Terry Brennan Terence Patrick Brennan ( born June 11 , 1928 ) is a former American football player and coach . He served as the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame from 1954 to 1958 , compiling a record of 32 – 18 . Early life and playing career . A native of Milwaukee , Wisconsin , who was a standout multi - sport athlete at Marquette University High School , Brennan played halfback at Notre Dame from 1945 to 1948 , graduating in 1949 . Coaching career . After graduating from Notre Dame , Brennan coached at Mount Carmel High School in Chicago and won three successive city championships . Brennan returned to Notre Dame in 1953 as freshman football coach and succeeded Frank Leahy as head coach the following year . When asked if he thought he was too young to be named head coach at the age of 25 , Brennan replied , " Oh , I don ' t know . I ' ll be 26 in a few months . " Brennan got off to a good start with a 9 – 1 campaign in 1954 with players recruited by Leahy . In 1955 , the Irish slipped a notch to 8 – 2 . Then the roof fell in . Brennan was forced to play mostly sophomores in 1956 because of numerous injuries and the result was a 2 – 8 record , the first losing season for Notre Dame since 1933 and the worst in the history of the school . The lone bright spot was Paul Hornung , who won the Heisman Trophy and remains the only player ever to win the award while playing for a team with a losing record . Many fans called for Brennan ' s ouster , but the young coach was retained . One thing that worked against Brennan was a movement by school administrators to put more emphasis on academics and less on athletics , leading to the popular notion that Notre Dame had deemphasized football . Consequently Brennan had to make do with players of lesser talent than in previous years , with a limit of 20 football scholarships per class , while continuing to play tough schedules . While academics had always come first at Notre Dame , Frank Leahy had carte blanche to do what he wished until the Rev . Theodore Martin Hesburgh became president of the university . One of Hesburgh ' s first priorities as president was to reaffirm Notre Dame ' s position on academics . Brennan ' s 1957 squad earned the nickname , " Comeback Comets " after finishing 7 – 3 . Among their victories was a 23 – 21 comeback over Army and a 7 – 0 shutout of Oklahoma , snapping the Sooners ' NCAA record 47 - game winning streak . After a 6 – 4 record in 1958 , the movement to dismiss Brennan gained momentum , and the coach was fired along with his entire staff in mid - December ; Hugh Devore was eventually retained . Notre Dame ' s administration was heavily criticized for the firing , since Brennan ' s overall 32 – 18 record was not bad considering the caliber of their opponents . He was succeeded as Notre Dame ' s head coach by Joe Kuharich . Later life and honors . Brennan served as player conditioning coach for baseball ' s Cincinnati Reds during spring training in 1959 and eventually joined a Chicago investment banking firm . He has six children , 25 grandchildren , and eleven great - grandchildren . Brennan is a member of the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame and was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1981 .