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Notre Dame Gets High Mark For Dual-Sport Success In Rivals’ Study

As long as Notre Dame has an athletics department, the public interest in it will start with football. It earned the label of a football school long ago.

The department health, though, extends beyond the events of 12 fall Saturdays. The Joyce Center exists in the shadow of Notre Dame Stadium, but its tenants have contributed to that overall department performance and winning with similar frequency to football. Rivals Crossover Series recognized it.

Notre Dame is tied for 12th in average winning percentage from 2016-20 in football and men’s basketball in Rivals’ quest to find most successful schools in both sports in recent years.

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Notre Dame football head coach Brian Kelly
Notre Dame and Brian Kelly have won 73 percent of their football games since the 2016 season. (Photo by Bill Panzica)

Rivals analyst Adam Gorney calculated the winning percentage of every Power Five football and men’s basketball team since the 2016 season. He then took the average of both and ranked the 65 athletic programs in order of highest to lowest average win percentage.

Notre Dame football under Brian Kelly is 37-14 since 2016, winning 73 percent of its games. The Fighting Irish are 81-56 in basketball under Mike Brey in that same span, winning 59 percent of their games. Those average out to 66 percent, which tied Notre Dame with Florida.

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Florida is 34-16 in football (.680) and 87-50 (.635) in basketball, which also averaged out to 66.

In Notre Dame’s case, a dismal 4-8 football season in 2016 brings down an 85 percent win percentage since 2017. A three-year NCAA Tournament drought coupled with a 14-19 (.424) record in 2018-19 caps the ceiling for basketball win percentage.

Florida State, USC and Virginia are the three programs right below Notre Dame, tied for 14th in average win percentage for both sports, at 65 percent.

Notre Dame is one of eight schools in the top 16 that has not made a coaching change in football or basketball since the start of the 2016-17 sports calendar, joining Clemson , Kentucky, Wisconsin, Auburn, Penn State, USC and Virginia. Ohio State and LSU endured changes in both sports in that span.

Here is the full top 20:

T1. Clemson (76 percent)

T1. Ohio State (76 percent)

3. Alabama (72.5 percent)

4. Michigan (72 percent)

5. Kentucky (71 percent)

6. Wisconsin (70 percent)

T7. Auburn (69 percent)

T7. LSU (69 percent)

T7. Oklahoma (69 percent)

T10. Penn State (68 percent)

T10. Oregon (68 percent)

T12. Notre Dame

T12. Florida

T14. USC

T14. Florida State

T14. Virginia

T17. Georgia (64 percent)

T17. Washington (64 percent)

T17. Duke (64 percent)

20. Michigan State (63.5 percent)

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