Luck of the Irish?

What's wrong with Notre Dame?

Notre Dame's winning football tradition began in the '20's. As the glory years rolled on, the teams in the bright green jerseys acquired an air of invincibility. Football fans who had never been in Indiana, much less in South Bend, adopted the team and learned to cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame. In recent years the cheers were mingled with an occasional catcall, for Notre Dame was running into trouble. But even so, no one was prepared for this season's humiliation. Last week's 20-13 loss to Pittsburgh was the sixth in a row for Notre Dame--a record for ineptitude unmatched in the school's history. So what is wrong with Notre Dame?

The answer: plenty. And no one knows it better or more bitterly than Coach Joe Kuharich, 43, a massive, jug-eared man who weighs his words as though measuring out a prescription. As a boy growing up in South Bend, Kuharich used to be shepherded into practice by Notre Dame players and get an occasional greeting from Knute Rockne himself. From 1935 to 1937 Kuharich was a sturdy and aggressive guard on some of Notre Dame's solid teams (the three-year record: 19-5). Kuharich left Notre Dame with just one ambition: to return as head football coach. Kuharich got his wish after the 1958 season, when Notre Dame fired Terry Brennan on the charge that he had been a poor coach (his good record: 32-18). To return to Notre Dame, Kuharich willingly took a 50% pay cut from his job as head coach of pro football's Washington Redskins. Cross to Bear. Although he loyally denies the fact, Kuharich was shocked by the poor material he inherited from Brennan. Not only was the squad weak in natural ability, but it did not measure up to Kuharich's stiff standards in the fundamentals of tackling and blocking. Last year Kuharich barely managed a 5-5 record. This year, with only three seniors recruited by Brennan on the squad, Kuharich was hit by a numbing series of injuries, including the loss for the season of Halfback Red Mack, an All-America candidate. But teams of the past would have found new All-Americas chafing on the bench. The trouble with Notre Dame football is far more basic than sidelined stars. When newsmen visit him, Kuharich fiddles with a letter opener during the long, painful interviews and says: "Time changes many things."

One of the changes is the fact that far fewer Catholic high-school football stars automatically long to go to Notre Dame. Too many other schools with bright new reputations are making too many good offers. Rival recruiters score points by warning boys that Notre Dame's strait-laced supervision eliminates a carefree campus life; e.g., freshmen have a 10 p.m. curfew. After one mauling of Notre Dame this year, a Chicago priest cracked to a Protestant friend: "I didn't mind so much that the lad was kicking those extra points against Notre Dame, but I did mind his crossing himself before each one."

Brain v. Brawn. More important, Notre Dame's president, the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, is determinedly hauling up the school's academic standards, sees no reason to grant exceptions to football players. "There are dozens of good football players who want to come to Notre Dame that we can't even consider," says Kuharich. "There's a 235-pound fullback who's fast and has our mouths watering. But there's no point in even trying for him because we know he'd never get in."

"The price of progress is trouble," Joe Kuharich says stoically. "I've been in situations like this before." No one doubts Redskin Owner George Marshall has said. "Once when Sammy Baugh came to play, and once when Joe Kuharich came to coach." In 1958 Purdue Coach Jack Mollenkopf holed up with Kuharich for four days to learn his system, this year proved he remembered his lessons by licking Notre Dame 51-19. Kuharich almost never stops thinking about football. These days he even has a movie projector in his bedroom so that he can prop himself up on a pillow and study game films far into the night: "It's amazing what you miss in the first ten showings."

To date, Notre Dame has returned Kuharich's loyalty. Not only are the alumni quiet, but Father Hesburgh is sticking to his promise that "Kuharich is not to be measured by any nostalgic calculus of wins, losses and national championships, but only by the excellence of his coaching and the spirit of his teams." Kuharich himself claims to be optimistic about the future: "This is just the shell of the team we're going to have. There will always be a segment of qualified students who are good football players." Kuharich will need every one. Notre Dame next year will play Oklahoma, Syracuse, Duke, Iowa, Michigan State and Navy.

Caught between a tough schedule and tough academic standards, Kuharich may be able to produce an occasional good season, but the golden days of Notre Dame are likely to be gone forever. One thing is certain: Kuharich, who can return to the pros at any time, will never be content merely to lose honorably at Notre Dame. Says he: "I will not coach a team unless it has the potential to be great."

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