Changes

==Athletics==

==Athletics==

Football began in 1887 and by 1927 the team was nationally famous and had the media nickname "Fighting Irish"; the school adopted it officially.

Football began in 1887 and by 1927 the team had the nickname "Fighting Irish".  From 1918 to 1930 head football coach Knute Rockne took ND football to the top, winning six national championships and setting a standard that subsequent coaches had to meet or be fired. Rockne's success was both a blessing and a curse. It made the small school nationally famous as the most visible institution of Catholicism in America, and a demonstration of physical prowess every Saturday in the fall season. But academic critics on and off campus complained about the promotion of brawn over brains, and the hyper-aggressive tactics used to recruit athletes and keep them eligible to play. But intellectuals made the same complaint about every top-ranked school, and downplayed the need of ND for money and the Catholic community for recognition. Rockne himself, until his death in a plane crash at the height of his career, never backed down from his advocacy of the positive value of both football and a winning tradition.<ref> Ray Robinson, ''Rockne of Notre Dame: The Making of a Football Legend'' (1999); Murray Sperber, ''Shake Down the Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football'' (1993)</ref>

 

Notre Dame has 12 men's and 12 women's sports teams.<ref name="sports"/> The football program has won 13 bowl games (while losing 15) and 13 national championships.<ref>http://www.nationalchamps.net/NCAA/database/notredame_database.htm</ref>

Notre Dame has 12 men's and 12 women's sports teams.<ref name="sports"/> The football program has won 13 bowl games (while losing 15) and 13 national championships.<ref>http://www.nationalchamps.net/NCAA/database/notredame_database.htm</ref>