Though football fans wondered about Coach Frank Leahy’s future after Notre Dame’s worst season in 17 years (4-4-1), his boss at Notre Dame was in no doubt. Last week, at the annual football dinner, President John J. Cavanaugh announced that Leahy was getting a “substantial” increase in salary (this year estimated at $15,000). Furthermore, in case anybody thought Notre Dame was going to 1) abandon big-time football, or 2) join in “the chicanery” of checkbook recruiting, he was mightily mistaken. “We are flatly and irreconcilably against paying football players directly or indirectly,” said Father Cavanaugh.
“What will [Notre Dame players] get? They will get what they have always got, no matter how poor they may be: an opportunity for a real education. They will get tuition scholarships, and a job that will interfere neither with their studies nor with their athletics, to help defray the expenses of their board and lodging.”
Other coaches who got votes of confidence last week:
¶ Navy’s Eddie Erdelatz, on the heels of Navy’s upset victory over Army, a new five-year contract, longest ever given a football coach at Annapolis.
¶ University of Miami’s Coach Andy Gustafson, fresh from an undefeated season, a new ten-year contract to put beside his team’s Orange Bowl invitation.
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