Words matter. These are the best Ara Parseghian Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
To me, going for a tie means kicking the extra point for a tie instead of going for a two-point conversion to win.
On any play where there’s a scramble of 22 men, blindside hits and unprotected hits on knees occur.
One thing about Notre Dame, it’s like a service academy in a lot of ways. There is a closeness.
The harder you work, the less mistakes you make. The fewer mistakes you make, the better your chances of winning.
As you move through life, it’s not going to be a bright, sunshiny day every day.
In my own opinion, psychology in football is far more important than anyone believes, including the coaches.
I have been around football all of my life.
There is nothing more painful than watching a child with a terminal disease.
I coached at Northwestern for eight years, where the admission requirements were high.
Money talks; there’s no question about it.
If you can hang in games by staying close defensively, then good things can happen.
External pressure I never worried about.
I remember when I drove into Notre Dame, getting ready for the first day of work. I had an electrical charge go up my back because I realized all of a sudden that I was responsible for the traditions that the Knute Rocknes and the Frank Leahys had set, and what Notre Dame stood for.
I remember virtually everything about every loss. And the wins are hardly memorable.
You learn early in athletics that you’ll have ups and downs.
I was a 52-year-old coach. But people don’t realize I had 25 years as a head coach. Most coaches my age only had a few years as head coach. I had six years at Miami of Ohio, eight years at Northwestern, 11 at Notre Dame.
I’ve missed the association with players and coaches but haven’t missed the recruiting and the travel.
After Notre Dame, what is there?
It’s a terrific honor. To be associated with the number of people who represent the Cradle of Coaches, it’s sort of unreal in a sense.
I don’t give a damn what anybody says. I don’t think at 70 and 75 that you can be as productive and efficient as you were when you were 40 or 50.
The game is not won by a pep talk on Saturday. It’s won by preparation of your club from Monday until game time. If they’re not ready on Saturday, you’re not going to get them ready by trying to inspire them with a dog-eat-dog sermon on that day.
The most difficult problem about coaching at Notre Dame is losing early.
That’s one thing: When I left Notre Dame, when I left every school, what I’m the proudest of is we never compromised the rules, never were on probation, never had any major problems of any kind.
I can’t think of anything that’s hit me harder in my life than when I learned that three of our youngest grandchildren were diagnosed with Niemann-Pick C.
I’d go to clinics and hear coaches say, ‘You block with your helmet. You tackle with your helmet.’ I’d say, ‘No way! You block with your shoulder. It’s a lot stronger blow, and you don’t risk nearly as much. Why be stupid?’
You’re going to have disappointments. But how you handle those disappointments is the important thing for you and everybody that’s around you. That’s what I found from being not only a player but also a coach.
You are going to get knocked down, but you don’t lie there. You get up and face the challenge.
The 1973 team is real special. I had never coached against Bear Bryant. Alabama had never played Notre Dame. It was North against South; the Catholics against the Baptists; both teams were undefeated, and everything was on the line.
When you set these high expectations and goals, and they are demolished so early in the season, that has an effect on the psyche. It wears you down.
I had grown up during a time when Notre Dame football was held in the highest esteem. I listened to all of the games on the radio.