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Notre Dame football: Who is the greatest coach in program history?

By Daniel Morrison

SOUTH BEND, IN - SEPTEMBER 18: A Notre Dame Fighting Irish flag is seen before the game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Notre Dame Stadium on September 18, 2021 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
SOUTH BEND, IN - SEPTEMBER 18: A Notre Dame Fighting Irish flag is seen before the game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Notre Dame Stadium on September 18, 2021 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
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STANFORD, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 27: The Notre Dame football leprechaun mascot runs onto the field before their game against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium on November 27, 2021, in Stanford, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 27: The Notre Dame football leprechaun mascot runs onto the field before their game against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium on November 27, 2021, in Stanford, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

Notre Dame football has, arguably, the greatest and longest football history of any traditional power in college football history. It’s also safe to say that no other program has the same depth of great coaches as Notre Dame. Think about it, Notre Dame football has more than a half dozen coaches who are historically important and impactful to the school.

Alabama, for instance, has all of two.

One of the great things to debate has been what order those coaches belong, from best to really great but not as good (Hey, if we wanted to go all the way to worst we could rank Charlie Weis, but that seems beside the point). Now, most people have the same top-ranked coach.

That one feels obvious, Knute Rockne. From there, things get murkier, though. At the same time, Brian Kelly has more wins than Rockne. Frank Leahy has more National Championships than Rockne. So, there is room to debate the topic.

So, who is the best? And what’s the actual criteria for judging who is the best?

Glad you asked, there is no set criteria. This isn’t just who won the most games or championships. It’s about taking the circumstances of their careers and their choices in how they ran their program into account. Then, very subjectively, judging who did the best job.

There are eight coaches who we’ll be looking at; Jesse Harper, Knute Rockne, Elmer Layden, Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine, Lou Holtz, and Brian Kelly. All of them brought important things to the program, but who was the best?

Let’s break down all the possible contestants:

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