Notre Dame Assistants: Fun Facts
Notre Dame’s assistant coaching staff is in a current state of upheaval, with the spotlight mainly on who the new defensive coordinator will be.
Wake Forest’s Mike Elko would appear to be the odds-on favorite at this point, but whoever it will be, it is a position that generally averages a two- to three-year run.
In the 37 seasons from 1980-2016, Notre Dame has had 15 assistants who have held the title of defensive coordinator, including two separate two-year stints by Rick Minter (1992-93 and 2005-06) and not including the interim label for Greg Hudson in 2016.
Here is some more background on the history of Fighting Irish football 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, but he didn’t have to chase ghosts as did the others:
• Hunk Anderson (1931-33) — Named “senior coach” after Rockne’s tragic 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 (and No. 17 in a fourth), but in his final three seasons the Irish were 15-15, leading to his ouster.
• 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). This year, Davie led a moribund New Mexico program that had been 1-11 three consecutive years prior to his arrival to an 8-4 record and a second straight bowl berth.
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 (1969-74), he had only change on his staff. Offensive line coach Jerry Wampfler took the head coaching job at Colorado State in 1970. That led to a full-time promotion of Notre Dame graduate Brian Boulac — who would serve 13 straight seasons from 1970-82 before going into athletic administration at his alma mater — to team with Bill Hickey.
No Ordinary Joe
The record for most years as an Irish assistant was 19 by Joe Yonto — 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.
What’s amazing is Yonto had no college coaching experience when Parseghian hired the Notre Dame graduate from the Illinois 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 then 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. Another alumnus, Kelly moved to an administrative capacity under Lou Holtz and later became special assistant to the athletics director.
Since then, no other assistant at Notre Dame has reached 10 consecutive years at the school. Offensive line coach Joe Moore was the closest with nine (1988-96). Current associate head coach/receivers coach Mike Denbrock, would enter his eighth straight in 2017, as would recruiting coordinator/defensive line coach Mike Elston. Denbrock also had coached under Tyrone Willingham at Notre Dame (2002-04).
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 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 former quarterback under him, was the running backs coach from 1983-85 and assistant head coach his last two years under Faust. Later as the athletics director at his alma mater, Moore landed Nick Saban as the Crimson Tide head coach in 2007.
Finally, the aforementioned 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. He would then be involved in an infamous age discrimination suit against newly hired head coach Davie after he was relieved of his duties by him.
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 and was part of a national title right away.
A longtime fixture in the NFL, Blache became a defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins from 1999-2009.
The Pros
At the turn of the century, Notre Dame at one time had three former assistants who coordinated defenses in the NFL. One was the aforementioned Blache. The other were Mike Trgovac (1992-94) and Philadelphia’s Jim Johnson (1977-83). Trgovac coordinated the defense at Carolina from 2003-08 and has been the Green Bay Packers’ defensive line coach since 2009. Also at Green Bay since 2006 has been former Notre Dame starting quarterback Tom Clements, who directed the 1973 national title march. He also served as an assistant to Holtz at Notre Dame from 1992-95.
Johnson was the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive coordinator from 1999-2008 before his death in 2009.
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 from the top, you can produce a mediocre 18-15-1 record as the Irish did from 1981-83.
Super Bowl Champion
Can you name the only Notre Dame assistant who was a head coach for a Super Bowl champion?
The answer would be Hank Stram, who guided the Kansas City Chiefs to a Super Bowl IV title in 1970. Stram was the backfield coach for Brennan’s last two teams in 1957-58.
National Champions
The record for most national titles by a former Irish assistant, with three apiece, is a tie between Rockne (1924, 1929 and 1930) and Urban Meyer (2006 and 2008 at Florida, and 2014 at Ohio State).
The most wins ever by a former Irish assistant in the collegiate ranks used to be Barry Alvarez (1987-89), who was 118-73-4 (.615) in 16 seasons at Wisconsin (1990-2005). He was 8-3 in bowls and won three Rose Bowls for the Badgers — one more than Bo Schembechler did in 21 seasons at Michigan.
That honor now belongs to Meyer, who is 165-28 overall and 9-2 in bowls. His career winning percentage of .855 is nearing the one-two tandem of Rockne (.881) and Leahy (.864) on the all-time NCAA chart.
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