Older Guys Only
- Thread starter twalsh
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LMAO. That said I liked Faust a lot. He was a great guy the absouletly loved ND and was a true gentleman. I honestly believe that if Faust thought him being the OL coach and letting someone else be the real HC would have gotten ND a NC he would have done it.Can you even imagine what it would have been like if we had the internet and social media during the Faust era????
I've never felt worse about an ND coach failing than Faust. I understand he still makes it to some games every year.
Edit. A better one would have be Devine. Fans never really warmed to him.
I don't thinkitwould havemattered too much. Sure fans could have vented , complained, and expressed opinions. Bu, even thought we knew that Faust was not a good coach, many of us still liked him personally
because of his enthusiasm, strong Catholic faith,and his love of the team and Notre Dame !
In spite of Devine's success, I think he would have taken more of a beating on the net than Faust would have?
because of his enthusiasm, strong Catholic faith,and his love of the team and Notre Dame !
In spite of Devine's success, I think he would have taken more of a beating on the net than Faust would have?
can anyone confirm the story of Faust getting dressed up like an old Lady on game day to mix in with the fans to get the emotion of the game day?
Devine was a good coach, a CEO type coach before that term was in vogue. He was just a quirky guy who had some odd idiosyncrasies. Some of the Devine stories we'd get at night when guys would come back from practice or after games would make you pee your pants laughing. He was just an odd guy. Not a bad guy.
What would have made the Faust era worse was where we had come from. Ara comes in 1964, and from then to 1980 I think the worst season was going 7-4 in 1979, my senior year. Then we bounce back in 1980 to go 9-2-1. So that's 17 seasons in which a 7-4 blip is the worst one. So Faust's 6-5 and 5-6 type seasons would have looked like going 4-8 looks today to the fan base.
Everybody loved Faust. The fans wanted so badly for him to get it right and be successful, but it just wasn't meant to be.
Wasn't his high mark beating Michigan after zero for Bo said he wouldn't lose to a high school coach! Fantastic stuff.
Faust went 1-2 against Michigan. The win was the 1982 game, the first night game ever at ND.
Point being after Faust we got Holtz . One bad hire then a great one. ND. Is going on four in a row now. But, that's probably not fair to BK because it's pretty clear that BKs hands are tied compared to Lou.Can you even imagine what it would have been like if we had the internet and social media during the Faust era????
Can you even imagine what it would have been like if we had the internet and social media during the Faust era????
Oh god, I can't imagine what it would have been like---merciless. The first ND game I attended was in 1982 and my first ND home game was in 1985. Even though I was in high school at the time, even I couldn't wait for Faust to go. When I was a student at ND, I had the pleasure of meeting Gerry (Steve Faust lived down the hall from me). Great guy, but way in over his head.
I don't think I have heard a person under the age of 40 who did not atrend ND say anything pro/con about ND football. Those persons are indeed apathetic. The sub alums are kickin up daisies and nationally the university does not miss them. That's apathy. ND enjoyed this following as a brand advantage for 80+ years and it is 'dying' do not doubt that. The brand was created by those immigrants that identified with ND as the working mans hope. There are better academic institutions and athletics are still operating as if it were the 60's. Who is to care? Who will tune in to watch ND play Va,? Or Bowling Green?
TV land is all about ratings and sponsors. Who is there to care? If the ND administration thinks it can go it alone without a national following they are apathetic or delusional to what it takes to maintain the ND brand.
TV land is all about ratings and sponsors. Who is there to care? If the ND administration thinks it can go it alone without a national following they are apathetic or delusional to what it takes to maintain the ND brand.
I remember there were all sorts of stories: They were going to fire Devine and bring in Don Shula. Then there was the one that Devine caught Ara coming in and watching film because he still had a key. It went on and on.
Devine was an odd duck. No doubt. My father ran into him at the Morris Inn one time, and he was wearing a sport coat and tie but tennis shorts and sneakers.
He fielded good teams -- with excellent defenses.
People were mad when he went 8-3 but they were overlooking the fact that his schedules were much tougher than the ones Ara enjoyed his last four or five years with teams like Michigan replacing Northwestern, Pitt turning into a powerhouse for a few years and series with Alabama, Tennessee, Clemson, etc.
