(Photo credit: Chad Ryan)
By 1964, it had been ten years since Frank Leahy retired and 15 years since Notre Dame’s last National Championship. ND had not had a winning record in five years. And then a savior arrived. Ara Parseghian who had his coaching roots with Paul Brown, Sid Gillman and Woody Hayes, was hired.
He took South Bend by storm.
Parseghian had been coaching for the previous eight years just up the road at Northwestern and had defeated the Irish each of four times he had played them. University President Theodore Hesburgh decided that if you couldn’t beat him it made sense to hire him. And so he did.
Ara had an immediate impact in South Bend. He turned everything upside down.
Loaded with charisma, and a perfectionist in every way, he preached that if you lived a life of honor and respect that it would result in success in life and on the football field. His players came to revere him.
They still do to this day.
That first season the Irish came within one play of winning the National Championship. They finished 9-1 suffering the loss, in heartbreaking fashion after a controversial penalty call to USC to end the season. But then in, 1966 they won it all, outscoring their opponents an amazing 362-38. Those numbers made Parseghian 1966 Irish the nation’s top scoring team and second best in points allowed. That 1966 team produced an incredible 12 first team All-Americans.
1973 turned into another dream season. The Irish again played suffocating defense and featured a devastating ground game. They rolled to a 10-0 regular season. The Irish then capped it off with an exciting win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, 24-23. Ara won his second National Championship.
Parseghian continued to lead the Irish to successful seasons. Including another win over undefeated Alabama in the 1975 Orange Bowl but after 11 years, with the pressures wearing on his health, much like Leahy before, that game was his last. He retired “young” at the age of just 51. His Notre Dame record, 95-17-4.
Parseghian never coached again but he lived out an exemplary life. He spearheaded the battle against Nieman-Pick disease, a genetic disorder that claimed three of his grandchildren. At the time of his passing in 2017, his foundation had raised $45 million for the cause.
Ara Parseghian was elected into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1980.