SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Gerry Faust, Notre Dame football coach for five seasons in the early 1980s, died Monday. He was 89.
“It is with tremendous sorrow that we announce the passing of Gerry Faust,” his family said in a statement, “loving husband, father, grandfather and coach who dedicated his life to his family, his faith and the teams and players he coached.”
Bracketed by national championship coaches in Dan Devine and Lou Holtz, the Faust era at Notre Dame (1981-85) was marked by disappointment and a steep learning curve. Hired at age 45 after a highly successful run at Cincinnati’s Archbishop Moeller High School, Faust went 30-26-1 (.535) during his Irish tenure.
His first and final teams went 5-6, the first losing seasons for Notre Dame since 1963, but in between the Irish managed winning records and a pair of lesser bowl trips. They scored a 19-18 upset of 13th-ranked Boston College and future Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie in the 1983 Liberty Bowl but lost the following year to 10th-ranked Southern Methodist (27-20) in the Aloha Bowl.
Notre Dame entered all five of Faust’s seasons in the preseason Associated Press rankings, including three Top 10 designations, but ended each year outside the rankings.
Faust and Bob Davie (1999 and 2001) are the only Notre Dame football coaches to preside over multiple losing seasons.
“What I say about Coach Faust is you won’t find a guy who loved a school more, wanted to win more,” former running back Allen Pinkett told the South Bend Tribune in June of 2023. “He just didn’t know how to do it, and it was kind of unfair to him to bring him straight from high school. The thing was, we had so much talent, but I think my best year we won seven games. It was so unfortunate.”
Pinkett, who played for Faust from 1982-85, ranks second in program history with 4,131 career rushing yards and first in rushing touchdowns with 49. His 889 rushing attempts also rank first in Irish career annals.
‘A really tough job, no matter what’
Larry Williams, twice named a second-team All-America offensive lineman (1983-84) during Faust’s Notre Dame tenure, recalled Faust’s energetic coaching style.
“Gerry was always a very upbeat person,” Williams, now the athletic director at the University of San Francisco, told the South Bend Tribune in June 2023. “Gerry was definitely more comfortable his second year, and his offensive schemes started to take hold. And he had a lot of talent. The real challenge was trying to figure out where to put that talent efficiently.”
Notre Dame went 20-14-1 in the middle three seasons of Faust’s tenure, including back-to-back 7-5 seasons to close out Williams’ career.
“I think he got a better grip of it,” Williams said. “He was new to college football and now the head guy. It took a little while to get that sense of what the right fits were in what positions.”
At Moeller, where Faust went 178-23-2 in two-plus decades, his teams won five Ohio state championships in his final six seasons. Four times the Crusaders were deemed mythical national champions.
Former Moeller stars Bob Crable, Tony Hunter and Tim Koegel were already at Notre Dame when Faust arrived.
Ultimately, the jump from the high school level to big-time college football was too great to overcome. Sometimes remembered as being too nice, Faust “did have challenges in that regard,” Williams said.
“It’s a really tough job, no matter what,” Williams said. “I do think you have to be positive to make sure that the young men on the team feel valued, but at the same time you’ve got to have that trust where you can coach them hard.”
Faust debuted with a 27-9 win over LSU on Sept. 12, 1981, and the Irish climbed to No. 1 in the country the following week. Consecutive losses at Michigan and Purdue knocked Notre Dame from the rankings for the rest of the season.
In his finale, after announcing his resignation at the end of the season, Faust’s Irish suffered a 58-7 loss at No. 4 Miami. That ended a string of three straight losses to close out the 1985 season, including at No. 1 Penn State and at home to No. 17 LSU.
‘I don’t regret any of the years at Notre Dame,’ Faust told The New York Times the week of his resignation. ‘If I knew what the results would be there after that five-year period, the tough times and the good times, I’d do it again.’
Faust went on to coach nine seasons at Akron (1986-94), but the Zips went 43-53-3 (.426) with just two winning seasons after making the jump to Division I-A. Faust, who played quarterback at the University of Dayton from 1955-57, ranks third on Akron’s all-time win list.
Faust died on the same day as former USC football coach John Robinson, also 89. Faust went 0-2 against Robinson’s USC teams, losing one-score games in 1981 (14-7) and 1982 (17-13).
“Throughout an extraordinary life driven by an unwavering and deep devotion to his Catholic faith, he was a beloved mentor to countless young men both on and off the playing field,” his family’s statement continued. “His work ethic, optimism, leadership and humility were legendary. He leaves behind a legacy of perseverance, compassion, and inspiration, reminding us all of the extraordinary impact one life can have.
“While most knew him as a coach, we will long remember him as a wonderful father and grandfather who inspired us through example to live our best lives.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.