2005 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team

Coaching changes

After finishing the 2004 season with a record of 6-6, Notre Dame officials, in a controversial move, fired head coach Tyrone Willingham. The Irish initially hoped to hire Utah head coach Urban Meyer, who had led the Utes to an undefeated season, as Meyer had been an assistant coach for the Irish for five years and had a clause in his contract stating he could leave Utah without penalty if Notre Dame offered him a job. When Meyer instead took the head coaching job at Florida, Notre Dame hired Charlie Weis, the New England Patriots offensive coordinator, making him the first Notre Dame alumnus to coach the team since 1963.

Roster changes

The Irish lost a number of players on defense including four former starting defensive backs, three players on the defensive line, including defensive end Justin Tuck, and two former starting linebackers, including honorable mention All-American Derek Curry, to graduation. On the offensive side of the ball the only key losses for the Irish were running back Ryan Grant and former quarterback and wide receiver Carlyle Holiday. The Irish returned ten starters on offense and four on defense.

Recruits

With poor recruiting being one of the issues that led to the firing of Willingham, Weis was challenged to coach the Patriots' offense during the day and work on recruiting players for the Irish at night. He took a proactive role in recruiting, including sending seven of his assistant coaches to a recruit who had de-committed after Willingham was fired (the recruit, however, signed with the Ohio State Buckeyes). Weis, with some of Willingham's recruits signing also, built a class of 15 recruits, including five four star recruits.

Award candidates

Four players were named to the national awards watch lists in the pre-season:

Coaching staff

When Willingham was fired all of his assistant coaches left, leaving Weis to rebuild a coaching staff. He sought to find experienced coaches that would be able to make the team competitive. When the new assistants were announced in January they were billed as having 25 seasons of collegiate head coaching, 50 seasons as coordinators, 12 seasons as NFL assistant coaches, and 42 bowl victories. Before the season, however, assistant offensive head and quarterbacks coach David Cutcliffe after undergoing heart surgery and being on medical leave, decided to resign, saying he felt his absence unfair to the players and coaches. In early June, Peter Vaas was named as Cutcliffe's replacement. Vaas was a former six-year NFL Europa head coach, an eight-year collegiate head coach, and had 17 years of assistant coaching experience, including two years at Notre Dame under Lou Holtz.

On October 29, only half-way through the season, Weis, who originally signed a six-year contract with the Irish, was offered an extension on his contract. The new 10-year deal was worth $30 to $40 million, and made him the highest paid coach in college football. The extension was seen as controversial, as Weis' record was 5-2 at the time while Willingham started his first season with an 8-0 record.

*Minter had been on the Notre Dame coaching staff under coach Lou Holtz, but this is his first under Weis.

Notre Dame records

By the end of the season, the 2005 team set 47 Notre Dame team and individual records. The team set 11 season records, including most points (440) and most offensive yards (5728). Four players set individual season records, including Jeff Samardzija's touchdown receptions (15), Brady Quinn's touchdown passes (32), Darius Walker's receptions by a running back (43), and D.J. Fitzpatrick's PATs (52). Seven individual game records were set, including Quinn's touchdown passes (6) and Maurice Stovall's receptions (14). Samardzija set a record with 8 consecutive touchdown catches, Walker another record with four consecutive 100-yard rushing games, and Quinn's record of 16 consecutive games with a touchdown pass that began in 2004 and ended in the Fiesta Bowl. With his records this season, Quinn holds 30 Notre Dame individual records, including games with 300-yards passing (5) becoming the only Irish player to throw for 400-yards in a game more than once.

Awards

A number of Irish players and coaches were named post-season award finalists and winners. Head coach Charlie Weis was named by the Football Writers Association of America as the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year. Offensive coordinator, Michael Haywood, was named by the American Football Coaches Association as the Assistant Coach of the Year. Offensive lineman John Sullivan was named by the Walter Camp Football Foundation as the Connecticut Player of the Year, wide receiver Jeff Samardzija was named as a finalist for the Fred Biletnikoff Award, and tight end Anthony Fasano, named to the preseason Mckey Award watchlist, was also named a finalist for the award. Quarterback Brady Quinn, after finishing fourth in Heisman Trophy balloting, was nominated for two Player of the Year awards, two quarterback trophies, and won the Sammy Baugh Trophy.

In addition to the awards, three Irish players were named on All American teams. Quinn, Samardzija, and safety Tom Zbikowski were all named the AP All-America team, Samardzija to the second team and Quinn and Zbiokowski to the third. In addition to the AP team, Samardzija was named to seven other All-America teams, six on the first teams. Samardzija was also named as Notre Dame's NCAA record 79th Consensus All American.

NFL Draft

In the 2006 NFL Draft, three Irish players were drafted by NFL teams. Fasano was taken by the Dallas Cowboys in the second round of the draft, Maurice Stovall was taken by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the third round, and Dan Stevenson was taken in the sixth round by the New England Patriots. In addition to the three players taken in the draft, six signed free agent contracts with NFL teams.