Título: Ara Parseghian
Seção: Turnaround and the 1964 season
Background: Ara Raoul Parseghian (May 21, 1923 - August 2, 2017) was an American football player and coach who guided the University of Notre Dame to national championships in 1966 and 1973. He is noted for bringing Notre Dame's Fighting Irish football program from years of futility back into a national contender in 1964 and is widely regarded alongside Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy as a part of the "Holy Trinity" of Notre Dame head coaches. Parseghian grew up in Akron, Ohio, and played football beginning in his junior year of high school. He enrolled at the University of Akron, but soon quit to join the U.S. Navy for two years during World War II.

Conteúdo: Parseghian quickly turned things around in 1964; he re-established a sense of confidence and team spirit that had been lost under Kuharich and Devore. Practices were carefully planned and organized with the help of a coaching staff that consisted of three assistants from Northwestern and four former Notre Dame players. Parseghian listened to players' concerns about the program and addressed them. He invigorated the team's offense by favoring passing and bringing in smaller and quicker players. A rule change allowing unlimited substitutions starting in 1964 helped make this strategy successful; fast-running receivers could now be taken out of the game and rested as others replaced them.  Parseghian also recognized talent in quarterback John Huarte and wide receiver Jack Snow, who had been used only sparingly for two seasons by previous coaches. Huarte could throw far and accurately but was soft-spoken, a trait Parseghian and his staff helped change. Snow was large for a receiver of his era, but Parseghian thought his athleticism and sure hands would make him a good wideout. Still, expectations were muted for the 1964 season: Parseghian told his coaches that the team would have a 6-4 record if they were lucky. Sports Illustrated predicted a 5-5 record at best, and the team did not rank among the top 20 programs in the country in the pre-season AP Poll.  Notre Dame nonetheless opened the season with a 31-7 victory over heavily favored Wisconsin, a game in which Huarte threw for 

user: Who was Parseghian playing for in the 1964 season?

assistant: Notre Dame

user: Did he help Notre Dame turn things around?

assistant: Parseghian told his coaches that the team would have a 6-4 record if they were lucky.

user: Did they go on to lose lots of games that season?

assistant: October. The team went undefeated until the last game of the year against USC,

user: What happened in that game against USC?

assistant: who won 20-17 in the final minutes on a touchdown pass from Craig Fertig to Rod Sherman.

user: Who was playing on the team during that 1964 season besides Fertig and Sherman?

assistant: Huarte

user: Were there any other notable team members?

assistant: Snow

user: Did Parsehian win any coaching awards that season?

assistant: won numerous coach of the year awards for engineering the turnaround,

user: What were some of the awards that he won?

assistant: including from the American Football Coaches Association, the Football Writers Association of America,

user: What other awards did he receive?

assistant: the Washington Touchdown Club, the Columbus Touchdown Club, and Football News.

user: Were there any problems or controversies during the season?

assistant: Sports Illustrated predicted a 5-5 record at best, and the team did not rank among the top 20 programs in the country in the pre-season AP Poll.