Not much. I heard Devine was terrible with names and that cost some recruits. But a damned underrated coach
Virtually none. He was not held in high esteem long before that movie came out. It was Devine's misfortune to succeed Parseghian, who not only was a great coach, but was beloved by the ND faithful.
Devine's rep among people tied to the university in one way or another was in place long before Rudy ever came out. Had no bearing.
Curious, I was coached by a former Missouri Tiger who thought Devine walked on water[metaphorically speaking] Didn't he bring the Packers back to a playoff for the first time since Lombardi? The only negatives I've heard about him have been from N.D,. fans and those were mostly about style and lack of warmth, basically he wasn't Ara. An unforgiveable sin apparently. Doesn't he have a National championship and a statue at Rockne Stadium?
You know that used to be a standard tactic among Football coaches, I think they believed it kept you humble. I'm not validating that , just reporting from recollection. By the way nice to have some civil discourse among the old timers![smile]
I loved his flipping the bird at Pepper Rodgers after Pepper offered the peace sign. Dan only returned half of it. He also did the same at Clemson during a come from behind victory only this time to the fans. They were a little boisterous![smile]
The Pepper Rodgers encounter was brought about as a result of the 1976 game. ND went down to Atlanta unprepared to defense the wishbone that Georgia Tech was then running. They beat us something like 23-14, and Rodgers was quoted as saying that NDs defense was a bunch of "fat cats." In 1977, Tech made the trip up to South Bend, and ND just crushed them. We won something like 69-14, and had the starting team in long after the outcome of the game was no longer in doubt. Devine clearly wanted to shove it up Rodgers's ass.
Devine did bring the Packers to a playoff game with an offense led by John Brockington, a running back out of Ohio State. However, he made one of the worst trades in Packers history, giving up like three No. 1 draft picks to the San Diego Chargers for QB Don Hadl, who was about 40 years old. Cost the Packers dearly for the next six or seven years.
I remember both of those games. In the first one, Rodgers said our defense was fat and lazy, I believe. I remember Luther Bradley driving a Tech running back off the field, through the players and right over the bench. He was tossed out of the game. My father, the ultimate Notre Dame homer, argued that it was a good clean tackle!
The next year, Eddie Lee Ivery returned the opening kickoff for Tech, but then ND just hosed them the rest of the game.
The 1976 game was notable for two reasons. First, GA Tech beat us without attempting one forward pass. Secondly, at some time during the game the GT fans were throwing fish at the ND bench, which in Bobby Dodd Stadium is very close to the stands on the east side. Presumably it had some anti-Catholic connotation. Devine pulled the team into the middle of the field and told the refs to fix the problem or we were done. They fixed the problem. As '78 noted, we paid them back for that in South Bend the following year, scoring almost 70 points.
Yep, both of these statements are true. I would add that I attended the 2006 ND/GT game in Atlanta, and had no problems at all with the Tech fans. Whether attitudes changed in the intervening 30 years, or whether I was just fortunate, I do not know.
Actually the game in question was Missouri v Kansas in '69 and according to Rodgers was a story he made up to amuse some boosters at a Jayhawks event. The score was somewhere around 70-16 and the rivalry between the two schools was grounded in Civil War era guerilla raids on the Dark and Bloody ground between the Jayhawks and Redlegs! Great story though![ big smile].And it does seem that Devine and Rodgers had a heck of a history against each other!
I don't know about that one but I did see him auction off his coach's shorts at a charity auction where he served as auctioneer...
I too was at that 2006 game and witnessed and was involved with a fan taking a swing at one of the player's parents...
Actually, it was at the '78 game after we crushed Tech in '77 that fans threw fish, potatoes and a few whiskey bottles at the Notre Dame players, forcing Devine to pull the team to the middle of the field.
Wow. The one of the snakes has emerged. Did not see you saying much when Sarah was online.
Thank God I was in college during the Faust era so I was not paying that much attention. However, the board would have been in chaos after the loss to BC in 93 and then FSU being crowned Champion after the bowl games.
Just goes to show anybody can get into college. Did you get your BA in stupidity?
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