Notre Dame's Greatest Coaches

by Moose Krause, Stephen Singular

Recalls sixty years of Fighting Irish football, chronicles the glory of Notre Dame sports, and profiles four great Knute Rockne, Frank Leahy, Ara Parsegian, and Lou Holtz. Reprint.

Genres: Sports

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1993

Reviews

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no question that the football tradition at Notre Dame is unrivaled. The four football coaches listed in the title are legends and have some of the best winning percentages in the history of the sport. During the times these coaches were at Notre Dame, Edward “Moose” Krause was as well. Krause was a three -time All-American while playing under Rockne and is Notre Dame’s only two-sport Hall of Famer. He also coached under Leahy, hired Parseghian and was a close advisor to Holtz. Krause served as the Notre Dame Athletic Director for thirty-two years. He became known as “Mr. Notre Dame.”
This book is a sequence of Krause’s recollections of the years these four coaches were active at Notre Dame. There were some other coaches in this time frame, but they were largely skipped over. Therefore, the book is as much about Moose Kraus as it is about the coaches and football at Notre Dame. Which is as it should be, for even though Krause is listed as an author, his world was tightly intertwined with the four coaches.
While the book is generally laudatory of the people being profiled, it does provide a great deal of insight into the football program at Notre Dame. These coaches were driven to succeed, and they drove their players hard, to the very limits of the endurance of both groups. “Greatest coaches” is the proper phrase to describe these four men.

[Jeff Clausen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This niche book fits the bill nicely for those fans who love Notre Dame football. Read as history, it’s got lots of details about men you only knew as dusty legends— Rockne and Leahy especially. And read as a refresher on those we knew growing up— Parseghian and Holtz— is a fascinating insider’s look at these great coaches. And then there’s Moose Krause, the nominal co-author, who pervades almost every page in one way or another. Great stuff. Bonus is that Moose has his own, very accessible statue at ND: seated on a bench outside the stadium, so that you can sit next to him and have your photo taken. The other guys have statues too, elevated, literally, on pedestals.

[Kevin Andres · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book if you’re interested in Notre Dame football. It’s a bit wrought at times in its attempts to romanticize football and the toughness of the players/coaches. Other than that though, a nice history of some of the great coaches, seasons, and players in Notre Dame history. It mixes in stories from many people associated with the program over the years into a quick moving, easy to read narrative.

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent read on the character, charisma, dedication that shaped the little school from South Bend, Indiana to national prominence in collegiate football. Notre Dame Fighting Irish - two choices: Love 'em or Hate 'em, one thing remains the same, "Ol' Notre Dame will win overall!" Moose Krause is Mr Notre Dame and he proved it time, time and again.

[Gavin Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a present from my grandfather after my Notre Dame graduation. I learned so much about the rich history of the program and how so much of the legacy connects to the modern day. Truly a great telling of the history of football at the school and why it is so important to us all.

[Zach Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notre Dame’s Greatest Coaches by Stephen Singular

Imagine going back into time and learning the history of Irish football and coaches. Each chapter talks about different people and how they lived their life. Who knows, you might want to be a football coach yourself someday. This book will give you some indications on how to coach a football team. Trust me, coaching can get tough sometimes, but it will pay off and be rewarding. This book will not only give you some ideas, it will allow you to go back in time and see how these coaches lived their lives and most importantly how they coached football.

One of the things that I enjoyed in this book was the history. Like when it would go back in time and talk about Knute Rockne, Lou Holtz, etc.. Personally, I'm a huge Notre Dame fan, so I really liked this book. Also I like learning about Notre Dame’s history that I never knew of or about. In every chapter there would be more of Notre Dame’s history that was fascinating to me. For example Knute Rockne was the coach that got Notre Dame’s football on T.V. for the first time ever. He got them on NBC. This was one way on how Notre Dame got really famous. Also it would list all the heisman trophy winners that had come through Notre Dame. Also it would mention some of the All American winners that had played for Notre Dame.These were only just a few examples on how this book would list the history of the Irish.

A second thing that I enjoyed was how everything was detailed. Whenever Ara Parseghian lost, he would practically lose his mind. In the book it said that Moose Krause “the athletic director” would find Ara at a hotel eating spaghetti at 4 o'clock in the morning. Moose would eventually get Ara back to normal by sitting down with him and talking about football. Also in this book it would tell how the coaches motivated their team. The coaches would do all sorts of stuff to get their team pumped up, or anything else the coaches really wanted them to do to get back in the game. This is a very important way to be a successful coach. Rockne, Holtz, Leahy, and Parseghian were all great motivators, which made them some of the greatest coaches of all time. Another thing that I liked on how detailed this was is the coaches on the sidelines. This book tells you on how some of the coaches reacted on the sidelines. For example, Lou Holtz would sometimes just stare at you. Which means that after this game is over he was going to yell at you for doing something wrong. These were just some examples on how detailed this book was.

Notre Dame’s Greatest Coaches, was a great book. I read it like I knew all of this history and what was actually going on in the book. It was like I was actually there. Since, I'm a huge Notre Dame fan I find this book interesting to me. Consequently, it was a great book with great history in it. I would definitely recommend Notre Dame’s Greatest Coaches to the sports lovers. If you are looking for a new book about sports, I would definitely recommend this book.

[Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you a crazed football fan like me? If you are, this book is great for us football fanatics like you and me. In my opinion Notre Dame has the richest college football legacy of all time. With thirteen National Championships and seven Heisman Trophy winners, ND can make its case easily. Even if you are anti-Notre Dame, this book is still great for anyone that appreciates football.

Knute Rockne, football genius and the coach of Notre Dame for thirteen years, only lost twelve games in his career there. He also won five National Championships for the Irish. He is considered by many as the greatest college football coach as the 20th century. Ara Parseghian was the coach of the Fighting Irish for eleven years and led them to two National Championships. Frank Leahy, who also coached the Irish for eleven seasons, won four championships with the Irish. Lou Holtz, the fiery character who also coached Notre Dame for eleven seasons, led the Irish to the title in ’88. This book is based on stories about these timeless figures’ personalities, speeches, work ethic and much more all told by a former player and coach, “Moose Krause”, and other and Stephen Singular. These two authors do a really good job of explaining the characteristics of these greats and making you think that you are in the locker room listening to the “Win One for the Gipper” speech from Knute Rockne. When reading, I really thought of myself as a part of this wonderful legacy.

[Jordan B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about 4 of Notre Dames's greatest football coaches who had a lasting impact on not only the college, community, but the country. In my opinion this is a really good book to read about the colleges history and how one person can change the life of another forever. Like how Rockne had helped students on the football team get into schools and also how he achieved a 88% winning average. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Notre Dame or any sports guru.

[Noah Johnson]

As a Notre Dame fan this book was great. It told stories of different eras of Fighting Irish football and it put a lot of things in perspective, such as how the game itself has changed throughout the years.