More tarnish added to the Golden Dome

Sporting News, The, Feb 14, 1994 by Gene Wojciechowski

Another week, another book on Notre Dame. Any more of these things and they'll outnumber the

Of course, this isn't just any book. If anything, it's Notre Dame's worst nightmare: a sometimes unflattering look at the university's inner workings - and by one of its own, no less.

The author is none other than Teresa Godwin Phelps.

That's right, the Mrs.

First there was "Under the Tarnished Dome," a best-selling expose on Coach Lou Holtz and the Irish football Holtz and the Irish football program. Now this, "The Coach's Wife," sort of a stand-by-your-man look at the hypocrisy of college athletics.

Terry Phelps, a Notre Dame graduate who teaches at the university's law school, does what her husband wouldn't or couldn't do the day he announced his resignation: she fills in the blanks.

The 1991 "resignation" of Digger Phelps always had the distinct smell of fish. Nothing against Phelps' social conscience, but when does someone walk away from a life's work so he later can help observe Cambodian elections?

Phelps, who coached the Irish for 20 years, compiled 17 winning seasons, 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, a trip to the Final Four and a perfect graduation rate. For his troubles, none of the school's Power brokers - the Rev. E. William Beauchamp, executive vice President; the Rev. Edward A. Malloy, president; Richard Rosenthal, athletic director - attended the farewell news conference. Rosenthal later issued a generic "we-wish-digger-well" statement, but it had all the warmth of a form letter.

Now comes the real story. Or at least, Terry Phelps, version of it.

Among the revelations:

* Despite being told by Rorenthal that his days at Notre Dame were numbered, Phelps requested a meeting with Malloy. It did not go well.

"Father Malloy said that even If I won the national title next year, I was still furnished coaching here," Digger later told his wife.

The reasons? Malloy, Beauchamp and Rosenthal didn't like phelps, style of play and were worried about the lack of Top 20 rankings and decreasing ticket sales. Or as Terry Phelps wrote: "They measured success by the bottom line - money."

* Rosenthal was "irate" when Digger agreed to play Louisiana State in a nationally televised game in New Orleans, with a portion of the proceeds earmarked for a homeless center in South Bend, Ind.

* Rosenthal wrested the scheduling duties from Phelps, the result being a laughably hard lineup of nationally ranked opponents that has contributed to the program's down-fall.

* Rosenthal, as well as Malloy and Beauchamp, ignored Phelps' frequent warnings that the basketball program would be better served if it shed its independent status and joined a conference.

* Beauchamp sent a letter to Phelps in November 1990. In it, Beauchamp said Phelps could return for the 1991-92 season if he accepted a $20,000 pay cut, allowed Rosenthal to have the final say on recruiting and announced his decision to resign at season's end. In a later letter, the offer was withdrawn.

Phelps, now with ESPN, wasn't without his coaching faults. If you use attendance and won-lost records as a measure, the program was in mild decline. Of course, the same can be said of Phelps' replacement, John MacLeod, who has seen his victory totals go from 18, to nine, to six and counting.

Which brings us to the Notre Dame administration's newest fear: Does Carol MacLeod, the coach's wife, own a typewriter?

He can laugh now

John Pelphrey, a first-year assistant coach at Oklahoma State, was watching videotape of a recent game when he caught the very end of a commercial featuring a fat guy wearing a Duke basketball jersey.

Pelphrey didn't pay much attention until he realized the fat guy was Chris Farley of "Saturday Night Live" fame, and that Farley was recreating Christian Laettner's winning shot against Kentucky in the 1992 NCAA East Regional final.

"I was watching almost in disbelief," says Pelphrey, who quickly rewound the tape to the commercial's beginning.

In the hillarious spot, Farley bullies his way past the five lifesize cardboard cutouts of Kentucky players, lumbers toward the basket and then launches brick after brick until finally, the ball drops through the hoop. That done, Farley turns to the camera and shouts, "And that's the way it happened!" followed momentarily by, "Well, almost."

Pelphrey laughed when he saw it. Well, maybe not the first time.

Look quickly and you'll see Pelphrey's cardboard likeness knocked to the ground by Farley. That's because the former Wildcats forward was assigned to help cover Laettner on the final shot that night in Philadelphia. He did what he could, but Laettner made the magical jumper anyway.

Duke went on to win a national championship. Pelphrey, his college playing career ended, did the zombie-walk to the Wildcats' locker room, where he later could be seen weeping near the shower.

"All that pain and hurt is gone now," Pelphrey says. "It only took a year and a in."

Pelphrey never has watched (and maybe never will a replay of the Kentucky loss, considered by some experts to be the most exciting NCAA Tournament game of all time. However, he has seen the Farley spoof.