Devine, Daniel J.
Football
b. Dec. 23, 1924, Augusta, WI
Devine served in the Army Air Corps during World War II and then went to the University of Minnesota at Duluth, where he was captain of the football and basketball teams as a senior in 1947. He coached high school football for three years, became an assistant at Michigan State University for five years, and then took over as head coach at Arizona State University in 1955.
Arizona State had its first undefeated season under Devine in 1957, winning all 10 of its games, and he had a 27-3-1 record there before going to the University of Missouri in 1958.
In his second season at Missouri, Devine took the team to the Orange Bowl, losing 14-0 to Georgia. And in 1960, his third season, Missouri won 10 of 11 regular season games and beat Navy 21-14 in the Orange Bowl.
Devine took on additional duties as athletic director in 1967. After compiling a 92-38-7 record in 13 seasons, he left Missouri to coach the NFL's Green Bay Packers in 1971. Although the Packers won a division championship in 1972, his stay in Green Bay was not successful, and he left with a 25-28-4 record in four seasons to become head coach at Notre Dame in 1975.
Notre Dame won 10 of 11 regular season games in 1977, then beat previously undefeated Texas 38-10 in the Cotton Bowl to claim the national championship. Devine had a 53-16-1 record in 6 years at the school before retiring after the 1980 season because of his wife's ill health. His overall college record was 126-42-7, a .742 winning percentage.