SOUTH BEND, Ind. — There are times when former Notre Dame running back Allen Pinkett wonders aloud how good some of the Gerry Faust Era teams that he was a part of could have been with different leadership.
“I mean we had so much talent on those teams,” Pinkett told Inside ND Sports last week after a round of soggy golf at the second-annual Golic Subpar Golf Classic charity fundraiser at Notre Dame’s Warren Golf Course.
“We had Tim Brown. We had Mark Bavaro. We had so many excellent players and we look at each other when we get together and say, ‘How the hell did we only win like seven games?’”
Faust was Notre Dame’s head coach from 1981-85, going 30-26-1 between the end of Dan Devine’s run and an Irish renaissance under Lou Holtz. He was hired with no college coaching experience straight out of national prep power Cincinnati (Ohio) Moeller.
ND never won more than seven games in any of those five seasons, including the four Pinkett played on (1982-85). The now 59-year-old Valpraiso, Ind., resident still earned All-America honors twice and remains among the single-game, single-season and career leaders for the Irish in multiple rushing statistical categories.
“But one thing I’ll say about Faust — and I love that man — you won’t find a guy who loves the school more and wanted to win more,” Pinkett said. “But he didn’t know how to do it. It was kind of unfair bringing him straight from high school, when this job requires a CEO.”
Pinkett is a big fan of the current ND CEO, second-year head coach Marcus Freeman, as well as his star running back, junior Audric Estimé.
“Love his style of running, love his determination,” Pinkett said. “It was interesting last year when the team finally found its personality. It was fun to watch that style of football, where you just go beat another team up with the offensive line and the running game.”
Estimé came close to a 1,000-yard rushing season (920) as a sophomore, a milestone Pinkett reached in three consecutive seasons. But Pinkett knows the game has shifted toward both a committee approach to running the ball and that standout running backs now often leaving after three college seasons instead of four.
And that’s a big reason players from the past 15 seasons are hard to find on the Notre Dame rushing charts for single-season and career leaders. Pinkett is ND’s second all-time leading rusher (4,131 yards), first in career rushing attempts (899), first in career yards per game (96.1), second in 100-yard games (21) and first in rushing touchdowns (19).
Estimé, though, has an impressive career yards-per-carry average, ranking 10th at 6.0 entering his junior season.
As far as some of the game’s other evolutions — namely NIL and the transfer portal — Pinkett isn’t lamenting either of them as much of the rest of the fan base seems to be.
“When I played I was as broke as the Ten Commandments,” he said. “I’m just happy to see the guys get paid. Good for them, that they have the ability to make a few dollars. And I think NIL will just self correct.
“As far as the transfer portal, I would have never used it. It was always a four-year commitment for me to come here, to stay here. I understand guys wanting to create another opportunity, but if you couldn’t make it at the place where you’re at, then what makes you think it’s going to be better someplace else?
“I guess sometimes it works out, but I was convinced Notre Dame could change my life. And it did.”
Life today includes working for McCue, a company that “creates safety solutions that keep people safe where they work, shop and play” and in January becoming a grandfather for the first time.
“The dad is 6-4, so he already looks like a little football player,” Pinkett said. “Big boy. For the longest time I said, ‘I ain’t ready to be a grandfather.’ And then when it happens, you know what this is pretty cool.”
He is almost six years removed from his 17-year run as analyst for the Notre Dame football national radio broadcasts, with JMI Sports forcing both him and play-by-play man Don Criqui out following the 2017 season.
“Golf is my hobby now, but football is still my passion,” he said.
Which is why the date of his daughter’s wedding in California — Sept. 23 — causes him to wince.
“The day is significant to her, because it was the day she and her future husband started dating,” Pinkett said. “But it’s also the day Notre Dame plays Ohio State. Ouch. But she told me she would have some TVs available to me, so I think I’m going to be able to survive it. Even if she didn’t, I wouldn’t miss her wedding for the world.”
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