Ranking Notre Dame’s Top 10 Best Head Coaches of All-Time - #1

Connor Regan
16 hours ago
13 min read

In our last article, we revealed Frank Leahy as the #2 spot on our list of Notre Dame’s greatest coaches, and that leaves just one spot left. The top of the crop. The best of the best. The greatest Notre Dame head coach of all-time.

Photo Via Notre Dame Athletics

1. Knute Rockne

The Fighting Irish are known widely for their deep history and the unique place they hold in college football’s landscape, but they cherish their rich tradition above all else. The legacy of all-time great player and head coach Knute Rockne is arguably the foundation of that very tradition, and his impact on the program can be seen to this day.

Rockne’s story is straight out of a Hollywood movie; an undersized immigrant boy from Norway who couldn’t speak English, a high school dropout who played only a single game of varsity football, went on to become the national face of college football, and died prematurely as a sports hero at the height of his potential, immortalizing himself in the process. After dropping out of school, Knute worked at the post office to save enough money to enroll in college, eventually passing a high school equivalency test to earn a place at the University of Notre Dame. He joined the football team during his sophomore year, and despite his 5 '8 frame and lean build, he managed to leverage his standout speed to become an All-American in 1913. Rockne’s first chance to etch his name into both Notre Dame and college football history came during his senior year in South Bend.

While he didn’t technically “invent” the forward pass, Rockne did play a role in revolutionizing its use and popularizing it across the sport. In the summer of 1913, Coach Jesse Harper brought the forward pass scheme to Notre Dame from Wabash College, introducing the idea to his end, Knute Rockne, and his QB, Gus Dorais. The duo spent the whole offseason together learning and perfecting the forward pass, developing passing patterns, and doing it in a way no one had before; both throwing and catching the ball on the run and in stride. At the time, the forward pass was not in common use and was typically only thrown for short gains in a rigid, mechanical way. The receiver would quickly move off the line, turn around, and come to a complete stop before the pass was thrown, typically only catching it after the play had completely formed.

Rockne and Dorais’s on-the-move tweak made longer passes for bigger gains easier, and finding an open receiver more common. The tandem stunned the world when they used their new spin on the forward pass to beat the best team in the country, Army. Their first connection saw Rockne pull in a 25-yard toss from Dorais to score, eventually leading to a 35-13 win for the Irish. Prior to this game, no team had ever scored a touchdown via forward pass on Army. It was primarily due to the significance of their opponent and the shock of its effectiveness that cemented the belief that Rockne had “invented” the forward pass amongst the public. While this classic college football tall tale is ultimately untrue, Rockne, Dorais, and Harper truly perfected the forward pass and introduced their new interpretation of it to the entire sport. Employing an offense with both a powerful and traditional running game alongside a dynamic, open-field passing attack quickly became a necessity for any team looking to stay competitive. The event fundamentally changed how college football was played going forward, inextricably tying it to the program’s lore, and helped to put Notre Dame on the map.

Rockne graduated from Notre Dame in 1914 with a degree in Pharmacy and formal training as a chemist. After a short stint working as an assistant in a polymer chemistry lab, Knute turned down further scientific pursuits to continue playing football and begin a coaching career. While pursuing coaching, Rockne played end and halfback for the Akron Indians and later the Massillon Tigers, where he eventually reunited with his former teammate Gus Dorais. The duo used the forward pass they popularized in school to secure a professional championship in 1915. While playing pro ball, Rockne also joined Coach Harper’s staff at Notre Dame as an assistant in 1914 and immediately made a name for himself among the players, eventually earning the program's trust. After 4 years of experience and dedication on staff, Rockne was named the next head coach and athletic director at Notre Dame, following coach Harper’s retirement. His very first season as head coach came amidst the strife of World War 1, and the Irish played only 6 games, posting a 3-1-2 record with the loss coming against the Michigan Agricultural College.

Rockne brought Gus Dorais onto his coaching staff for the 1919 season, and the Irish responded with Rockne’s first undefeated season, going 9-0 while outscoring their opponents 229-47, with notable wins over Army, Indiana, Nebraska, and Purdue. There was no formal championship system at the time, but the 1919 squad was retroactively named one of the possible National Champions by selector committees, although the University does not formally recognize this title. Formal Title or not, Rockne’s 1919 team found its way into college football’s history books with 3 members inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame: halfback George Gipp, end Eddie Anderson, and guard Hunk Anderson.

