Deanna Gumpft, 23 years as the Irish softball coach has retired. She has the most win of any Irish coach no matter the sport. Some have felt she underachieved, never having made a Super Regional and are hopeful that the new AD will get a coach who take the program to the next level. SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Deanna Gumpf, the all-time winningest head coach in Notre Dame athletics history, has announced her retirement. Gumpf amassed 882 wins over 23 seasons as the head softball coach at Notre Dame, a run that included 21 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, five National Fastpitch Coaches Association Regional Coach of the Year honors, 13 NCAA regional final appearances, 11 BIG EAST titles (seven regular-season, four tournaments), 24 NFCA All-Americans, eight conference players of the year, four conference pitchers of the year and one defensive player of the year. Deanna Gumpf Retires As Winningest Coach In School History
Notre Dame added to an already loaded class of 2025 commit list today. Indianapolis (Ind.) Ben Davis high school Top100 four-star cornerback Mark Zackery IV has committed to play ball for head coach Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish.
So far the Irish have been dominating in the tournament. They beat Denver 13-6 amd Denver scored first.
I see that Zachery wants to play basketball as well, I know guys have done that in the past but not so much in modern times, but Freeman and Shrewsberry have told him he can give it a shot. Apparently he's a pretty good but not all-american basketball player on a pretty good high school team. We shall see.
Not really a very attractive home schedule. FSU is the marquee game. Louisville could be a good one, not sure about UVA. That's about it. Notre Dame and NBC Announce 2024 Football Game Times
It is a great day, Terry. I've had good wishes from family and friends. Thanks for thinking of me. P.S. I just read that Tyler Buchner is returning to the ND FB team as a WR.
I saw that as well. I was really expecting him to connect back to the team as a walk on as soon as I saw that he was returning to the Irish. I knew it wasn't likely to be as a QB. I hope he does well and can contribute. Did you see his letter to Notre Dame that was published on FightingIrish. com? It's nicely done.
It's the new one up on the ND website, it's has to be just written. Freeman's Press Conference excerpts. On Tyler Buchner joining the program as a walk-on receiver: ”Three weeks ago, he asked if he could meet with me and I said sure,” stated Freeman. “He just wants to help the football program. He said, ‘Coach I want to help the program. I love Notre Dame.’ He kind of went through some different capacities with the last one being if I would let him on the team. I said we’ll follow up after your lacrosse season. “I met with the coaches and talked to some of our players and came to the decision that we’ll allow him to walk-on to the football team, but at the wide receiver position. He can help us at any position, but he’ll go into the receivers room. We don’t know exactly what capacity it’ll be. He’ll be on the team starting in fall camp as a walk-on receiver.” On QB Riley Leonard hosting teammates in Alabama: “I don’t know the details of it. He told me he was going to do that and have some of the wideouts come down there. I know he has a QB trainer, a QB coach down there. He had told me that he was going to work with Philip Rivers, too. That’s something that he facilitated himself. “Just to hear that he had some of our guys down there, that chemistry is so important between the quarterback and wideouts. That’s definitely something that’s going to make us better.” On Leonard’s health: “As far as the injury, I talked to him yesterday, actually. He’s on his way back and says he feels great and he’s ready to go. He’ll be full-go when he gets back and progressing toward the season.” On scouting Riley Leonard while at Duke: “I think back to preparing for Riley Leonard, I think he’s a great decision-maker. That’s the thing that we talked about. He makes really good decisions. He can extend plays — not really extend them — he can use his legs to hurt you. It’s not just a guy that can scramble to throw the ball. There are designed quarterback run plays that can present an issue for your defense. Tough. Just tough. “I went back and have been studying some of last year’s games. I watched that one recently. In the first half, he just did OK. We did a really good job. Then in the second half he said, ‘OK, I’m going to create some plays with my legs.’ They started doing some things where he was running the ball which opened up some things in the pass game. He had a long run and broke some tackles. “He’s a competitor. I don’t know what the NFL projects him as. I just know that dude is a competitor. He’s a gamer. When the game is on the line, I want to give the ball to him. I see him making good decisions. He’s got a good arm. He presents a challenge with his legs in the quarterback run game and the ability to extend plays. I think he’s going to be a heck of a player for us.”
Thanks, Terry. I just read the letter. Very, very nice. I wish him success in whatever form it comes.
Sid happy belated birthday. I saw Buchner's letter. Very nice. I'm impressed with his 21 hr. case load and aim to graduate in 3.5 years. I hope he gets a chance to contribute in some way this upcoming season. Quite a year being part of the Football playoffs and a championship in Lacrosse. I suspect he'll be successful in life out of athletics.
Interesting comments from Freeman about the Portal and Recruiting. To me it reflects the difference in his situation at ND vs say Sark at Texas. _____________ On Transfer Portal scouting and process: ”It’s evolving every day. It evolves every year. The changes that have been made in college football and the impacts on Notre Dame football in my first two years are tremendous. I think when the portal first opened, ‘Oh my God, this is like free agency. Let’s go into this portal and let’s find guys.’ Then you realize, ‘OK, one, you can’t get everybody into school’ and then two, you’re like, ‘Is that what’s best for your football team?’ “We have a philosophy now. We’re going to double down on high school recruiting. “I believe in that. We have to build our foundation on high school recruiting. There’s a lot of different reasons for that, but we will supplement in the transfer portal at specific positions of need, and that can change every year. Notre Dame football is going to be built based off high school recruiting, and I feel more strongly about that now than I ever have.”