Irish ties won’t bind Bucci when ND goes against Stoops

I can’t imagine cheering against my Mountaineers.

A 2011 West Virginia University diploma hangs above by bed and I wake up with a Woodburn Hall blanket draped on top.

There’s a “flying WV” flag with framed programs, pictures and an oversized helmet sticker adorning the walls in my basement.

Though West Virginia is off today, I still hope it beats the bye week by 50 points. I always want the Mountaineers to win.

Any Ohio State, Penn State and Notre Dame fan of this area can relate.

Well, almost.

Don Bucci, the legendary Cardinal Mooney head coach and current athletic director, is a proud alumnus of Notre Dame. Plus, he was a backup quarterback for the Irish in the early 1950s.

He wore his school’s jersey on the field, I resort to wearing mine in the stands and on the couch.

But for one day, Bucci is shedding his ND ties to cheer for Oklahoma.

“My allegiance is to Bobby Stoops,” he said. “I really don’t have any allegiance to Brian Kelly. I do to Notre Dame and I always will, but I always have loyalty to one of my own.”

Robert Anthony Stoops graduated from Mooney in 1978 after playing for Bucci and his father, Ron Sr.

Now, as the 14th-year head coach of Oklahoma, Stoops gears up to face Bucci’s Irish for the second time. In 1999, his first year at the helm, Notre Dame handed Stoops his first Sooners loss — a 34-30 thriller in the fourth game of the season.

Oklahoma is just 1-8 all time against Notre Dame. In 1952 and ’53, the Irish won both meetings with Bucci on the team.

“They haven’t had much luck against the Irish,” Bucci said, laughing. “Bobby called me earlier in the week to ask if I was on the 1957 team, but I was long gone by then.”

On Nov. 16, 1957, Notre Dame went into Norman and ended the Sooners’ 47-game winning streak with a 7-0 win. That record for consecutive wins still stands today.

And now the cat’s out of the bag, nay, the Boomers out of the Sooner. Bucci is ready for the Irish’s undefeated season to come to an end.

“With Bobby and Mike both there and Mark Stoops at Florida State as an assistant, I cheer for whoever they’re playing,” he said.

Well, again, almost.

Since Bo Pelini, a 1987 Mooney grad, has been at Nebraska, the Cornhuskers have faced the Sooners twice. The series is split.

“But I win either way,” Bucci said with a chuckle. “I can’t pick anybody then.”

Danny McCarthy is a fifth-year senior safety for Notre Dame. His older brother, Kyle, also went to ND before bouncing around on some NFL practice squads. If history serves these mid-2000s Mooney grads correctly, they could end up coaching on some big-time sidelines like the generations before them.

“That would be super,” Bucci said. “Then I might have my allegiance back to ND any time.”

Still, in a week, Notre Dame travels to Boston College along with Bucci’s heart.

“I’m all about the Irish,” he said, “unless they’re playing one of my boys.”