The Irish would post a second consecutive 9-0 record in 1920, notably dispatching Northwestern, Army, Indiana, Nebraska, and Purdue. Yet again, this squad was retroactively named both National Champions and co-National Champions by selectors, but like the 1919 Title, it's not formally recognized by the University. Star halfback George Gipp was the perfect tool for Rockne’s high-flying passing scheme, ultimately leading to consensus All-American honors and national recognition for his skills. Gipp fell ill before the team’s final game against Michigan State and was forced to stay behind in South Bend to recover. Despite the precautions, his condition worsened following the end of the 1920 football season, and he developed both strep throat and pneumonia. Gipp would tragically pass away on December 14th, 1920, breaking the hearts of his teammates, classmates, Rockne himself, and college football fans across the country. Gipp spent the day before his death with Rockne at his bedside and used what little strength he had left to relay one of the most significant quotes in both Notre Dame and college football history. Rockne kept the Gipper’s final request to himself until the 1928 season.

The 1921 team posted a 10-1 record behind throw-first QB John Mohardt, only losing to Iowa in a 7-10 heartbreaker on the road. Between 1919 and 1921, Rockne’s teams posted a 28-1 record, and because of this success, the 1922 season was considered a letdown. The Irish went 8-1-1, with their only loss coming in the final week of the season against Nebraska, 6-14, and a scoreless tie against Army in their 7th game. The Irish improved their record in the 1923 season, going 9-1, but again lost to Nebraska, this time 7-14.

Everything for Rockne and the Irish changed with the 1924 season. This stacked team was highlighted by the infamous “Four Horsemen” backfield, comprised of halfbacks Don Miller and Jim Crowley, quarterback Harry Stuhldreher, and fullback Elmer Layden. The 1924 Irish rattled off a perfect 10-0 season, outscoring their opponents 285-54, and notched key wins against Army, Princeton, Wabash, Georgia Tech, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Northwestern, culminating in a historic Rose Bowl matchup against Stanford. The Irish beat the Cardinal 27-10 in front of nearly 60,000 fans, securing the program’s first consensus National Title and forcing college football to accept them as one of the top programs. All four of the “Four Horsemen”, along with center Adam Walsh, tackle Edgar Miller, and halfback Don Miller, would later be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, cementing the 1924 team as one of the greatest in school history.

Following their first National Title-winning season, the Irish only managed to muster a 7-2-1 record in 1925, marking the first time one of Rockne’s teams would lose more than a single game in a season. Both Army and Nebraska shut the Irish out to give them their 2 losses, and Penn State held them to a scoreless tie. The 1926 season brought a different kind of heartbreak for Rockne and the Irish. After winning 8 straight games, Notre Dame was poised to claim their second National Title, yet a single decision would alter the course of the season and go down as the greatest blunder of Rockne’s coaching career. The heavily favored and undefeated Irish were set to face off with 6-2 Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon) in Pittsburgh, PA, but both Rockne and his players seemed to overlook this game in favor of their much-anticipated matchup against USC the following week. Rockne sent an assistant coach in his absence to oversee the game and instead travel to Chicago to attend a scheduling meeting for the Western Conference (now the BIG10) and to scout the Army-Navy game, as he’d scheduled both military academies for the 1927 season. Through 8 games, the Irish defense had surrendered only a single touchdown, but Rockne’s absence seemed to fuel Carnegie Tech, which shocked the nation by shutting the Irish out 19-0.

Following the loss, the Irish traveled to Los Angeles for the first time in program history to face USC. Rockne is often credited with brokering the first matchup against the Trojans, but much like the “invention” of the forward pass, the specifics behind the origins of the rivalry are murky and unconfirmed. All we know for sure is that Rockne was instrumental in some capacity. The Irish stole the rivalry’s first matchup with a 13-12 win, but the Carnegie Tech loss from the week before was too much to overlook, and Notre Dame failed to secure the National Title. Notably, the 1926 matchup against Penn State was the first verifiable appearance of the iconic green jerseys.

Rockne’s 1927 team again started strong, rattling off 5 straight wins, including key matchups against Navy, Indiana, and Georgia Tech, before a week 6 matchup against a stout Minnesota team. Unfortunately, the game ended in a 7-7 stalemate, ending the Irish’s pursuit of a perfect season. The following week, Notre Dame faced Army at Yankee Stadium, one of the two teams Rockne had scouted the previous season, whilst his team lost to Carnegie Tech. Unfortunately, the scouting trip wasn’t enough to give Rockne’s squad the edge, and they lost in a lopsided shutout, 0-18. Despite winning their remaining games, Notre Dame’s 7-1-1 record was not enough to earn them the consensus National Title, with most selectors ultimately awarding it to either Georgia or Illinois. The lack of consensus around that year’s champion deepened when the Houlgate system awarded Notre Dame the Title, despite the Dickinson system ranking them only 4th. It's yet another Title the University does not formally recognize.

