Ara Raoul Parseghian (May 21, 1923 - August 2, 2017) was an American football player and coach who guided the University of Notre Dame to national championships in 1966 and 1973. He is noted for bringing Notre Dame's Fighting Irish football program from years of futility back into a national contender in 1964 and is widely regarded alongside Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy as a part of the "Holy Trinity" of Notre Dame head coaches. Parseghian grew up in Akron, Ohio, and played football beginning in his junior year of high school. He enrolled at the University of Akron, but soon quit to join the U.S. Navy for two years during World War II.

Parseghian quickly turned things around in 1964; he re-established a sense of confidence and team spirit that had been lost under Kuharich and Devore. Practices were carefully planned and organized with the help of a coaching staff that consisted of three assistants from Northwestern and four former Notre Dame players. Parseghian listened to players' concerns about the program and addressed them. He invigorated the team's offense by favoring passing and bringing in smaller and quicker players. A rule change allowing unlimited substitutions starting in 1964 helped make this strategy successful; fast-running receivers could now be taken out of the game and rested as others replaced them.  Parseghian also recognized talent in quarterback John Huarte and wide receiver Jack Snow, who had been used only sparingly for two seasons by previous coaches. Huarte could throw far and accurately but was soft-spoken, a trait Parseghian and his staff helped change. Snow was large for a receiver of his era, but Parseghian thought his athleticism and sure hands would make him a good wideout. Still, expectations were muted for the 1964 season: Parseghian told his coaches that the team would have a 6-4 record if they were lucky. Sports Illustrated predicted a 5-5 record at best, and the team did not rank among the top 20 programs in the country in the pre-season AP Poll.  Notre Dame nonetheless opened the season with a 31-7 victory over heavily favored Wisconsin, a game in which Huarte threw for more yards than the team's leading passer had over the entire 1963 season. Notre Dame players carried Parseghian off the field after the win, which vaulted the team to ninth place in the polls. A string of victories followed, first against Purdue and then Air Force and UCLA. Notre Dame rose to first place in the national polls following a 40-0 win over Navy in October. The team went undefeated until the last game of the year against USC, who won 20-17 in the final minutes on a touchdown pass from Craig Fertig to Rod Sherman. The loss unseated Notre Dame from the top ranking in the national polls, but the team still won the MacArthur Trophy, a championship awarded by the National Football Foundation.  Huarte passed for 2,062 yards and set 12 school records in 1964, four of which still stood as of 2009. He also won the Heisman Trophy. Snow led the country in receptions, with 60. Parseghian, meanwhile, won numerous coach of the year awards for engineering the turnaround, including from the American Football Coaches Association, the Football Writers Association of America, the Washington Touchdown Club, the Columbus Touchdown Club, and Football News.  Huarte and Snow graduated after the 1964 season, and Notre Dame felt their absence the following year, posting a 7-2-1 record. While the team did not contend for a national title, defensive back Nick Rassas led the nation in punt returns and came in sixth in interceptions; he was named a first-team All-American by sportswriters.

Did he help Notre Dame turn things around?
Parseghian told his coaches that the team would have a 6-4 record if they were lucky.