‘We Lost An Icon’ — Notre Dame’s Coaches On Lou Somogyi
Last August when the pandemic raged and training camp opened with the uncertainty of whether the 2020 Notre Dame football season would even hold together, Irish head coach Brian Kelly was asked if he had a coaching contingency plan in case he or any of his assistants tested positive for coronavirus and had to be sidelined.
“You have to be aware of that,” Kelly explained. “I have to have a replacement for me, and our coaches all have replacements if they were to get sick.”
And like any successful and organized big-time football coach, Kelly, indeed, already had his replacement picked out.
“It would be Lou Somogyi,” Kelly deadpanned when asked to share a name. “I know Lou would do a great job with the special teams and he could keep [assistant coach Brian] Polian on the sidelines and from getting a 15-yard penalty.”
Kelly was obviously having some fun with the local press, but that he singled out Somogyi speaks to the high regard he and all the other Irish coaches held for the talented editor and writer of Blue & Gold Illustrated for 37 years.
Somogyi passed away suddenly from a heart attack on April 17 at age 58, a loss felt deeply throughout the entire Notre Dame family — including colleagues, coaches and university luminaries.
“We lost an icon, just a great man,” Kelly shared shortly after Somogyi’s passing during a spring football press conference. “And I think all of his colleagues in the profession, and certainly all of those he touched are deeply saddened by the unexpected loss. … We miss you Lou and you’re in our thoughts.”
Notre Dame director of athletics Jack Swarbrick was among the first to offer condolences.
“Many may have connected with Lou through his deep love and knowledge of Notre Dame athletics,” Swarbrick wrote in tribute, “but his mark in this community was truly made by his kindness and grace to others.
“It always seemed as if Lou was an extension of our team, even when he had piles of work to do for Blue & Gold, and we are forever grateful for his service to his alma mater.”
In addition to his passionate work with the Irish football program, Somogyi was an avid advocate and follower of Notre Dame women’s sports, and Irish women’s basketball always remained one of his favorite programs to cover and report on.
Somogyi was on the beat in both 2001 and 2018 when Hall of Fame Irish coach Muffet McGraw claimed her two national championships.
McGraw began her long Notre Dame coaching career in 1987, three years after Somogyi started at Blue & Gold Illustrated. McGraw retired following the 2019-20 season after working 33 years on the Irish sideline, and Somogyi was there for every one of those.
“I always enjoyed talking to Lou, he asked good, insightful questions and often had a different perspective on a story that no one else seemed to notice,” McGraw recalled. “I will always remember how happy he was for us when we won the national championship and his compassion and empathy when we went through that tough last year [2019-20], although it didn’t stop him from asking the tough questions.”
Somogyi endeared himself to dozens of Notre Dame coaches during his career at Blue & Gold Illustrated. But there’s little debate that his time covering the great years of Irish football through the late 1980s and early 1990s under head coach Lou Holtz — including the 1988 national championship season — served as Somogyi’s journalistic heaven.
“Lou was always conscientious, honest and I trusted him tremendously and respected him to do the best job he could in reporting the facts,” Holtz shared upon Somogyi’s passing. “He wasn’t an individual who looked to praise you or to demean you, he was an individual who wanted to do his job to the very best of his ability, and he did that on a consistent basis.
“He was pleasant to be around. I certainly enjoyed working with him. I am truly sorry that he is no longer with us. He will be missed by many people, particularly the coaches that he covered at Notre Dame.”
Irish head men’s basketball coach Mike Brey shared a story from a time when he and Somogyi debated what the program’s all-time greatest achievement was.
Diplomatic as always, Somogyi picked one moment apiece for each of Notre Dame’s two greatest all-time basketball coaches — Brey and Digger Phelps.
Lou argued that the “greatest single win” came under Phelps in 1974 with the 71-70 victory over UCLA that snapped the Bruins 88-game winning streak and that the “greatest achievement” was Brey leading his team to wins over Duke and North Carolina on consecutive nights in 2015 to claim the ACC Tournament championship.
“We left it with, totally agree,” Brey said. “Man, we will miss him, what a class act, he was my historian for Notre Dame athletics and specifically basketball. Lou always had a great poise and calmness about him.
“Because of that, coaches and athletes opened up more to him.”
Phelps concurred.
While at Blue & Gold Illustrated, Lou covered the last seven years of Phelps’ 20-year Notre Dame coaching career.
“Lou was so loyal to Notre Dame athletics, to the players and to the coaches,” Phelps said. “He was so well-liked but never had an ego, never would step on anybody but just really was loved. He was a great writer. He was a great interviewer.
“That’s what was so amazing about him and how sad it is that he passed.”
----
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, Blue & Gold Illustrated.
• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
• Sign up for Blue & Gold's news alerts and daily newsletter.
• Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts.
• Follow us on Twitter: @BGINews, @BGI_LouSomogyi, @Rivals_Singer, @PatrickEngel_ and @ToddBurlage.
• Like us on Facebook.