Notre Dame Football: Frank Leahy doesn’t get the respect he deserves

One of the greatest Notre Dame football coaches of all time is a bit of an afterthought to many Irish fans.

Justifiably so, Knute Rockne is the most revered coach in Notre Dame football history. He put the Irish on the map, started the USC rivalry, won three national championships, and built essentially Notre Dame stadium. Had it not been for Rockne, Notre Dame football would likely share a closer resemblance to Northwestern than to the program it is today.

He’s who younger fans think of when talking about legendary Irish coaches.

Of course, Rockne isn’t the only great coach in Notre Dame history. Two of the other National Championship winning coaches that Notre Dame has had were depicted in the movie Rudy. They were Ara Parseghian and Dan Devine. Having both won National Championships and gaining a bit of notoriety from the movie, these two have remained in the conscious of a younger generation of Notre Dame fans.

Then, of course, you have Lou Holtz. Holtz is the most recent coach to win a National Championship at Notre Dame. He remained in the public eye as a pro-Notre Dame analyst with ESPN for years after his career ended. Holtz also presided over the Catholics vs. Convicts series of games. With an ESPN 30 for 30 and the excitement around their 2017 match-up, Holtz’s name was in the limelight again.

Today, behind Rockne, Holtz is the second-most well-known coach in Notre Dame history.

Lost in the mix of Notre Dame’s elite coaches is Frank Leahy.

Leahy is rarely spoken of as one of the best coaches in Notre Dame history. He’s not seen as the program builder that Rockne was. However, his tenure as Notre Dame coach was so long ago that Irish fans around today don’t remember him the way they do Holtz, Devine, or even Parseghian.

However, Frank Leahy won more National Championships than every Irish coach to come after him combined — one of which was at Boston College. Compared to Rockne, Leahy won two more National Championships for five total. Leahy had another two National Championships to his name — if you count the two he won as a player under Knute Rockne.

Leahy started at head coach of Notre Dame in 1941 after holding the same position at Boston College. While at Notre Dame, he won four of his five National Championships. Furthermore, he navigated the program through World War II — an era where teams lost tons of players.

During his time at Notre Dame, Leahy also coached four of Notre Dame’s Heisman Trophy winners. He finished his tenure at Notre Dame with a record of 87-11-9.

Despite all of his success, Leahy remains overlooked by the average fan, and media. He’d be the best coach in the history of most programs, yet Irish fans simpy forget Leahy’s tenure. It’s surprising that things have worked out like this.

It’s even more surprising that Leahy is often put on the back-burner, considering how quotable he was. Some of his best quotes were:

“Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.”

“Give me a lead of 14-0 at halftime and I will dictate the final score.”

“When the going gets tough, let the tough get going.”

This college football Hall of Famer deserves to be at the forefront of Notre Dame lore. He deserves to be remembered as the coach who kept Notre Dame relevant after Knute Rockne’s death, and the slide of success under Elmer Layden.

Without Leahy to bridge the gap into the later half of the 20th century, Ara Parseghian may not have ever left Northwestern for Notre Dame. Without Frank Leahy, it is unlikely that Notre Dame would hold the aura, NBC deal, and the elite status they now hold in college football.

That would leave them a small school, with high admissions standards, in a difficult-to-recruit region. Without Frank Leahy, Notre Dame football would be drastically different — and for the worse.