Record at time of hire: 20-2; Record at Notre Dame: 87-11-9
Previous schools:
- Boston College Eagles: 1939-1940
We go way back in time for this one, and Tennessee football actually has a connection here Frank Leahy was hired by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish after capturing a share of the national title with the Boston College Eagles in 1940 with an 11-0 record. He beat Robert Neyland’s Vols, who were 10-0 and shared the title with them, in the Sugar Bowl that season.
Now, in many ways, Leahy is different from Josh Heupel. He had much greater success at BC, going 9-2 and then 11-0, getting better his two years there as Heupel got progressively worse each of his years at UCF.
Beyond getting better, Leahy outperformed his predecessor at BC, as Gil Dobie’s best season in three years there was 1937, when he went 6-1-2. Taking that into account, it’s hard to draw a comparison between Leahy and the hire of Heupel.
However, Dobie did build up BC, and Leahy was coming from what could be considered a lesser program, even at that time. As a result, his accomplishments at Notre Dame still stand out, winning four national titles in the 1940s despite missing two years due to World War II. The comparison isn’t exactly there, but enough similarities exist for him to make the list.