Terry Brennan

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For the Irish politician, see Terry Brennan (politician).

Terry Brennan
Sport(s)	Football
Biographical details
Born	(1928-06-11) June 11, 1928 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Playing career
1945–1948	Notre Dame
Position(s)	Halfback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1949–1952 1953 1954–1958	Chicago Mount Carmel HS (IL) Notre Dame (freshmen) Notre Dame
Head coaching record
Overall	32–18 (college)
Statistics College Football Data Warehouse

Terence Patrick Brennan (born June 11, 1928) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame from 1954 to 1958, compiling a record of 32–18.

Early life and playing career

A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a standout multi-sport athlete at Marquette University High School, Brennan played halfback at Notre Dame from 1945 to 1948, graduating in 1949.

Coaching career

After graduating from Notre Dame, Brennan coached at Mount Carmel High School in Chicago and won three successive city championships. Brennan returned to Notre Dame in 1953 as freshman football coach and succeeded Frank Leahy as head coach the following year. When asked if he thought he was too young to be named head coach at the age of 25, Brennan replied, "Oh, I don't know. I'll be 26 in a few months."

Brennan got off to a good start with a 9–1 campaign in 1954 with players recruited by Leahy. In 1955, the Irish slipped a notch to 8–2. Then the roof fell in. Brennan was forced to play mostly sophomores in 1956 because of numerous injuries and the result was a 2–8 record, the first losing season for Notre Dame since 1933 and the worst in the history of the school. The lone bright spot was Paul Hornung, who won the Heisman Trophy and remains the only player ever to win the award while playing for a team with a losing record. Many fans called for Brennan's ouster, but the young coach was retained.

One thing that worked against Brennan was a movement by school administrators to put more emphasis on academics and less on athletics, leading to the popular notion that Notre Dame had deemphasized football. Consequently Brennan had to make do with players of lesser talent than in previous years, with a limit of 20 football scholarships per class, while continuing to play tough schedules. While academics had always come first at Notre Dame, Frank Leahy had carte blanche to do what he wished until the Rev. Theodore Martin Hesburgh became president of the university. One of Hesburgh's first priorities as president was to reaffirm Notre Dame's position on academics.

Brennan's 1957 squad earned the nickname, "Comeback Comets" after finishing 7–3. Among their victories was a 23–21 comeback over Army and a 7–0 shutout of Oklahoma, snapping the Sooners' NCAA record 47-game winning streak. After a 6–4 record in 1958, the movement to dismiss Brennan gained momentum, and the coach was fired along with his entire staff in mid-December; Hugh Devore was eventually retained. Notre Dame's administration was heavily criticized for the firing, since Brennan's overall 32–18 record was not bad considering the caliber of their opponents. He was succeeded as Notre Dame's head coach by Joe Kuharich.

Later life and honors

Brennan served as player conditioning coach for baseball's Cincinnati Reds during spring training in 1959 and eventually joined a Chicago investment banking firm. He has six children, 25 grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren.

Brennan is a member of the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame and was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1981.

Head coaching record

College

Year	Team	Overall	Coaches^#	AP^°
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (NCAA Independent) (1954–1958)
1954	Notre Dame	9–1	4	4
1955	Notre Dame	8–2	10	9
1956	Notre Dame	2–8
1957	Notre Dame	7–3	9	10
1958	Notre Dame	6–4	14	17
Notre Dame:		32–18
Total:		32–18
^#Rankings from final Coaches' Poll. ^°Rankings from final AP Poll.

References

External links

v t e Philadelphia Eagles 1949 NFL Draft selections

Chuck Bednarik Frank Tripucka Frank Burns Frank Ziegler Don Panciera Terry Brennan Warren Huey Frank Gillespie Bob Dean Jon Jenkins Roy Lester Bobby Wilson Dale Armstrong Lyle Button Bobby Lund Carl Copp Frank Reno Leo Skladany Russ Strait Paul Odom Lloyd Brinkman Lou Futrell Harvey Kingry Hank Kalver Fred Leon John Schweder

Draft years: 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 (AAFC) 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

v t e Notre Dame Fighting Irish head football coaches

No coach (1887–1893) James L. Morison (1894) H. G. Hadden (1895) Frank E. Hering (1896–1898) James McWeeney (1899) Pat O'Dea (1900–1901) James Farragher (1902–1903) Louis J. Salmon (1904) Henry J. McGlew (1905) Thomas A. Barry (1906–1907) Victor M. Place (1908) Frank Longman (1909–1910) John L. Marks (1911–1912) Jesse Harper (1913–1917) Knute Rockne (1918–1930) Heartley Anderson (1931–1933) Elmer Layden (1934–1940) Frank Leahy (1941–1943) Edward McKeever (1944) Hugh Devore (1945) Frank Leahy (1946–1953) Terry Brennan (1954–1958) Joe Kuharich (1959–1962) Hugh Devore (1963) Ara Parseghian (1964–1974) Dan Devine (1975–1980) Gerry Faust (1981–1985) Lou Holtz (1986–1996) Bob Davie (1997–2001) Tyrone Willingham (2002–2004) Kent Baer # (2004) Charlie Weis (2005–2009) Brian Kelly (2010– )

Pound sign (#) denotes interim head coach.

Persondata
Name	Brennan, Terry
Alternative names
Short description	American football player and coach
Date of birth	June 11, 1928
Place of birth	Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Date of death
Place of death

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