Countdown to kickoff: Notre Dame vs. Ohio State only 62 days away
To preview one of the most anticipated games for Notre Dame this century and the official start of the Marcus Freeman era, BlueandGold.com is counting down the days to the matchup against Ohio State on Sept. 3.
This daily series of 99 stories celebrates by the numbers some of the most notable names, dates, moments and memories related to the past and present of Notre Dame football.
Today, with 62 days remaining until kickoff, we look at the year 1962 and the end of the darkest period in Fighting Irish football history.
Missing the mark
A South Bend native, a former Notre Dame player, a university graduate and a starting NFL lineman, Joe Kuharich was the perfect fit to become the next Irish head coach.
Or, that’s at least what the university brass believed when they pulled Kuharich away from his job as head coach of the Washington Redskins to replace the deposed Terry Brennan.
That didn’t turn out to be the case.
With a 32-18 record over five seasons (1954-58), Notre Dame believed the sky was falling with Brennan as its coach.
Four years later, after Kuharich failed to lead a winning season and recorded a 17-23 overall record, maybe Brennan wasn’t so bad after all.
Kuharich remains the only Notre Dame coach to ever have a losing career record.
Upon Brennan’s dismissal, Kuharich took over a 6-4 program in 1959 and went 5-5. First year on the job, still acclimating to the college game, fortunes would improve.
They didn’t.
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Bottoming out
Notre Dame won its first and its last game of the 1960 season but lost eight straight in between, still the longest losing streak in program history.
Kuharich also had a 3-9 stretch during the 1961 and 1962 seasons that led to his resignation in the spring of 1963, amid intense university pressure.
The consensus opinion was that Kuharich was never able to transition from the pros, and that his two-way lumbering NFL-type linemen were no match for the more nimble college athletes of the day.
And with a dismissive attitude and a common catchphrase, “You win some you lose some,” Kuharich left his post and was replaced by interim coach Hugh Devore.
One year later in 1964, Notre Dame hired Ara Parseghian. Two years after that in 1966, Parseghian won his first of two national championships.
Unlike Kuharich, Parseghian never recorded a losing record during his 11 seasons at Notre Dame. So, maybe Kuharich’s struggles came with a silver lining.
Through the darkest period in Fighting Irish football history, there is one positive to take away from the Joe Kuharich era. Despite all of his struggles, Kuharich remains the only Notre Dame coach to post back-to-back shutouts against rival USC — 1960 (17-0) and 1961 (30-0).
