SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- When Ara Parseghian left Northwestern in 1964 to become the head coach at Notre Dame, he thought he had it all figured out. From coddling the alumni to appeasing the students to handling the media, Parseghian was certain he was more than prepared for the challenges that awaited in Northwest Indiana.

He was wrong. Though he had coached at Northwestern for eight years, gaining as much Big Ten and Midwest experience as possible, the pressure, the attention, the atmosphere was far from anything he had experienced.

"I've always said, you don't understand that place, you don't truly realize what it is like until you walk in those footsteps," Parseghian says now, some 27 years after he left South Bend with health concerns. "This is not some regional school, with a 500-mile radius of interest. It's a national school. Heck, it's damn-near international."

	The ND Coaching Fraternity
	A look at the career records of Notre Dame coaches beginning with Knute Rockne:
	Coach (yrs.)	W-L-T	Win pct.
	Bob Davie ('97-present)	30-20-0	.600
	Lou Holtz ('86-96)	100-30-2	.765
	Gerry Faust ('81-85)	30-26-1	.535
	Dan Devine ('75-80)	53-16-1	.764
	Ara Parseghian ('64-74)	95-17-4	.836
	Joe Kuharich ('59-62)	17-23-0	.425
	Terry Brennan ('54-58)	32-18-0	.640
	Hugh Devore ('45, '63)	9-9-1	.500
	Ed McKeever ('44)	8-2-0	.800
	Frank Leahy ('41-43, '46-53)	87-11-9	.855
	Elmer Layden ('34-40)	47-13-3	.770
	Hunk Anderson ('31-33)	16-9-2	.630
	Knute Rockne ('18-30)	105-12-5	.881*
	* Rockne's winning percentage is the highest in college football history

He's not exaggerating. When media requests start pouring in from Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas, New York City and sometimes even overseas, any coach quickly realizes that passion for the Irish is a whole lot bigger than anything that can squeeze into this tightly-knit campus.

This is a place where tradition oozes through the brick façade of Notre Dame Stadium. Quarterbacks are measured against the success of Joe Montana or Joe Theismann. Running backs are compared to Paul Hornung or more recently, Jerome Bettis. And coaches? Perhaps they have it hardest of all, what with the legacies of Knute Rockne, Frank Leahy and even Lou Holtz hanging over them.

The current man in the hot seat is Bob Davie, who in his fifth year on the job, has experienced the entire spectrum of Irish emotions. Two years ago, after Notre Dame finished 5-7 -- its worst record since 1986 -- Davie was all but shipped out of town. Last year, after the team went 9-3, including a big-money trip to the Fiesta Bowl, Davie was given a five-year contract extension. From the lowest of lows to the highest of highs -- all in the span of 12 months.

Such is life at a school where success is defined by two clear-cut criteria -- national championships (11) and Heisman Trophies (seven).

"Everything that happens at Notre Dame, people see," Davie said. "Things are made out to be worse than they are when they're going bad and better than they are when they're going good."

So in typical Notre Dame tradition, it isn't much of a surprise that Irish backers are putting a lot of weight into Saturday's game against Michigan State. After an embarrassing 41-9 loss to Oregon State in last year's Fiesta Bowl, and a 27-10 loss to Nebraska in this year's opener, Irish fans are curious to know --- should they prepare for 5-7, 9-3, or somewhere in between?

It's all part of the endless pressure that the Notre Dame coach has to deal with.

"We have everybody from CEOs of companies to people that never graduated from high school to people that have never been on this campus," Davie said of Notre Dame fans. "I just love the magnitude of it.

"With that, there has to be a trade-off. There has to be some so-called pressure or some so-called heat. That's part of it, so I accept it. There's a little adjustment for everybody, not because of the fact you haven't been a head coach, but you haven't been one at Notre Dame. That's the difference."

	Bob Davie has a 30-20 career mark at ND.

Gerry Faust, who struggled to a 30-26-1 record at the school from 1981-85, agrees.

"Everyone thinks they understand, but they have no idea," he said. "You can't possibly understand until you sit in that seat yourself. It's nearly impossible to explain."

The challenges, Faust said, are numerous. There are the recruiting challenges, complicated by Notre Dame's difficult academic standards. Then there's the national schedule, one in which every opponent circles you as its marquee opponent. And then there are the media obligations. Without being bound to any conference and with its national television exposure each week, Irish fans are everywhere. So are the media contingencies that cover them.

Faust said dealing with the overflow of media requests was one of his problems at Notre Dame.

"I'm the type of guy who has a hard time saying no," Faust said. "I make my mind up that I'm going to say no to people and then I end up doing it anyway. (At Notre Dame), you've got to say no once in awhile. And I didn't."

Handling the media and other outside obligations is one of the areas where Parseghian, who maintains close ties to the Irish program, has tried to help Davie.

"You can't get involved in all that peripheral stuff," Parseghian said. "You can't be Lou Holtz at the microphone and somebody else on the sidelines and then accommodate every single press request. You can't let outside distractions interfere with your football program. And as he's grown into the job, I think he's realized that more and more."

Davie, Faust and Parseghian all agree that the trials and tribulations experienced at Notre Dame build a bond between each of the school's former coaches. It's that bond that is often called upon in times of challenge.

"When you have a university with a great tradition and deep religious faith, it equals tremendous passion," Parseghian said. "Only the coach in that situation can understand. I know what Bob goes through because I was there. I dealt with that intensity and that interest."

So is Notre Dame the toughest place to coach in the country? Faust thinks so.

"Without question," Faust said. "Nobody else has to deal with all this. If I had the opportunity to do it over, I would do things a lot differently, knowing what I know."

Parseghian, on the other hand, isn't so sure.

"Sure, it's a challenging job," he said. "But ask John Cooper from Ohio State or some other successful coach who has been fired by his school what he thinks. Ask him who has more pressure to deal with."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com. He can be reached at wayne.drehs@espn.com.