By Nick Shook
NFL.com
Read full post on NFL.com

College football has lost one of its coaching icons.

Former Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian died early Wednesday, the university announced. He was 94.

Parseghian, a 1980 College Football Hall of Fame inductee, led the Fighting Irish to two national championships in 1966 and 1973. The titles culminated a massive turnaround for the program, which was floundering prior to Parseghian’s arrival in 1964.

Parseghian took the reigns of a Notre Dame program that hadn’t posted a winning record in five seasons. The coach immediately reversed the Irish’s course, going 9-1 in his first season at the helm. Parseghian finished with a record of 95-17-4 over 11 seasons, including the two national championships.

Parseghian retired from coaching in 1974 and entered broadcasting, serving as a color commentator for ABC Sports from 1975-81 and as an analyst for CBS Sports’ coverage of college football through 1988.

Before he was a coach, Parseghian played halfback and defensive back at Miami (Ohio) and for the Cleveland Browns in 1948 and 1949, where he played under legendary coach Paul Brown. A hip injury ended his career prematurely, diverting Parseghian toward a career in coaching. Parseghian also served as head coach at Northwestern from 1956-63 before leaving for South Bend, Indiana.