Former Notre Dame running back and head coach Terry Brennan dies

Notre Dame announced Wednesday that former running back and head coach Terry Brennan had died. He was 93.

Brennan is known for being the youngest head coach in Notre Dame history. He was hired as the team’s coach at the age of 25 after the retirement of Frank Leahy. Brennan played for Leahy in the 1940s and was part of the “Game of the Century between Notre Dame and Army in 1946.

Notre Dame said that Brennan ran for 1,716 between 1945-48 and averaged nearly six yards a carry. Notre Dame lost just twice during his playing career.

After he was chosen in the fifth round of the 1949 NFL draft, Brennan instead went into coaching. That was a good decision; less than five years later he was the head coach of his alma mater and he coached at Notre Dame from 1954-1958.

Notre Dame had a record of 32-18 in Brennan's five years as a head coach. Brennan's teams had winning records in four of his five seasons and he was the head coach and he was the team's coach in one of the biggest college football games in the years that followed World War II.

Notre Dame beat No. 2 Oklahoma 7-0 in November of 1957 to snap the Sooners’ 47-game win streak. Notre Dame was unranked ahead of the game and scored its only touchdown on fourth and goal in the fourth quarter after an 80-yard drive that took 20 plays.

Oklahoma’s win streak dated back to 1953 — Leahy’s last as a head coach — when Notre Dame beat the Irish to start the season. Notre Dame finished 1957 with a record of 7-3 and was ranked No. 9 in the final AP poll of the season.