GERRY FAUST
High school: Chaminade, 1953 grad
College: Dayton, 1958 grad.
Akron: 1986-94
Notre Dame: 1981-85
Moeller: 1962-80
Combined college record: 73-79-4
High school record: 178-23-2
It doesn’t take much coaxing for Gerry Faust to make a return visit to his roots. That’s why the iconic football figure was here Tuesday night.
“This is special,” said Faust prior to delivering well-received motivational talks first at Carroll High School and then at his beloved University of Dayton.
“All my high school and grade school experience was here in the city. I went to Lady of Mercy, which doesn’t exist anymore as far as a school and Chaminade where my dad was the coach and then the University of Dayton. … I wouldn’t trade those years for anything in the world.”
Faust, 80, still has that signature raspy delivery. And as always, he enthusiastically embraces all, especially his faith, family and friends. Those are his three interconnected life elements he likes to espouse upon. An honorable mention to that themed trilogy is football.
Faust has maintained a residence at Akron since he was the head coach of the Zips from 1986-94, where he oversaw an upgrade to NCAA Division IA status. He’s still addicted to high school and college football. Here’s what he had to say about all that.
• At UD he was a quarterback and followed former Carroll head football coach Jim Spoerl.
“Jim was the quarterback ahead of me and Butch Zimmerman,” Faust said. “He did a great job. I stayed with the team in preseason for practices, but once school started, my dad and mom moved to Oakwood and I lived about six blocks from the university. So I gave up the room and board and told them to give it to some other kid because I lived close and I could just stay at home.”
• He built Moeller into a football dynasty from 1962-80, winning five state titles and fielding seven unbeaten teams.
“We had great parents and great kids and we had a great school and a great coaching staff,” he said. “We averaged 20-21 kids a year to get college football scholarships. We were a district school in those days. You had 12 parishes to draw from in Cincinnati and you couldn’t live outside those parish boundaries.”
• Like Alter and Chaminade Julienne — he was a standout QB for his father Fuzzy at Chaminade — Moeller didn’t have a home field.
“I was the AD and football coach,” he said. “I felt we could rent a stadium when we were going to have a crowd of 6-7,000. With bigger games we’d get the University of Cincinnati stadium or the Bengals’ stadium and we’d draw 25-30,000. We saved a lot of money and we always played on the road because we didn’t have a home field. That was an advantage for us, especially when we got to the playoffs.”
• Football has become a more diverse game since he coached, especially on offense.
“It’s more a passing than running thing and more spread offense,” he said. “We spread out pretty much when I was coaching high school. We ran play-action passes and drop-back passing. We did a lot of it, but everyone’s doing it now. There’s a different concept to option football now.”
• Faust recalled off-the-field regimens that could only be described as thinking out of the box.
“We did things back in those days that they’re doing now, especially with conditioning and weight lifting,” he said. “We had ballet lessons for the kids that cost them a buck a night. Ballet helped them be better agility-wise. We had every sport for all kids taking that at Moeller.”
• All that Moeller success led to his landing a dream job as the head coach at Notre Dame. But unlike the Moeller years, that lasted five unremarkable seasons until his release in 1985. He remains the Irish’s greatest champion.
“I’ll go to four or five Moeller games this season,” he said. “I’ll go to four-five Akron games and I’ll go to four-five Notre Dame games. … I watch NFL football because it’s football, but my favorite is high school and college.”
• A supportive family has played a big part in his life.
“I tell kids my dad was tougher than nails on me,” he said. “He didn’t want anybody thinking I was playing because I was his son. But he always told me he loved me and so did my mom. That’s important that you’re close to your family.
“I talk about having faith, family and friends. If you have those three things you can get through anything in life.”
• Sharing his experiences and life lessons to Patriots Nation and at UD was special to Faust.
“I have four favorite cities: Dayton, Cincinnati, South Bend and Akron,” he said. “I’ve had a great life.”
About the Author