Joe Kuharich

Head coach, Notre Dame, 1959 to 1962

College career17-23

Program liftNo. 1,198tied · of 1,290 tenures since 1937

Now

Career arc

Stats

Big games

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

3-1 against his rivals. Winless in 4 tries against Ara Parseghian.

Rivalry record

3-1

75.0% · 1 rival

One-score games

7-9

43.8% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

3-3

50.0%

Rivalry ledger

USC3-175%

The toughest matchup

vs. Ara Parseghian0-4

4 meetings, 1959–1962

’59 L’60 L’61 L’62 L

0% win rate across a real, 4-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.

Performance by opponent class

Blue Blood

3-3 50.0%

Power Program

8-13 38.1%

National Program

6-7 46.2%

Building the roster

Two numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.

1Roster ownership
2The NFL pipeline

Roster ownership

This coach's entire tenure (1959-1962) predates 2021, when transfer-portal tracking begins in this database. Portal usage cannot be measured for this tenure at all -- this is not the same as '0% portal'.

“His own” means the player arrived while he was head coach; “inherited” means a predecessor brought him in.

The NFL pipeline

at least7Drafted

players drafted into the NFL off his teams here (a floor — see the note below). None can be traced to who brought them in — there’s no roster record for these players here. 2 went in the first round.

At least 7 — his 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962 seasons predate the modern 7-round draft, so this table’s pre-1994 pick counts are a floor, not a full count, for those seasons.

0 roster-verified · 7 estimated

Most recent picks first

Year	Pick	Note
1962	R2.16	Estimated
1962	R2.25	Estimated
1962	R5.63	Estimated
1961	R2.19	Estimated
1960	R1.02	Estimated
1960	R1.11	Estimated
1960	R3.25	Estimated

A pick counts toward his tenure when the player’s final college season was one he coached, a checkable rule rather than a claim about who developed the player. A blank note means the player is on a verified roster and arrived on his watch. “Estimated” means no roster record, so the final season is assumed to be the year before the draft.