While the Notre Dame football program is having a pretty good run lately, it did have to take a minute and mourn the loss of one of its own. On Monday evening, the family of former Fighting Irish coach Gerry Faust announced he’d passed away at the age of 89.
Faust entered in an interesting era of history in South Bend. His entry itself was also quite interesting. He was hired in 1981, just four years after the Irish won their 10th National Championship in 1977.
He replaced Dan Devine, and his hiring was notable because he did not have any previous college coaching experience. Faust came to Notre Dame football from Archbishop Moeller High School out of Ohio. Before arriving in South Bend he coached at the school for 19 years and compiled a record of 174-17-2, won 9 state titles and 4 National Titles. His success did not extend to Notre Dame.
Lifetime Notre Dame football fan, one-time coach Gerry Faust passes away
Faust grew up a Fighting Irish fan so when the school came calling in what was termed a “Bold Experiment,” he leaped at the chance. Unfortunately, he posted just a 30-26-1 record before being fired in 1985. He was replaced by Lou Holtz, who promptly won the program’s last National Title in 1988.
Despite struggling as a head coach, he still looked back at his time with the Irish as a dream come true.
"I only had 26 miserable days at Notre Dame, and that's when we lost," Faust said in an interview in 2008. "Other than that, I was the happiest guy in the world. If I had the opportunity to do it again and knew the results would be the same, I'd do it again in a minute."