The 1928 season was undoubtedly Rockne’s worst, with his squad posting a disappointing 5-4 record. They lost to Wisconsin, eventual National Champions Georgia Tech, USC, and Carnegie Tech, outscored by a dismal 99 to 107 margin by season’s end. The Carnegie Tech loss was Notre Dame’s final game at their original stadium, Cartier Field, and marked their first loss in South Bend in 23 years.

The brightest spot of the dismal 1928 season came during the matchup against Army at Yankee Stadium, in front of nearly 80,000 fans. Notre Dame’s downtrodden squad entered the halftime break in a scoreless tie with the Cadets, and Rockne used this time to deliver arguably the most inspiring locker room speech in college football history. He reportedly entered the locker room quietly, breaking the silence with, “You’ve all heard of George Gipp, I presume. . . You may not have heard what he told me that night, which I’m going to tell you now.’ According to Rockne, Gipp said, “I’ve got to go, Rock, it's all right, I’m not afraid. Sometime Rock, when the teams up against it, when things are wrong and the breaks are beating the boys…tell them to go in there with all they’ve got, and win just one for the Gipper. I don’t know where I’ll be then, Rock, but I'll know about it, and I'll be happy.” Rockne allegedly confessed, “I’ve never told any other team of that request before, but I’ve told you now,” and promptly left the locker room without saying another word. His players, inspired by the shocking and heartbreaking story of one of Notre Dame’s all-time greats, went on to beat Army 12-6, etching the matchup into history as the “Win One for the Gipper” game. When news of the speech and Gipp’s final request from 8 years before broke to the public, it touched the hearts of so many that it was ultimately made into a feature film in 1940 called “Knute Rockne - All American,” starring future President of the United States Ronald Reagan as the Gipper.

As the 1929 season began, Rockne found himself at a crossroads of sorts. He was no longer the upstart young coach with no experience and a chip on his shoulder, just as much as he was no longer the untouchable figurehead at the height of his success. It’d now been 4 years since Rockne brought Notre Dame their first title, and with the program now considered a national powerhouse and Rockne a household name, the standard for success had soared. With the previous season’s 5-4 record looming large and doubt beginning to creep in, all of college football waited anxiously to see how Rockne and his boys would respond. Little did anyone know, the 1929 season would begin the most dominant 2-year span of Rockne’s entire career.

Construction on Notre Dame’s new stadium wasn’t complete in time for the start of the 1929 season, leaving the Irish without a place to play in South Bend and no home-field advantage to rely on. As a stand-in, the University secured the use of the Chicago Bears’ “Soldier Field” for home games, but could only get 3 of their 9 matchups moved there. The first game of the season came on the road against Indiana, but the Irish left with a 14-0 shutout win to start Rockne’s rebound season on the right foot. Just as their luck seemed to be changing for the better, misfortune once again found the Irish. Just before the week 2 matchup with Navy, Rockne was sidelined with illness and was forced to appoint an interim coach in his stead. Even with the added hurdle, the Irish bested the Midshipmen 14-7 on the road and pushed their record to 2-0. Although Rockne struggled with illness and availability for the remainder of the season, his players never let it affect their on-field performance. They’d go on to face Wisconsin, Carnegie Tech, Georgia Tech, Drake, USC, Northwestern, and Army, posting 4 defensive shutouts en route to a perfect 9-0 record, the 4th of Rockne’s career. The stunning turnaround from the lows of the year before was enough to earn both Rockne and the program their 2nd consensus National Title and finally return the Irish to their rightful place at the top of college football’s ranks.

