ND assistants: Did you know…

With Notre Dame set to announce four new assistant coaches on Monday morning, we look at some Fighting Irish trivia among assistants.

The Original

The first Notre Dame coach to have the assistant title was line coach Howard "Cap" Edwards in 1913 under first-year boss Jesse Harper.

Edwards coached only one year, so then 1914 Notre Dame graduate/wide receiver Knute Rockne was named "first assistant" by Harper from 1914-17. There is no record of a "second assistant" after him.

Succession Plan

Rockne is one of four Notre Dame assistant coaches who were promoted to the Irish head coach position. The Rock did well for himself with a 105-12-5 career record and three consensus national titles from 1918-30, but he didn't have to chase ghosts as did the others:

* Hunk Anderson (1931-33) - Named "senior coach" after Rockne's death on March 31, 1931, he and "junior coach" Jack Chevigny weren't on the same page during their one season together in 1931, and Anderson was fired after a 3-5-1 finish in 1933. He faced a virtually impossible task as Rockne's successor amid tragic circumstances.

* Terry Brennan (1954-58) - Speaking of the impossible…the 26-year-old Brennan, after just one season as the 1953 freshman coach, was the hand-picked successor by school president Rev. Theodore Hesburgh C.S.C. for Frank Leahy, who had six unbeaten campaigns in his 11 years.

Brennan finished in the top 10 three times in five years, but in his final three seasons the Irish were 15-15.

* Bob Davie (1997-2001) - Similar to Brennan, he had to replace a Hall of Fame coach (Lou Holtz) who was at the Notre Dame helm for 11 years. Like Brennan, he lasted five years (35-25 overall, and 19-18 in his last 37 games). Unlike Brennan, he did get back into coaching and enters his fourth season at New Mexico with an 11-26 mark.

The Loyalists

No Irish head coach had greater continuity in his staff than Ara Parseghian. Three of his assistants - backfield coach Tom Pagna, defensive backs coach Paul Shoults and defensive line coach Joe Yonto - were with him all 11 seasons from 1964-74.

In Parseghian's final six seasons from 1969-74, he had only change on his staff: Offensive line coach Jerry Wampfler took the head coaching job at Colorado State in 1970.

Player-Coach

With all-time Notre Dame leading rusher Autry Denson (1995-98) Brian Kelly's new running backs coach, and two-time consensus All-America cornerback Todd Lyght (1987-90) the new defensive backs coach, the Fighting Irish have their most dynamic tandem of former players who are now on-field coaches since the 1950s with head coach Brennan and line coach Bill "Moose" Fischer.

Brennan started at halfback for Frank Leahy's unbeaten teams from 1946-48, and classmate/guard Fischer did the same while also winning the Outland Trophy as a senior.

No Ordinary Joe

The record for most years as an on-field Irish assistant was 19 by Joe Yonto. He coached 17 straight during the Parseghian and Dan Devine years (1964-80), and then the first two under Lou Holtz (1986-87). In between, he served in an administrative capacity for Gerry Faust from 1981-85, meaning he was in the Notre Dame football office in one way or another 24 straight years.

What is amazing is Yonto had no college coaching experience when Parseghian hired the Notre Dame graduate from the high school ranks. He gradually moved up the ladder, first as a defensive line assistant to John Ray from 1964-68, then as coach of the entire line when Ray took the head coaching position at Kentucky in 1969, and finally as defensive coordinator in 1977.

The runner-up was linebackers coach George Kelly with 17 years from 1969-85, spanning the last six years under Parseghian and then the entire Devine and Faust regimes. He moved to an administrative capacity under Holtz and later became special assistant to the athletics director.

Coordinating Efforts

The word "coordinator" was not used until Devine came aboard in 1975. He gave the offensive coordinator title first to Merv Johnson that year, followed by recruiting coordinator to Brian Boulac in 1976, and finally defensive coordinator to Yonto in 1977.

Moore Or Less

The most popular surname among Irish assistants was Moore, with three total.

Wally Moore was first the freshman coach and later offensive line assistant for Parseghian from 1966-74.

Mal Moore, a Bear Bryant disciple and the Alabama athletics director before passing away a couple of years ago, was the running backs coach from 1983-85 and assistant head coach his last two years under Faust.

Finally, Joe Moore was hired to coach Notre Dame's tackles and tight ends in 1988, took over the entire line the following year, and had an indelible impact through the final year of the Holtz era in 1996.

This year, Notre Dame will introduce its "Sanford & Son." Current Indiana State head coach Mike Sanford tutored the Irish quarterbacks in 1996-98, and his son, also Mike, joined Kelly's staff in the last month in the same capacity, including reportedly offensive coordinator.

The Pioneer

In 1973, Parseghian made Greg Blache the first black assistant coach in the program's history. Recruited by the Irish in 1968, Blache's playing career was truncated by an injury, thus beginning a coaching apprenticeship, and by 1973 he was named assistant coach for the junior varsity program.

Blache coached in the NFL from 1988 through his retirement in 2009, including stints as the defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears (1999-2003) and Washington Redskins (2008-09).

The Pros

In 2008, Notre Dame had three former assistants who coordinated defenses in the NFL: Blache, Carolina's Mike Trgovac (1992-94) and Philadelphia's Jim Johnson (1977-83).

Blache and Johnson were both on Faust's staff from 1981-83 before leaving for the newly-formed USFL. It just goes to show that even with talented assistants, if the overall direction is not there, you can produce a mediocre 18-15-1 record as the Irish did from 1981-83.

Super Bowl Champion

One Notre Dame assistant became the head coach of a Super Bowl champion.

Hank Stram, who guided the Kansas City Chiefs to a Super Bowl IV title in 1970, was the backfield coach for Brennan's last two teams in 1957-58.

National Champions

The record for most consensus national titles by a former Irish assistant is three apiece by Rockne (1924, 1929 and 1930) and Urban Meyer (2006, 2008 at Florida, and 2014 at Ohio State). Meyer was the receivers coach at Notre Dame from 1996-2000 before becoming the head coach at Bowling Green State.

With a remarkable 142-26 (.845 winning percentage) record, Meyer has the most wins ever by a former Irish assistant in the collegiate ranks. College football Hall of Fame inductee Barry Alvarez (1987-89) is second at 118-73-4 (.615) in 16 seasons at Wisconsin (1990-2005). That's not including recently serving as the acting coach in aother bowl victory. He was 8-3 in bowls during his stint and won three Rose Bowls for the Badgers, or one more than Bo Schembechler did in 21 seasons at Michigan.