The burdens of being a head coach are different from being an assistant. If I had been an assistant coach for awhile, then become a head coach, I probably would have lasted longer.

I became a head football coach when I was 27 years old at Miami of Ohio.

That's the unpredictable part, and that's what worries every coach: Protect the football. That's why, when you go into a ballgame, you may be favored, but there's no guarantee you're going to win it.

If you can hang in games by staying close defensively, then good things can happen.

That's one thing: When I left Notre Dame, when I left every school, what I'm the proudest of is we never compromised the rules, never were on probation, never had any major problems of any kind.

The 1973 team is real special. I had never coached against Bear Bryant. Alabama had never played Notre Dame. It was North against South; the Catholics against the Baptists; both teams were undefeated, and everything was on the line.