All In The Notre Dame Family

In December 1963, Ara Parseghian became the first non-interim football coach hired at Notre Dame who did not graduate from the school since Jesse Harper in 1913, or 50 years prior.

It was a dramatic departure from previous school protocol in which heritage with the school was like an unwritten mandate. At the time of Parseghian’s hiring, the Fighting Irish basketball (John Jordan) and baseball (Jake Kline) teams were also headed by Notre Dame graduates. Meanwhile, two of the winningest coaches in school history — Tom Fallon (tennis and wrestling), and Mike DeCicco (fencing) — were Irish alumni who either had already won a national title or would do so in the future.

And of course, the man running the athletic department, Ed “Moose” Krause, was an All-American for Knute Rockne in football plus a Naismith Hall of Fame basketball star who would become known as “Mr. Notre Dame.”

Because he was neither a graduate of the school nor a Catholic, Parseghian was skeptical that he would be hired by the struggling football program. Yet when he reached out to Notre Dame executive vice president Rev. Ned Joyce C.S.C. that he would be interested in the position that was “interim” under 1934 Notre Dame graduate Hugh Devore (Krause’s classmate), Joyce said it was akin to receiving “bread from heaven.”

During his Hall-of-Fame 11-year tenure (1964-74), though, Parseghian had numerous Notre Dame graduates on his staff, most notably defensive line coach Joe Yonto, linebackers coach George Kelly and tight end/offensive line coach Brian Boulac, all of whom remained in the Notre Dame football office, or at the University in an administrative capacity, into the 1990s and beyond.

There were others too on his staff who were Notre Dame grads: George Sefcik, Bill Hickey, John and Dennis Murphy, and Greg Blache, who in 1973 became the school’s first black assistant coach.

Gradually, in the 1970s and 1980s, Notre Dame began a trend to hire head coaches who were not alumni of the school. Parseghian’s immense success proved one didn’t need a degree from the school to be a “Notre Dame Man (or Woman),” but there were at least two other factors behind it.

One, by the early 1960s Notre Dame no longer had a physical education major, which had helped spawn many of its graduates into the coaching profession. Second, the pay scale for the assistants was relatively miniscule, leading Parseghian to even split his revenue from other avenues (coach’s TV show or commercials) among his staff to help keep them on board.

“The Notre Dame priests take a vow of poverty — and they make sure you abide by it,” quipped 1986-96 Notre Dame football head coach Lou Holtz, a Kent State graduate.

In the 17 seasons from 1988-2004, the only two Notre Dame graduates on the football staff (excluding graduate assistant roles) were 1972-74 starting quarterback Tom Clements (1992-95) and 1986 walk-on Skip Holtz (1990-93), the coach’s son.

That changed with the hiring of 1978 graduate Charlie Weis as head coach in 2005, and he also brought on board former Irish defensive back Mike Haywood (1982-86) and quarterback Ron Powlus (1993-97). By then, the pay scale under 2000-08 director of athletics Kevin White (not a Notre Dame alumnus) had advanced appreciably and become much more in line with top programs.

Under seventh-year head coach Brian Kelly, who graduated from Assumption College, the Notre Dame lineage has grown considerably the past few years — almost taking a cue from the school’s basketball offices.

Head coach Muffet McGraw’s staff, which went to five consecutive Final Fours in 2011-15, includes the school’s second all-time leading scorer Beth Morgan Cunningham (1993-97), who led the program’s first Final Four run as a senior, and Nielie Ivey, (1996-2001), the starting point guard for the 2001 national champions who has become a game-changing recruiter.

This spring, Ivey was a finalist for the head coaching position at Vanderbilt. Had she left, popular opinion held that a top candidate to replace her would be her successor at the point, Megan Duffy (2002-06), currently an assistant at the University of Michigan.

On the men’s side — the only men’s program in the country to advance to the Elite Eight each of the past two seasons — Mike Brey recently hired Ryan Humphrey (2000-02), and a formal announcement reportedly is to come in the near future on the projected addition of Ryan Ayers (2005-09) to join director of basketball operations Harold Swanagan (1998-2002), who has been in his job since 2009, on the staff.

Vacating one of two posts this spring was 1997-2001 point guard Martin Ingelsby, who accepted the head coaching position at Delaware. Humphrey — the school’s most recent first-round pick in 2002 until Jerian Grant in 2015 — comes from Northwestern. Ayers has been at Patriot League champ Bucknell, but other Brey pupils also in the coaching profession who have been mentioned as present/future candidates include point guards Chris Quinn (2002-06), Tory Jackson (2006-10), Ben Hansbrough (2009-11) and Eric Atkins (2010-14), as well as Kyle McAlarney (2005-09).

“I’m excited about what I can do with my staff,” Brey said. “This staff that we had, we maxed it out together. It was an unbelievable ride, but I think reinvention is great for me.”

Not since the early 1960s have the Notre Dame football and basketball offices been so replete with alumni. Among the Notre Dame graduates aiding the football program are:

• Autry Denson (’99) — Hired in 2015, the school’s all-time leading rusher helped lead Notre Dame to its best rushing output (including bowls) since his senior year in 1998 while working with a converted receiver (C.J. Prosise) and true freshman (Josh Adams).

• Todd Lyght (’91) — One of 16 two-time consensus All-Americans in Irish football history is, like Denson, in his second season on the staff.

• Ron Powlus (’97) — The four-year starting quarterback in 1994-97 is in his second season as director of player development.

• David Grimes (’09) — Former captain caught 90 passes during his career, and he became an intern in 2011. He has been an assistant strength and conditioning coach since 2012.

• Jeff Burris (’94) — Officially hired earlier this month as a defensive analyst, the All-American defensive back/running back/return man and first-round NFL pick also can aid the on-campus recruiting efforts.

• Brian Ratigan (’93) — The former linebacker was in the NFL from 1993-95 and enters his ninth year as head of orthopedic sports medicine for Notre Dame football and baseball.

A staff filled with prominent alumni won’t ensure success, but it can help make community stronger and sustainable.