Was History Unfair To Joe Kuharich?

Joe Kuharich was the head coach for the Chicago Cardinals and Washington Redskins before he returned to his alma mater in 1959. It was the realization of a dream in which he could coach the Fighting Irish of the University of Notre Dame. He was supposed to coach three years earlier, after one of the worst seasons in Fighting Irish history, but his predecessor, Terry Brennan, was allowed to coach on. 

Image source: 247sports.com

Kuharich brought a sense of professionalism to Notre Dame football, adding shamrocks on helmets and shoulder stripes on jerseys. However, this was where the positive discussions end. He would go on to coach Notre Dame for four seasons and not have a single winning record in any of the seasons. Overall, Kuharich gathered a 17-23 record, the only coach to ever have a losing record in the school’s long history. The Fighting Irish’s eight-game losing streak in 1960 was one of the team’s darkest periods. 

But what was it really that contributed to such a collapse of an otherwise magnificent football program? Some sports analysts had mentioned that Kuharich took the reins a team that suffered from the de-emphasis of football in Notre Dame when the school focused on things they deemed more relevant. Other football experts noted that Kuharich never acclimated completely to college football from his professional career. There were rules and methods in pro football that just didn’t work in the college setting. 

Kuharich resigned in 1963 due to the mounting pressure. 

Image source: si.com

Hello, I’m Tom Colton, a student at the University of Notre Dame and a huge fan of the Fighting Irish. For more on my hobbies and interests, check out this blog.