Frank Leahy

Head coach, Notre Dame, 1941 to 1953
Before: Boston College

College career107-13-9

Titles4national

Program liftNo. 18of 1,290 tenures since 1937

Now

Career arc

Stats

Big games

Pick a job to see its years on their own.

Boston College1939–40 · 20-2Notre Dame1941–43 · 24-3-3Notre Dame1946–53 · 63-8-6All jobs107-13-9

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

One-score games

5-2

71.4% · margin ≤8

Performance by opponent class

Power Program

3-0 100.0%

National Program

7-1 87.5%

Regional Program

1-1 50.0%

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

4-1 against his rivals at Notre Dame. Nobody he faced three or more times there has a winning record against him.

Rivalry record

4-1

80.0% · 3 rivals

One-score games

6-2-3

54.5% · margin ≤8

Rivalry ledger

USC2-0100%

Michigan1-150%

Stanford1-0100%

Performance by opponent class

Power Program

8-1 88.9%

National Program

10-1 90.9%

Regional Program

3-0 100.0%

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

6-1 against his rivals at Notre Dame. Just 2-3 against Biggie Munn.

Rivalry record

6-1-1

75.0% · 1 rival

One-score games

11-4-6

52.4% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

3-1

75.0%

Rivalry ledger

USC6-1-175%

The toughest matchup

vs. Biggie Munn2-3

5 meetings, 1948–1952

’48 W’49 W’50 L’51 L’52 L

40% win rate across a real, 5-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.

Performance by opponent class

Blue Blood

3-1 75.0%

Power Program

20-4 83.3%

National Program

30-3 90.9%

Regional Program

9-0 100.0%

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

10-2 against his rivals. Just 2-3 against Biggie Munn.

Rivalry record

10-2-1

76.9% · 3 rivals

One-score games

22-8-9

56.4% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

3-1

75.0%

Rivalry ledger

USC8-1-180%

Michigan1-150%

Stanford1-0100%

The toughest matchup

vs. Biggie Munn2-3

5 meetings, 1948–1952

’48 W’49 W’50 L’51 L’52 L

40% win rate across a real, 5-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.

Performance by opponent class

Blue Blood

3-1 75.0%

Power Program

31-5 86.1%

National Program

47-5 90.4%

Regional Program

13-1 92.9%

Building the roster

Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.

1Who followed him
2Roster ownership
3The NFL pipeline

Followed him here

Boston College→

Notre Dame1941

No confirmed followers on this move. This move predates this database’s 2021 transfer-portal tracking floor, so real followers may be undercounted here.

Players who transferred from his old program to his new one through the portal in the same year he made the move. Name-matching across data sources misses some, so every count is a floor, not an exact number.

Roster ownership

This coach's entire tenure (1941-1953) predates 2021, when transfer-portal tracking begins in this database. Portal usage cannot be measured for this tenure at all -- this is not the same as '0% portal'.

“His own” means the player arrived while he was head coach; “inherited” means a predecessor brought him in.

The NFL pipeline

at least32Drafted

players drafted into the NFL off his teams here (a floor — see the note below). None can be traced to who brought them in — there’s no roster record for these players here. 10 went in the first round.

At least 32 — his 1941, 1942, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953 seasons predate the modern 7-round draft, so this table’s pre-1994 pick counts are a floor, not a full count, for those seasons.

0 roster-verified · 32 estimated

Most recent picks first

Year	Pick	Note
1954	R1.03	Estimated
1954	R1.07	Estimated
1954	R1.09	Estimated
1954	R2.19	Estimated
1954	R4.39	Estimated
1954	R4.42	Estimated
1954	R6.58	Estimated
1952	R2.17	Estimated

Year	Pick	Note
1952	R7.61	Estimated
1951	R1.02	Estimated
1951	R1.06	Estimated
1950	R1.01	Estimated
1950	R2.24	Estimated
1950	R4.41	Estimated
1950	R5.53	Estimated
1950	R5.56	Estimated
1950	R5.60	Estimated
1950	R7.78	Estimated
1949	R1.08	Estimated
1949	R1.09	Estimated
1949	R2.11	Estimated
1949	R3.24	Estimated
1949	R5.46	Estimated
1948	R6.39	Estimated
1947	R3.15	Estimated
1947	R6.32	Estimated
1944	R1.01	Estimated
1944	R1.03	Estimated
1943	R3.23	Estimated
1943	R5.39	Estimated
1943	R6.47	Estimated
1943	R7.56	Estimated

A pick counts toward his tenure when the player’s final college season was one he coached, a checkable rule rather than a claim about who developed the player. A blank note means the player is on a verified roster and arrived on his watch. “Estimated” means no roster record, so the final season is assumed to be the year before the draft.

Frank Leahy

Now

Career arc

Stats

Big games

The big-game ledger

The big-game ledger

The big-game ledger

The big-game ledger

Building the roster

Followed him here

Roster ownership

The NFL pipeline

Career

Coaching career

Was he good?