Notre Dame Football: Top 5 All-Time Winningest Coaches

Which head coaches have won the most games in Notre Dame history?

Nov 27, 2021; Stanford, California, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly walks on the field during the second quarter against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports / Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

Being the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame means something a little bit more.

It's one of the special coaching jobs in American sports, but it also creates a special sort of pressure.

At any school, the head coach is under the microscope and faces the school's expectations for success. But in South Bend, the expectations are sky-high and the microscope is a national spotlight that focuses its glare on the team's performance.

Mediocrity isn't tolerated.

You can get why. If you're a great coach ad Notre Dame, your're walking with the legends. You're a part of the history of elite coaches and brand names whose success furthered the prestige of the Fighting Irish and put pressure on coaches in the future to deliver those same results.

The rich coaching history raises a worthy question: Which coaches throughout Notre Dame's impressive history have been most successful? Below are the top 5 all-time winningest coaches at Notre Dame.

5. Frank Leahy (1941-1943, 1946-1953)

Leahy won 87 games during his tenure at Notre Dame, finishing with 34 more wins than sixth-place hed coach Dan Devine.

With a record of 87-11-9, Leahy's .855 win percentage somehow ranks only third in Irish history. Leahy won four national titles at Notre Dame (1943, 1946, 1947, 1949) and guided six of his teams to undefeated seasons, setting a nearly-impossible standard of success for future coaches to match.

4. Ara Parseghian (1964-1974)

Another coaching icon, Parseghian won 95 games at Notre Dame, concluding his career with a 95-17-4 career record and a gaudy .836 win percentage.

Parseghian never lost more than three games in a season, and led the Fighting Irish to three national titles (1964, 1966, and 1973). Parseghian, Leahy, and someone higher up this list form the "Holy Trinity" of Notre Dame coaching legends, as the men who catapulted the school to the top of the college football hierarchy.

3. Lou Holtz (1986-1996)

Holtz won 100 games at Notre Dame, putting up a 100-30-2 career record.

He rebuilt a program that had fallen from its glory days, and the rebuild peaked in 1988 with an undefeated national championship season -- the most recent national title in school history. After his first season, Holtz never experienced a losing record, and had the Irish ranked in the end-of-year AP Top 10 five times.

2. Knute Rockne (1918-1930)

Rockne won 105 games at Notre Dame, with a remarkable career record of 105-12-5.

Only two of Rockne's teams lost more than once in a season, and he won four national championships and oversaw five undefeated Notre Dame teams.

Credited with modernizing the college football offense, Rockne was the first member of Notre Dame's 'Holy Trinity' and considered one of the greatest football coaches of all time.

1. Brian Kelly (2010-2021)

Kelly holds the all-time Notre Dame record with 113 career wins.

While he doesn't receive the same reverence and respect as the coaches below him on this list, his tenure was huge for Notre Dame.

It did not produce any national championships, but Kelly revitalized a sleeping giant and proved that Notre Dame could still achieve sustained success, as the team won ten or more games in each of his final five seasons.

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