Knute Rockne, Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, and Lou Holtz. The names of these coaches have become synonymous with one of the few teams in college football that can truly be called a "dynasty" - the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Owners of the two highest winning percentages in college football history, Rockne and Leahy won seven national championships between them. Parseghian was responsible for a pair of national titles, while Holtz has captured one since his reign began at South Bend.Now these four legendary men are seen in a unique light - through the eyes of the inimitable Edward "Moose" Krause. He came to know, love, and admire these South Bend legends during his own sixty-year career with the Fighting Irish - and now he brings us into the huddle. Completed just before his death in 1992, this fascinating memoir combines Moose's own words with those of nearly one hundred former Notre Dame coaches, players, and administrators to paint an unforgettable portrait of four of the sport's greatest teachers and motivators.Notre Dame's only two-sport Hall of Famer, in football and basketball, Moose was a three time All-American who played under Rockne, coached under Leahy, hired Parseghian during his thirty-two year stint as Notre Dame's Athletic Director, and later acted as a close advisor to Holtz. A poor boy from the stockyards of Chicago, Moose rose to become a legend both on and off the playing field - "Mr. Notre Dame."He recalls Rockne's inspiring locker room orations and his humor and courage in the face of adversity. Rock once coached from a hearse parked on the sidelines, painful phlebitis wracking his legs.Moose vividly remembers Leahy, the ultimate perfectionist, who stalked the sidelines barking orders in his famous Irish brogue while refusing to let the Fighting Irish lose a single game between 1946 and 1949. His fiery intensity slowly ate away at his health, eventually forcing him to retire from coaching forever at the age of forty-five. Moose speaks warmly of his years with Parseghian, who, during his eleven glorious campaigns at South Bend, brought Notre Dame back to the ranks of the collegiate elite. And finally, he talks revealingly of Holtz, whose ferocity on the field is matched only by his humor off it. A complex and deeply caring man, Holtz coached Notre Dame to a stunning undefeated season, and the national championship, in 1988.Interwoven through their stories and Moose's is a blow-by-blow account of Notre Dame's topsy-turvy 1992 campaign, when the school bounced back from a loss and a tie to win seven straight games and capture the Cotton Bowl title.Notre Dame's Greatest Coaches tells the story of a sport, of a country, and of the enormous changes that both game and nation experienced during Moose Krause's long and extraordinary lifetime. As Moose himself says of his early days, "People had a different attitude about sports. They were just happy to be at the game." Moose Krause never lost his love for the game, and in this deeply felt memoir, even the most jaded of sports fans will recapture some of that love as well.

Book details

• Format Hardcover
• Pages249 pages
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN100671867016
• ISBN139780671867010