(Fighting Irish Media)
Former Notre Dame head coach (1981-1985) Gerry Faust passed away Monday (November 11,2024), he was 89.
From 1963 to 1981 Faust compiled an unbelievable 174-17-2 (.907) record as the head coach at Cincinnati Moeller High School. In those 18 seasons, his teams won five state championships, and 12 city championships. Four times during his tenure, Moeller was ranked the top prep team in the nation. In 1979 he was voted the national high school Coach of the Year.
Under Faust the Moeller program became a pipeline to South Bend. Faust coached approximately 250 players who received college scholarships, 20 who went to Notre Dame. Among those players was two time consensus All-American linebacker Bob Crable, ND’s all-time career tackles leader.
In August of 1980 Dan Devine announced that he would be retiring at the end of the season after a successful six year run. Before the last game of the season, Notre Dame announced the surprising news that Faust was being hired as the next head coach.
Faust was charismatic and wore his love for Notre Dame on his sleeve, the question was though, could a high school coach, albeit a superb high school coach, make the jump to the college football big time?
The Gerry Faust era lasted for five seasons with mostly unsatisfactory results. In those five years he managed a 30-26-1 record. He coached the team to 5-6 in both his first and last seasons. In between he went 6-4-1 and 7-5, twice. Both those 7-5 teams went to bowls. In 1983 the Irish defeated Doug Flutie’s Boston College Eagles, 19-18 in the Liberty Bowl. In 1984 the Irish lost to SMU 27-20 in the Aloha Bowl.
None of Faust’s team’s achieved a final top 25 ranking. There were some highlights however from the Faust years. In 1981, after knocking off LSU in his first game, the Irish ascended to No.1 in the AP poll. ND, however lost four of their next five games. In 1982 in the first ever night game in Notre Dame Stadium, Faust coached Notre Dame to a win over No.10 Michigan, by a score of 23-17. Later that season ND defeated No.1 Pitt, 31-16. Faust team defeated four other ranked opponents during his six seasons.
Faust developed several student-athletes into NFL standouts. Among them were: Dave Duerson, Tom Thayer, Greg Bell, Stacey Toran, Mike Gann, Mark Bavaro and Mike Golic, Sr.
After Notre Dame, Faust went on to the University of Akron where he coached from 1986-1994. He never lost his love for Notre Dame however. In retirement he was a frequent fixture at games. In 2015 he was quoted as saying about his visits to campus, ‘“The first thing I do when I arrive, every time, is visit the Grotto And the first thing I do there, is thank the good Lord for having had the opportunity to coach at Notre Dame.”
Faust leaves his wife of 60 years, Marlene, three children and seven grandchildren.