Former Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian dies at 94

Didn't know this was possible..... I though ever ex football player died a miserable death a 52 years old or sooner either drooling on themselves or worse blowing their heads off with a double barrel shotgun because....... football.

Must be fake news.

No but I will put them behind the wheel of a car the minute they turn 15 and a half where god only knows there is a chance any number of absolutely awful things could potentially happen to them.  

Did I say there was nothing to see here?  Where did I say that?  I cannot find that phrase or those words anywhere.  Maybe you have some reading skills that I don't know about but I can't find it anywhere.  

Lets try this instead of you reading inference into my words that I didn't put there.  CTE is real.  Football is dangerous.  Life is too.  Head injuries are going to happen but they can be reduced through best practices such as reducing contact throughout the week, teaching proper fundamentals, using good medical judgement for recovery when an injury does occur, penalizing head to head contact, and enforcing the rules on the books.  

What isn't real is this perpetuated idea that 99% of ex-football players are walking around drooling on themselves from beating their brains silly over the years.  There are literally hundreds of thousands of ex players walking around today as fully functioning human beings many of whom are actually better off for having played the game.    

What's too be done beyond the things which I listed?  We keep beating a dead horse and eventually the dead horse is going to result in a fundamental change to the game or more, and some of us seem not only willing to let that occur, but actually seem to be encouraging the hysteria or at the very least just passively not getting the way of it.  And the end game result of all this is going to be something like taking the kickoff out of the game because, and I've even heard football coaches say this of all things, "It's the most dangerous play in football."  

Well yea it is.  But guess what the minute you take kickoff out of the game, punt becomes the most dangerous play in football, then a post over the middle into a single high safety becomes the most dangerous play in football, then ISO becomes the most dangerous play in football.  Then block down kick out power or trap becomes the most dangerous play in football.  


FOOTBALL IS DANGEROUS.  We can mitigate it to the best of our ability through smart intentional coaching but that's it.  Accept the risks know the rewards and lets {censored} move on with our lives and stop seemingly fighting the media and attackers battles for them.  

But a very pretty high percentage of smokers do get lung cancer. What percentage of people who play football below the NFL level get major CTE? Nobody knows. For us older guys, anecdotally, based on ourselves and observations of our former teammates, probably not very many. Media stories make it sound like we should all be drooling wrecks now, though. 

...especially considering BITD we were taught to block and tackle with our faces-heads and helmets weren't much more than plastic lamp shades.

From what I have seen, between 3 out of 4 to 4 out of 5 DON'T get lung cancer.   And Parseghian played pro ball until injury ended his career. 

My point was not to try to equivocate the risks, but rather the behavior of those involved.  You are correct, many of the stories are quite sensationalized.  My point was that as individuals with a vested interest in preserving the game (coaches), addressing concerns and worries with sarcasm by saying "HOw is it possible that a football guy lived to 94" is akin to how the tobacco industry went about business.   Lets face it, the reason smoking is still "a thing" is mostly due to its addictive qualities.  Football, as we all know is not addictive to most, so coaches should probably proceed in a different manner.  That is all.

center  is correct.  I should not have replied to @gccwolcerine 's post with sarcasm.  It served no purpose. 
 

Yeah this was supposed to be a thread about a great man and great coach. Nothing to do with CTE.

By Ara Parseghian, Head Coach, University of Notre Dame



My topic is Notre Dame Football in 1973, and I will discuss some of the trends and some of the things that we did during the past Fall. The changes we made were initiated as a result of what had happened the previous year. I have lectured at a number of other clinics and on many occasions have expressed the philosophy that we believe in. This card contains the four basics that we have in coaching that we believe in. They are very simple, very understandable, and what percentage you assign each one of course varies.



Ara Parseghian’s Four Basics In Coaching



1. PERSONNEL – (Who) You Teach Physical Abilities



A. This is a fixed factor.



B. Recognize their abilities.



C. Place them properly – personnel alignment.



D. Techniques to improve.



2. COACHING – (How) You Teach



A. The art of inspiring learning.



B. Transfer of information.



C. Imparting of knowledge.



3. STRATEGY – (What) You Teach Based on Your Squad’s Physical Abilities and Your Philosophy of the Game



A. Offense.



B. Defense.



C. Kicking Game.



4. MORALE – This Is the Basic Factor That Controls (Who) (How) (What)



“DON’TS”

1. Rate potential over performance.



2. Develop personality conflicts – distorts and clouds evaluation.



3. Be awed by size – or speed.



4. Allow one mistake to influence your judgment.

That's cute.... The straw man thing and all.... But I'm right......
boston.cbslocal.com/2017/08/08/concussion-expert-football-child-abuse-cte-nfl/#.WYsIxzRH_q8.twitter

Why is any of this stuff in a thread about Ara Parseghian?