Frank Leahy

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Francis William Leahy (August 27, 1907–June 21, 1973) was an American collegiate football coach, who earned the nickname "The Master". He was born in O'Neill, Nebraska.

Contents 1 Early career 2 Notre Dame 3 Post-Notre Dame 4 Personal life 5 Quotes 6 External links

[edit] Early career

Leahy was a tackle on Knute Rockne's last three teams, graduating from Notre Dame in 1931. He went to Georgetown as line coach in 1931 and went to Michigan State the following year to take a similar position. Leahy took over as line coach at Fordham in 1933 and stayed until 1938 under Jim Crowley, coaching the famed Seven Blocks of Granite from 1935-37 when the Rams lost only two combined games. (The undersized right guard on the 1935 and 1936 teams was future coaching legend Vince Lombardi). In 1939, he went to Boston College as head coach, guiding the Eagles to a 20-2 record including an undefeated 1940 season capped off by a Sugar Bowl victory and a share of the national championship.

[edit] Notre Dame

Leahy went to his alma mater, Notre Dame, as head coach the next season. His impact was felt right away as the Irish posted an 8-0-1 mark in 1941. The following season, he caused an uproar when he junked Rockne's box formation and installed the T. After a 7-2-2 season in 1942, Leahy led Notre Dame to a national championship in 1943 despite losing the season finale against Great Lakes. He entered the Navy in 1944 and was discharged as a lieutenant. He returned to Notre Dame for the 1946 season in which Notre Dame won the national championship after playing rival Earl Blaik's Army team to a scoreless tie at Yankee Stadium in New York. National championships followed in 1947 and 1949, with only a 14-14 tie against USC in the season finale marring a perfect season in 1948 and a possible third consecutive national title. It was regarded by many as the most successful run in Notre Dame history and Leahy appeared to be well on his way of meeting his goal of ten consecutive seasons without a loss. Then with most of the wartime talent gone from the scene, the Irish fell to 4-4-1 in 1950. Part of the reason for the dropoff was the reduction of football scholarships at the school in an attempt to address a concern that other teams, tired of getting beaten year after year, were dropping Notre Dame from their schedules. Scholarships were increased afterwards, and the situation improved. Notre Dame finished 7-2-1 in 1951 and 1952, and the 1953 squad, Leahy's last, posted a 9-0-1 docket. There was some concern about his health when he collapsed from a pancreatic attack in the locker room during halftime of the 1953 Georgia Tech game. A priest gave Leahy the last rites of the Catholic Church when it was feared he was dying.

Leahy resigned on January 31, 1954 with two years remaining on his contract for health reasons. Or at least that was the reason given at the time. Reportedly he had been ordered by his doctors to give up coaching, or he would die. Later, Leahy revealed that his health was fine and that the real reason he left was because he felt he wasn't wanted anymore. Leahy pretty much had his own way at Notre Dame until the Rev. Theodore Martin Hesburgh became president of the university in 1952 and sought to put academics ahead of everything else, including football (the popular notion at the time was that football was being de-emphasized at Notre Dame). In a sense, Hesburgh made it known to Leahy that, "This town ain't big enough for the both of us." While at Notre Dame, Leahy had six undefeated seasons, five national championship teams and an unbeaten string of 39 games (37-0-2) in the late 1940s. He also coached four Heisman Trophy winners - Angelo Bertelli (1943); Johnny Lujack (1947); Leon Hart (1949) and John Lattner (1953) - and recruited a fifth, 1956 winner Paul Hornung. His overall record at Notre Dame was 87-11-9.

An intense fundamentalist, Leahy had little time for personal relationships, often being labeled as aloof. Opposing teams came away with the feeling that losing to Leahy was like losing to a meat grinder or concrete mixer. However, the national media exposed Leahy for cheating when it was revealed that he had ordered his players to fake injuries against Iowa in 1953 when ND had used up all its timeouts. The dishonest move worked as the delay in game twice gave ND enough time to get off additional plays to manage a tie in what otherwise would almost certainly have ended in a ND defeat. The resultant bad publicity in the nation's media tarnished both NDs and Leahy's reputation and added to Leahy's untimely departure from ND. While feigned injuries were widespread at the time, such a ploy rarely affected the final outcome of a game. Notre Dame bore the brunt of criticism because in both instances of fake injuries in the same game resulted in touchdowns. Feigned injuries were subsequently banned. Leahy was succeeded by Terry Brennan, ushering in a downward slide for Notre Dame's football fortunes for the next decade.

In 1949 he wrote the only detailed book on the T-formation, "Notre Dame Football T-Formation".

Leahy always referred to his players as his "lads."

[edit] Post-Notre Dame

Leahy served as general manager for the Los Angeles Chargers during their inaugural 1960 season in the American Football League. He was selected to the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame in 1970. He died of Leukemia in Portland, Oregon in June of 1973.

[edit] Personal life

Leahy was married to the former Florence Reilly in 1935. They had eight children. Their son, Jim, and grandson, Ryan, played football at Notre Dame.

There has been a persistent rumor that Leahy suffered from mental illness during his lifetime and that the strains of being ND coach only added to his disease. At various stages in his career, he and his brother acted more erratic in their behavior and at one point incessantly accused UM coach Fritz Crisler of ducking ND and of being afraid to play Leahy's ND teams; a charge UM always denied. Finally, in 1942 -at ND stadium- the two teams met and Michigan beat Leahy's team thoroughly. Though this shut the Leahy brothers up, it did not stop Leahy from making outlandish statements to the media and as his behavior became more surly and erratic, an embarrassment to Notre Dame. They met again in 1943 and this time the Irish prevailed, 35-12. By 1953 the ND President had no choice but to force Leahy out.

[edit] Quotes

• Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of stupidity.
• When the going gets tough, let the tough get going.

[edit] External links

• Hickok Sports bio
• Notre Dame bio

Preceded by Elmer Layden	University of Notre Dame Head Football Coach 1941–1943	Succeeded by Ed McKeever
Preceded by Hugh Devore	University of Notre Dame Head Football Coach 1946–1953	Succeeded by Terry Brennan