Latin, and like Rockne - chemistry. Even some physics. He was readying to marry his love, Marie in 1940.
By 1942, Lombardi became the head coach and had gained a reputation for success, making St. Cecilia a state powerhouse.
His impact was enormous. One such example is one of his basketball players named Mickey Corcoran. Mickey was friends with my Dad who was an all county guard for the nearby school, Dwight Morrow High School. Both of the young players played CYO ball for Lombardi.
Corcoran would go on to coach basketball at River Dell High School where he taught the Lombardi method to a Duane "Bill" Parcells. In the nineties Parcells would have his mentor, Corcoran, at his side at Super Bowls and at his Hall of Fame induction. The genius of Bill Belicheck traces its roots then, to Lombardi as well. Corcoran still lives in New Jersey at ninety something years of age.
Brennan had one year of collegiate coaching experience, and three high school state championships, coming to South Bend the year before. When asked if he thought he was too young to be named head coach at the age of 25, Brennan replied, "Oh, I don't know. I'll be 26 in a few months." Brennan was the first coming of Gerry Faust. Clearly a lesson not learned by Rev. Theodore Hesburgh who presided over both the hiring of Brennan in 1954 and Faust in 1981.
Several hundred miles away, Vincent Lombardi, the man who would eventually and universally be recognized as the greatest football coach who ever walked the planet, was eking out a living on the bluffs called West Point, New York.
Not much was known of young Lombardi. And the coaching profession was not covered by the media like it is today. Heck, the media was infantile compared to the saturated coverage of today.
No wonder then that the powers that administered the most famous collegiate football program in America had their eye on other business. The public of that era would find it hard to believe, but the University of Notre Dame was not all about football. Despite huge success on the gridiron since 1920, Notre Dame's leadership in the Spring of 1953 was not much different than their predecessors of the twenties -- or successors of the nineties. Education remained the focus. Building young men -- and in 1971, young women, took center stage. Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, if anything, placed an emphasis on academics, handicapping Brennan's talent pool. He mused at the time: "I used to think it was like a zoo," he said of the all-male campus. "That's probably overstating, but it gets a little rough when you have all men living together. We can't run the country on men alone, never could," he added. "Women ought to have the same opportunities to develop their talents as men do."
A tremendous leader, a visionary, he changed Notre Dame and brought it into the modern age. By 1970, the country was going through major social changes, and Hesburgh decided the time might finally be right to bring women to Notre Dame. Today, Women make up 45% of the 7,800 students.
But Father Hesburgh and the powers that made so many great decisions made one oversight in 1954. And it was the transition from Leahy to the next football coach that got short changed. And it would have huge implications bringing a dark age of a lost decade of football to the lads who played under the golden dome and the fans who loved them so.
1954. !963
Those in between years defined a lost opportunity to continue the pre-eminent legacy of a growing sport called football at the center of its universe- a University in northern Indiana.
Perhaps it is only fair then that the search for the vacant head coaching position of the football team in 1954 did not get the attention it warranted. And after all, as a former Leahy assistant and a Notre Dame man, Terry Brennan was waiting in the wings only needing the anointment of holy water from the holy men.
One of the former "Seven Blocks of Granite" at Fordham, Lombardi began coaching as an assistant in 1938 at St. Cecilia High School in Englewood, New Jersey. At his father's insistence, he needed a steady job to support himself and a family. So he became an educator and a coach, trying to gleam as much money as he could by double tasking. He taught Latin, and like Rockne - chemistry. Even some physics. He was readying to marry his love, Marie in 1940.
By 1942, Lombardi became the head coach and had gained a reputation for success, making St. Cecilia a state powerhouse.
His impact was enormous. One such example is one of his basketball players named Mickey Corcoran. Mickey was friends with my Dad who was an all county guard for the nearby school, Dwight Morrow High School. Both of the young players played CYO ball for Lombardi.
Corcoran would go on to coach basketball at River Dell High School where he taught the Lombardi method to a Duane "Bill" Parcells. In the nineties Parcells would have his mentor, Corcoran, at his side at Super Bowls and at his Hall of Fame induction. The genius of Bill Belicheck traces its roots then, to Lombardi as well. Corcoran still lives in New Jersey at ninety something years of age.
