The 2025 Sugar Bowl: #7 Notre Dame vs #2 Georgia wakes up the echoes of Dan Devine’s Last Game
On December 23rd, Dan Devine would have turned 100 years old. On January 1st, the team he navigated to a National Championship has the opportunity to avenge the loss that turned out to be the final game of his illustrious College Football coaching career.
Chapter 14 of The NIne Devines of Chippewa Falls explores Devine’s retirement announcement, the lead up to the 1981 Sugar Bowl, and the ultimate outcome of the game.
Excerpt from Chapter 14 – The Stadium
There were many factors contributing to Dan’s decision that his sixth season at Notre Dame would be his last. Top of the list was the health of his wife, Jo. At that point, over five years after her multiple sclerosis diagnosis, the disease was rapidly progressing. Her eyesight was becoming a concern and there were other decreases in motor functioning. Driving to his office one early summer morning, Dan was taking in the wonders of the campus when he had a sudden panicked thought, “How are you going to work and your wife’s back at home and can’t even see?”
Another factor was that he had worked as a head coach for twenty-six straight uninterrupted seasons, the last ten in two of the highest-pressure positions in the country. Many headmen in college football last well into their seventies. But at the age of fifty-six, Dan was a dinosaur by Notre Dame standards: Rockne died when he was forty-three years old, Leahy resigned also at forty-three, and Parseghian’s decision to step down happened at fifty-three. Dan remembered Parseghian at his office back in 1975 and finally understood the man’s look of weariness.
It was the dawn of a new decade and time for the next chapter in Dan’s life to start.
Dan’s departure was big enough news that it broke on Monday Night Football. His intent was to quell any speculation about his future. The team was one of the youngest he had ever coached and the players didn’t need additional distractions.
Expectations were muted for the 1980 season, given the team’s lack of experience, their starting a true freshman quarterback, and the preceding squad’s underwhelming performance. For the first time in Dan’s tenure, Notre Dame entered the football campaign unranked.
With the pressure removed, the Irish rattled off seven straight victories and inexplicably found themselves at the top of the rankings. A convoluted tie against Georgia Tech seemed to signal an inevitable crashing down to earth, but the Irish responded with a shutout against number six Alabama. That win ensured Dan a perfect record against the man many consider the most successful college football coach of all time: Paul “Bear” Bryant. With one regular season game left to play, the Irish were at the forefront of the National Championship conversation.
There was no fairytale ending, however, for Devine.
Ten days before another pivotal matchup with USC, Dan received a phone call from Fr. Joyce. He wanted Dan to be one of the first to know that they had found his successor. Known for his compassion and consideration, Joyce asked if making the announcement would be a distraction to the team. Dan gave Fr. Joyce the green light to move forward.
Organizations often hire new coaches dramatically different from the person they are replacing. Devine was a reserved personality with an unimpeachable college coaching record. His replacement was a gregarious spirit without a single college coaching victory to his name.
At forty-five years old, Gerry Faust was a living legend in high school football. Known as a wunderkind, he had built a juggernaut at Moeller Catholic High School in Cincinnati. His love for Notre Dame football was well known. In fact, Moeller had been a top feeder program for the Irish. During Dan’s six years at Notre Dame, Faust had guided his team to a mind-blowing 70–1 record and five Ohio State titles. He had the aura of the “Holy Trinity.”
Dan underestimated the impact of this change on his assistant coaches, now wondering about their job security, and also his young players, who faced an uncertain future. In the days that followed the announcement, the Irish won convincingly against Air Force but played poorly on the road a week later at USC and dropped to number seven in the standings.
The defeat notwithstanding, Notre Dame still possessed an inside straight’s chance of capturing the title. The Irish had already accepted a bid to the Sugar Bowl where they would face the only remaining undefeated team: number one-ranked Georgia and their superstar running back, Herschel Walker. Though the team held Walker in check, their youth and inexperience finally caught up to them. The Irish committed five turnovers, including a muffed kickoff return that set up a one-yard touchdown run. Despite outgaining the Bulldogs by more than 200 yards, Notre Dame fell behind early and ultimately lost the game 17 to 10 . . .
Under Devine’s leadership, the Irish touted a 53–16–1 record without the modern luxury of playing at least a few cupcakes on the schedule. His teams earned a 3–1 bowl record, had two legitimate shots at the title, and delivered the ultimate prize with the 1977 National Championship. All together, Dan’s tenure was a six-year run that any Notre Dame fan would pray to Mary at the Grotto for today.
