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Coach Profile

Ara Parseghian

1956-1974 • Northwestern, Notre Dame

2 schools coached, anchored by Notre Dame.

Ara Parseghian's coaching record is 131-52-5, highlighted by seasons at Notre Dame from 1956 to 1974.

Ara Parseghian coached 19 seasons, won 71.0%, and posted an average SRS of 19.6. Best season: 1970 Notre Dame. The profile was balanced with a highly volatile profile. 2 stints shaped the career arc.

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Career record
131-52-5
Career win rate
71.0%
Average SRS
19.6
Peak SRS
32.2

Career Dossier

One glance at the full arc.

The profile below keeps the headline numbers visible, then moves into tenure shape, school impact, and full season detail.

Seasons coached
19
Career span
19 years
Best finish
#1
Consistency
17.8

Primary school anchor

Notre Dame

Balanced profile with 2 program stops and a peak score of 97.7.

Quick Answers

Records fans search first

Headline records use countable season rows after completed-game fallback. Partial seasons and provisional placeholders are called out separately.

Compare Ara Parseghian
Overall record
131-52-5

188 countable games, 71.0% win rate.

Notre Dame record
95-17-4

11 countable seasons at Notre Dame.

Full-season record
131-52-5

19 full season rows; partial and backfilled current rows are separated.

Vs AP Top 25
13-32-3

48 games using AP ranking at game time.

Vs AP Top 10
8-25-3

36 games using AP ranking at game time.

Vs AP Top 5
4-15-2

21 games using AP ranking at game time.

Vs Navy
11-0

Navy-Notre Dame games in this dataset.

Postseason / bowl record
3-2

5 scored postseason games in this dataset.

CFP record
0-0

0 College Football Playoff-labeled games since 2014.

National titles
2

Matched by coach team-season against the national championship dataset.

Record definition and data status

Career records use countable coach-season rows. Zero-game placeholders are excluded from aggregates until a completed-game fallback can verify the record.

Completed-game fallback uses scored games joined by coach, team, and season; advanced ratings are left blank when the season summary has not supplied them.

Latest completed coached game in this dataset: Jan 1, 1975. Current and future zero-game placeholders are kept visible but excluded from headline records.

Career Arc

Track how the coach's season-to-season performance changed over time, where the peak landed, and where each school stint appears.

Focus on where peaks separate, where floors hold, and how the shape of each career changed over time.

Ara Parseghian
EliteStrongAverageLean
Ara Parseghian: 1964 Notre Dame
1956Actual season year • SRS range -7.5 to 32.21974

Active comparison point

Ara Parseghian • 1970

Selected

1970 Notre Dame

Best season

10-1 • SRS 32.2 • SP Overall 30.9

Win %

90.9%

YoY SRS

+7.5

SP Off / Def

40.1 / 9.2

Finish

#2

Comparison context

Focus a point to inspect how it stacks up against the rest of the field.

Ranked opponent record

Track career record against ranked opponents with switchable poll source and ranking timing.

Using AP Top 25 rankings at the time of each game; week-one games use the week-one ranking release when available.

Poll source
Ranking timing

Top 25

13-32-3

Games
48
Win rate
30.2%

Top 10

8-25-3

Games
36
Win rate
26.4%

Top 5

4-15-2

Games
21
Win rate
23.8%
View ranked game results48
1974 Regular Week 13Notre DameUSC#6L24-55
1974 Regular Week 11Notre DamePittsburgh#17W14-10
1974 Postseason Week 1Notre DameAlabama#5W13-11
1973 Regular Week 9Notre DameUSC#9W23-14
1973 Postseason Week 1Notre DameAlabama#4W24-23
1972 Regular Week 13Notre DameUSC#1L23-45
1972 Postseason Week 1Notre DameNebraska#4L6-40
1971 Regular Week 11Notre DameLSU#14L8-28
1970 Regular Week 14Notre DameUSC#16L28-38
1970 Regular Week 13Notre DameLSU#8W3-0
1970 Regular Week 12Notre DameGeorgia Tech#16W10-7
1970 Regular Week 8Notre DameMissouri#17W24-7
1970 Postseason Week 1Notre DameTexas#3W24-11
1969 Regular Week 6Notre DameUSC#7T14-14
1969 Regular Week 4Notre DameMichigan State#19W42-28
1969 Regular Week 3Notre DamePurdue#8L14-28
1969 Postseason Week 1Notre DameTexas#1L17-21
1968 Regular Week 12Notre DameUSC#2T21-21
1968 Regular Week 3Notre DamePurdue#1L22-37
1968 Regular Week 2Notre DameOklahoma#5W45-21
1967 Regular Week 6Notre DameUSC#1L7-24
1967 Regular Week 4Notre DamePurdue#4L21-28
1966 Regular Week 11Notre DameMichigan State#2T10-10
1965 Regular Week 11Notre DameMichigan State#1L3-12
1965 Regular Week 7Notre DameUSC#8W28-7
1965 Regular Week 3Notre DamePurdue#2L21-25
1962 Regular Week 9NorthwesternWisconsin#4L6-37
1961 Regular Week 10NorthwesternMichigan State#8L13-21
1961 Regular Week 6NorthwesternOhio State#6L0-10
1960 Regular Week 10NorthwesternMichigan State#12L18-21
1960 Regular Week 5NorthwesternMinnesota#10L0-7
1960 Regular Week 4NorthwesternIowa#3L0-42
1959 Regular Week 11NorthwesternIllinois#13L0-28
1959 Regular Week 10NorthwesternMichigan State#11L10-15
1959 Regular Week 9NorthwesternWisconsin#7L19-24
1959 Regular Week 4NorthwesternIowa#10W14-10
1958 Regular Week 10NorthwesternPurdue#8L6-23
1958 Regular Week 9NorthwesternWisconsin#5L13-17
1958 Regular Week 8NorthwesternOhio State#16W21-0
1958 Regular Week 7NorthwesternIowa#2L20-26
1957 Regular Week 8NorthwesternOhio State#6L6-47
1957 Regular Week 7NorthwesternIowa#3L0-6
1957 Regular Week 6NorthwesternMichigan#20L14-34
1957 Regular Week 5NorthwesternMinnesota#4L6-41
1957 Regular Week 4NorthwesternOregon State#7L13-22
1957 Regular Week 3NorthwesternStanford#17L6-26
1956 Regular Week 8NorthwesternOhio State#7L2-6
1956 Regular Week 6NorthwesternMichigan#5L20-34

