Saturday, November 24, 2012
This week, Cardinal Mooney athletic director Don Bucci and varsity football head coach P.J. Fecko weighed in on Notre Dame’s No. 1 ranking.
“I’m a Notre Dame graduate, so, it’s great to see them No. 1 after 19 years,” Bucci said. “I kind of felt all along that they were continually getting better. [The Irish] being in the top spot brings back a lot of memories when Notre Dame was in the top 10 almost every year.”
Bucci doesn’t regret his choice in a published article in late October when he was quoted as picking Oklahoma over the Irish — a game Notre Dame won, 30-13.
“I said I can’t cheer for Notre Dame because Oklahoma is coached by Bob Stoops, one of Mooney’s own,” Bucci said in recalling his statement last month. “How can I cheer against Bobby Stoops? I love Notre Dame, but not against Oklahoma.”
In retrospect, Bucci thinks that Notre Dame’s win over the Sooners got the Irish over the hump in the climb to an 11-0 record.
“At the time,” Bucci said, “I thought Oklahoma was one of the top teams in the nation.”
Fecko, who took over for Bucci in 2000, had both of Notre Dame’s McCarthys — Dan and Kyle — on his teams.
Kyle and Dan’s last high school football seasons were 2004 and 2007, respectively.
“They’re both quality individuals who come from a great family and I keep in contact with them,” Fecko said. “Both graduated from Notre Dame where it’s tough enough, academically, but then throw in an extracurricular like Division I football and that’s time-consuming.
“So they should be commended on being true student-athletes.”
Fecko said that Notre Dame is a team that has done a good job of getting better every week.
“Their senior leadership — Dan being one — has really put them in a mode to succeed. Obviously, they believe and find ways to be successful; those things don’t happen by accident.”
Of the system change under different coaches, Fecko said: “It’s never easy for players to keep everything together in that locker room. Not only that, but to transform that into success is a tribute to those guys.”
During his junior year (2006), Dan was a quarterback/safety on the state championship team which beat Plain City Jonathan Alder, but his senior-year playoff participation was truncated by a neck injury against Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary in the second round. Wide receiver Tim Marlowe replaced McCarthy under center for the remainder of the playoffs, which culminated in a 28-27 loss to Coldwater.
“That was tough to watch from the sidelines,” McCarthy said of the narrow margin of defeat. “It was a heartbreaker. They had a couple trick plays at the end, then we tied, but our extra-point kick was blocked.”
Kyle’s senior season ended with a Div. IV state championship win over Versailles in 2004.
Dan’s sophomore season in 2005 ended with a title-game loss — again to Coldwater.
John Bassetti is a sportswriter with The Vindicator. Write him at bassetti@vindy.com.