After playing the entire 1929 season without a home field, football finally returned to South Bend in 1930. With construction complete, Notre Dame Stadium’s inaugural season kicked off with 3 straight home games - SMU, Navy, and Carnegie Tech. Even with the added pressure, Rockne and the Irish christened their new stomping grounds in style, winning all 3 matchups handily with a lopsided 67-22 scoring margin. Their first road game came the following week against Pitt, but the Irish overwhelmed the Panthers and won handily, 35-19. The season’s early momentum never stopped, and Rockne’s boys won 4 more games to bring their record to 8-0. Week 9 saw the undefeated Irish return to Soldier Field for the first time since they called it “home” the season before. The hype around another Notre Dame-Army clash brought more than 100,000 fans to the game, and the 8-0-1 Cadets posed the biggest threat to the Irish thus far. The contest lived up to its billing, with the struggle ultimately ending in a close 7-6 Notre Dame win. The following week, Rockne’s still-perfect team hit the road again, this time traveling to LA to face USC for the season’s final game. The once-beaten Trojans never stood a chance, and the Irish posted their 3rd shutout of the season in a convincing 27-0 win to bring their record to 10-0. The back-to-back perfect seasons extended Notre Dame’s win streak to 19 games and secured them a second straight National Title (Rockne’s 3rd), further separating the program from the rest of the college football landscape. Notre Dame’s dynasty, led by Knute Rockne, had no end in sight.

On March 31st, 1931, only 4 months after the end of the 1930 season and at the height of Notre Dame football’s success, tragedy struck a blow unlike any before. The University had recently agreed to participate in a film about the football program’s history and recent success entitled “The Spirit of Notre Dame,” and Rockne was asked to consult on its production in California. Always the family man, Rockne stopped in Kansas City before leaving for the West Coast and visited his two sons at boarding school nearby. Shortly after departing Kansas City, the plane carrying Rockne and seven other passengers encountered severe weather and tragically crashed over a Kansas wheat field, claiming the lives of everyone on board. It was eventually concluded that heavy rain weakened the water-based glue used to bind the plane’s exterior together, allowing the wood to separate and, ultimately, the wings to fail. Once the plane’s design flaws became known, the public’s initial heartbreak quickly turned to outrage, and calls for reform led to foundational changes in aircraft design, maintenance, and safety.

The crash site was only about 100 miles from the home of Rockne’s former coach, Jesse Harper, and Harper was asked to identify Rockne’s body at the crash site. Out of respect and deep grief, Harper accompanied Rockne’s body on the journey back to South Bend. The shock of his death and the pain of his loss touched the lives of people across America and the world as a whole, with over 100,000 people lining the streets of his funeral procession, and six of his players carrying his casket to his final resting place. President Herbert Hoover called the tragedy a “national loss,” and Norway’s King Haakon VII posthumously dubbed Rockne a Knight, sending Olaf Bernts as an official envoy to the funeral. Actor and comedian Will Rogers put words to everyone’s collective heartbreak when he lamented, “We thought it would take a president or a great public man’s death to make a whole nation, regardless of age, race, or creed, shake their heads in real sincere sorrow. Well, that’s what this country did today, Knute, for you. You died a national hero.” The 43-year-old was Notre Dame’s greatest win and its greatest loss. Rockne’s legacy lived on even after his death, with Jesse Harper stepping up to take over as Notre Dame’s athletic director, and three of Rockne’s former players following in his steps to lead the Irish as their coach once had (Hunk Anderson, Elmer Layden, and Frank Leahy).

While some on this list may have more championships, more wins, and more Heisman Trophy winners, no other coach or even player has had such a wide-reaching and everlasting legacy as Rockne. In 13 seasons, he became the longest-tenured head coach in Notre Dame history, leading the Irish to 5 undefeated and untied seasons (1st at Notre Dame) alongside 6 1-loss seasons, 3 National Titles (2nd most at Notre Dame), a 105-12-5 record (2nd most wins - behind Brian Kelly), and a .881 win percentage (1st all-time in Division 1 college football history). Throughout his 13-year tenure, Rockne never posted a losing season and only lost 2+ games twice. The stellar coaching resume, national celebrity status, tragedy of his death, and the promise of “what could have been” led to Rockne’s posthumous induction into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951. His coaching success transformed a relatively young Notre Dame football program into a legitimate football powerhouse, and his scheduling strategy developed the program’s brand from a small Midwest fan base to a national sensation. Rockne is largely considered the reason Notre Dame became the only team in college football to expand their fan base to major cities outside their immediate general area, like Chicago and New York, truly making them “America’s Team.”

Rockne’s time in South Bend built the very foundation of Notre Dame’s historical identity, and his influence on the program’s rich tradition can be felt to this day. From revolutionizing the game itself to building a national powerhouse from scratch, Knute Rockne is undeniably the greatest coach in Notre Dame history and one of the most consequential figures in college football history.

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