Knute Rockne

See also Wikipedia's article about "Knute Rockne".

Knute Rockne was a legendary college football coach who is indelibly linked to the University of Notre Dame's football program. But after the 1925 season, Columbia nearly hired him away from Notre Dame.

Background

In 1923, Columbia sought to energize its "fourth-class" football program by hiring highly-regarded Harvard coach Percy Haughton. Unfortunately, Haughton collapsed and died at age 48 during a practice after only 1.5 seasons. Looking to replace Haughton with another high-profile coach, Columbia set its sights on Notre Dame's Knute Rockne, who at the age of 37 had already won 3 national championships and coached the famous Four Horsemen of Notre Dame backfield.

Columbia offered to make Rockne the highest paid coach in the country with a $25,000/yr salary. But then, in typical fashion, blew it by leaking the news before everything was settled. Rockne, who was under long term contract with Notre Dame, was caught in an embarassing situation and turned down Columbia, returning to South Bend instead.

Oh well.

External links

• Knute Rockne was Notre Dame's master motivator, ESPN SportsCentury Biography
• The Gipper A Lion? Coaching Legend Knute Rockne Almost Came to Columbia, Columbia College Today, September 1999