This is a new Notre Dame we are heading to. Marcus Freeman is the architect. He’s been in South Bend since 2021, and after a wait of almost four decades, the Irish were inches away from a natty. That dream was last realized in 1988 under Lou Holtz. For a program with over 130 years of history, countless players and coaches graced the field at South Bend. Among them, a select few left their mark. For instance, Frank Leahy. A record of 87-11-9. 4 national championships. Ara Parseghian. Again, a record of 95-17-4. Two national championships. Before Holtz, Parseghian, and Leahy etched their names in the program’s history, there was one name who introduced the taste of championships to the Irish. That gem of a mentor tragically breathed his last on this day in 1931.

Yes, we are talking about Knute Rockne. The Nordic immigrant, originally from Voss, Norway, served the Irish as a head coach for over 13 years. His life with the Irish started as a member of Jesse Harper’s coaching staff. He was handed the reins in 1918, and the rest, they say, was history.

During his storied tenure, the franchise reached the pinnacle of success with 105 wins and 12 losses. No other coach in the past or present could come close to that sublime record. He had five undefeated seasons and three national championships under his belt. Beyond the championships, seasoned fans of college football would have read about Rockne in history books for his 7-2-2 defense and Box offense.

Rockne was a seasoned star maker, too. Not only did he recruit big fish for his program, but he also let them swim under the current. In a smashing record, the former legendary Irish head coach developed a total of 15 All-America players, the second-best percentage in the country. A hero making a lot of other heroes really became a success archetype at South Bend.

By the end of the 1930s, Notre Dame became a team of national prominence (a national football powerhouse) for the first time in history. In Chicago and New York, the games sold out stadiums. However, the golden clock of the Irish suddenly stopped ticking on a black day on March 31st, 1931.

Knute was traveling at ease in a small plane that crashed in a wheat field somewhere in Kansas and burst into pieces in seconds. The deadly mishap left no human alive on the plane. It was a lifetime loss for the Notre Dame program. A 43-year-old serving coach remains irreplaceable in his chair. Today we are living another 31st March in time, and guess what, fans didn’t forget the 93-year-old heartbreak and exploded the internet with wishes and prayers.

Fans re-mourned the most tragic loss in Notre Dame’s coaching history

There is a proverb that says we never really heal; we just learn to live with the pain. The same goes for the Irish fans. They are still mourning the loss of a gem and flocked together on X to share their thoughts. Coach Knute went to a world from which there was no coming back. But we have Freeman to retain his legacy. Of course, in terms of tenure, Freeman has yet to reach the years of Knute’s longevity at South Bend. So, it’s difficult to judge what it will look like if Freeman continues to rule the Irish coaching front for more than seven to eight seasons.

But so far, from what we have seen, it’s clear that, after the aching wait of long years, we have found a potentially close clone of the GOAT. Noting that dynamic, a fan wrote, “March 31, 1931, a sad day in Notre Dame history as Coach Knute Rockne dies in a plane crash in Kansas. But his legacy is strong, and we see many of his strengths in our current coach.”

Well, Coach Knut not only transformed the Notre Dame program forever. He also triggered a big positive growth in the airlines in exchange for his own life. A fan relived the gut-wrenching day in a nutshell on X before disclosing a big ripple effect of that daunting plane crash and the death of a stalwart football coach. “The national outcry over the disaster sparked a major change to aircraft design, manufacturing, operation, inspection, maintenance, regulation, and crash investigation, and forced a safety revolution that ultimately transformed airline travel worldwide from one of the most dangerous forms of travel to one of the safest,” he wrote.

“March 31th, OTD 1931 Knute Rockne, American College Football HOF coach, (National C’ships 1924, 29, 30 Notre Dame; record 105–12–5), dies in a plane crash at 43,” another one lamented the century-old death. Knute will remain immortal no matter what, but the clock he wore during that night won’t. Dropping an antic detail, another user wrote, “Shown here is the watch he was wearing on that plane, which stopped at the exact time of impact.”

It would be great if Freeman could reach even half of the height he reached at South Bend, but regardless, Coach Knute will be a timeless era for the world of college football.