I cannot believe the site logged me out when I hit "post" for my ND lineup...sigh. I can't bring myself to recreate, it, but I'll give some highlights: ND's greatest coaches should be ranked in chronological order:
1) Rockne: 13 seasons, .881, three MNCs, made Notre Dame the Notre Dame we know.
2) Leahy: 11 seasons, .855, four MNCs (Michigan fans highly question 1947), took over from fairly successful Layden (one of the Four Horsemen), so didn't have to turn the program around.
3) Parseghian: first of the reclamation projects: 11 seasons, .836, two national titles (MSU fumes about '66), never finished outside of the AP top 15, and was top 10 nine times.
4) Holtz: second reclamation project (after Faust, the high school coach, bombed). 11 years, .765, one MNC (narrowly missed #2 in 1993, "Seminole-gate"). Much tougher era than the earlier three.
#5 is probably Devine, six seasons, .764, one MNC.
Curiously, since Rockne, Kelly is next in winning percentage (.670), and has the fourth longest tenure (going on nine seasons, which puts him ahead of Devine, and behind only Leahy, Parseghian, and Holtz). He is one Alabama whupping (and an angry face) away from ND's pantheon...And there's little doubt he plays in both a more competitive era and with higher academic standards than any of the above (though Holtz will always smart over the administration rejecting Randy Moss).