By Lee Pace
Bubba Cunningham was an associate athletic director at Notre Dame in November 1996 when Fighting Irish Coach Lou Holtz unexpectedly resigned. Cunningham was tasked by his bosses with compiling dossiers via internet research on the four coaches on the short-list to replace Holtz: Bob Davie (the Irish's defensive coordinator), Frank Beamer (head coach at Virginia Tech), Dave Wannstedt (Chicago Bears head coach) and Gary Barnett (head coach at Northwestern).
"I did what they asked but I also gave them a fifth name," Cunningham says. "I put Mack Brown on the list.