page_title: Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
section_title: Bob Davie (1997–2001)
hierarchical_section_title: Notre Dame Fighting Irish football / History / Bob Davie (1997–2001)
caption_attribution_description: English: Bob Davie, head coach of the New Mexico Lobos football team, at the 2016 Mountain West Conference Media Days in the The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.
context_page_description: The Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the intercollegiate football team representing the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana. The team is currently coached by Brian Kelly and plays its home games at the campus's Notre Dame Stadium, which has a capacity of 77,622. Notre Dame is one of six schools that competes as an Independent at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision level; however, they play five games a year against opponents from the Atlantic Coast Conference, of which Notre Dame is a member in all other sports except ice hockey.
  The school claims 11 national championships, but the NCAA recognizes them with 13.
  Moreover, Notre Dame has 22 national championships recognized by all major selectors; this is tied with Alabama for the most in the FBS. Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Ohio State share the record of seven Heisman Trophy winners. Notre Dame has produced 102 consensus All-Americans, 34 unanimous All-Americans, 52 members of the College Football Hall of Fame, and 13 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, all NCAA records. Notre Dame has had 495 players selected in the NFL Draft, second only to USC.
context_section_description: Bob Davie, who had been Holtz's defensive coordinator from 1994 to 1996, was promoted to head coach when Holtz retired. Davie, who turned down a head coaching offer from Purdue to accept the Irish's head coaching position, was a well-respected defensive mind who had also served as defensive coordinator at Tulane and Texas A&M. Davie had also filled in as head coach for one game during the 1995 season when Lou Holtz was dealing with a health issue. One of his first major decisions was to fire long-time offensive line coach Joe Moore, who then successfully sued the university for age discrimination. On Davie's watch, the team suffered three bowl game losses (1997 Independence Bowl, 1999 Gator Bowl, and 2001 Fiesta Bowl), and it failed to qualify for a bowl game in two others (1999 and 2001). The highlight of Davie's tenure was a 36–20 upset win in 1998 over #5 Michigan, the defending national champions. Davie's Irish also posted a 25–24 home victory over USC in 1999. Davie nearly defeated top ranked Nebraska in 2000, with the Irish comeback bid falling short in overtime 27–24. The aforementioned 2001 Fiesta Bowl was Notre Dame's first invitation to the Bowl Championship Series.  The Irish lost by 32 points to Oregon State, but would finish No. 15 in the AP Poll, Davie's highest ranking as head coach. The 2001 squad was awarded the American Football Coaches Association Achievement Award for its 100% graduation rate.
  On December 17, 1999, Notre Dame was placed on probation by the NCAA for the only time in its history. The association's Committee on Infractions found two series of violations. The New York Times reported "the main one involved the actions of a booster, Kimberly Dunbar, who lavished gifts on football players with money she later pleaded guilty to embezzling." In the second series of events, a football player was accused of trying to sell several complimentary game tickets and of using others as repayment of a loan. The player was also said "to have been romantically involved with a woman (not Dunbar), a part-time tutor at the university, who wrote a term paper for another player for a small fee and provided players with meals, lodging and gifts." The Dunbar violation began while Lou Holtz was head coach: "According to the NCAA committee report, Dunbar, the woman at the center of the more serious violations, had become romantically involved with several Notre Dame football players from June 1995 to January 1998 and had a child with one, Jarvis Edison." Notre Dame was placed on probation for two years and lost one of its 85 football scholarships each year in what the Times termed "minor" penalties.
  Following the 1998 season, the team fell into a pattern of frustrating inconsistency and alternated between successful and mediocre seasons. Despite Davie's rocky tenure, new athletic director Kevin White gave the coach a contract extension following the Fiesta Bowl-capped 2000 season, then saw the team start 0–3 in 2001 – the first such start in school history. Disappointed by the on-field results, coupled with the Joe Moore and Kim Dunbar scandals, the administration decided to dismiss Davie after the 2001 season. His final record at Notre Dame was 35–25. After departing Notre Dame, Davie accepted an offer from ESPN to serve as a play-by-play broadcast college football analyst, a position he would hold for ten years before New Mexico hired him to be their head football coach in December 2011.
caption: Coach Davie
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