Tenure map

Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.

Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint

Notre Dame

1964-1974 • 11 seasons

Avg SRS 24.9 • Win % 83.6%

Northwestern

1956-1963 • 8 seasons

Avg SRS 12.4 • Win % 50.7%

Longest tenure
Notre Dame • 11 seasons
Best tenure
Notre Dame • 24.9 SRS
Best tenure win rate
Notre Dame • 83.6%

Style and Strength Profile

Compare strength, identity, steadiness, and ceiling through normalized bars with raw SP and SRS context underneath.

These bars are normalized against the full coach dataset. Raw SP and SRS values stay visible so the profile reads as evidence, not decoration.

Overall Strength

Start with total quality before splitting style and variance.

Ara Parseghian sets the reference point in overall strength.

Overall Strength

Decisive edge

Ara Parseghian sets the reference point in overall strength.

Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.

Ara Parseghian

Elite

Raw avg SP Overall
23.1
Percentile
99th pct

Elite

Normalized against the full tracked coach pool.

Impact by school

See how each stint compared with what that program usually looked like outside that same span.

Notre Dame

1964-1974 • 95-17-4

Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).

Avg SRS 24.9Win % 83.6%

Avg wins

Higher is better

8.6 during vs 3.8 baseline

+4.8

Avg SRS

Higher is better

24.9 during vs 8.8 baseline

+16.1

Avg SP Overall

Higher is better

23.1 during vs — baseline

—

Ranked finish rate

Higher is better

100.0% during vs 20.0% baseline

+80.0%

Northwestern

1956-1963 • 36-35-1

Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).

Avg SRS 12.4Win % 50.7%

Avg wins

Higher is better

4.5 during vs 2.4 baseline

+2.1

Avg SRS

Higher is better

12.4 during vs 2.0 baseline

+10.4

Avg SP Overall

Higher is better

— during vs — baseline

—

Ranked finish rate

Higher is better

0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline

+0.0%

Career highs and lows

High Points

Best Season

Notre Dame 1970

10-1 • SRS 32.2

Biggest Improvement

Northwestern 1958

5-4 • 25.7 SRS

Best Offensive Season

Notre Dame 1970

10-1 • SP Off 40.1

Best Defensive Season

Notre Dame 1971

8-2 • SP Def 9.0

Setbacks

Lowest SRS Season

Northwestern 1957

0-9 • SRS -7.5

Biggest Drop

Northwestern 1957

0-9 • -14.8 SRS

Season-by-season results

Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.

Notre Dame197412102083.3%#3#617.317.431.115.0-12.5-16.7%Season summary
Notre Dame1973111100100.0%#8#129.828.139.311.6+11.8+27.3%Season summary
Notre Dame19721183072.7%#13#1418.019.835.417.4-1.4-7.3%Season summary
Notre Dame19711082080.0%#1#1319.419.527.69.0-12.8-10.9%Season summary
Notre Dame197011101090.9%#6#232.230.940.19.2+7.5+13.6%Season summary
Notre Dame19691182177.3%#11#524.7———+3.3+2.3%Season summary
Notre Dame19681072175.0%#3#521.4———-1.8-5.0%Season summary
Notre Dame19671082080.0%#1#523.2———-8.6-15.0%Season summary
Notre Dame19661090195.0%#6#131.8———+5.1+20.0%Season summary
Notre Dame19651072175.0%#3#926.7———-2.3-15.0%Season summary
Notre Dame19641091090.0%—#329.0———+13.1+34.4%Season summary
Northwestern1963954055.6%#6—15.9———-8.2-22.2%Season summary
Northwestern1962972077.8%——24.1———+13.0+33.3%Season summary
Northwestern1961945044.4%——11.1———-3.9-11.1%Season summary
Northwestern1960954055.6%#14—15.0———-0.4-11.1%Season summary
Northwestern1959963066.7%#10—15.4———-2.8+11.1%Season summary
Northwestern1958954055.6%——18.2———+25.7+55.6%Season summary
Northwestern195790900.0%——-7.5———-14.8-50.0%Season summary
Northwestern1956944150.0%——7.3—————Season summary

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