In this #DGClassic, David Glenn Visits with the Late Gene Corrigan, a truly legendary visionary in college athletics.
A native of Baltimore, Corrigan attended Loyola High School before serving 18 months in the U.S. Army. Following his military service, he enrolled at Duke University where he was a two-time honorable mention All-America selection as a member of the Blue Devil lacrosse team.
He returned to Baltimore after graduating in 1952 and taught Latin, English and history while coaching football, basketball and lacrosse at St. Paul’s School.
Corrigan began his collegiate coaching career in 1955 as an assistant coach of basketball, soccer and lacrosse at Washington and Lee University. Three years later, he began his first association with the University of Virginia as the head lacrosse and soccer coach and assistant basketball coach. He relinquished his assistant coaching duties in basketball after three years and began working as Virginia's Sports Information Director while teaching physical education.
Corrigan served as the ACC service bureau director under commissioner Jim Weaver from 1967 until 1969. He returned to Washington and Lee as the Director of Athletics in 1969. After two years, he returned to Virginia for a 10-year stint – this time as the Director of Athletics.
Corrigan left Virginia in 1981 to become Director of Athletics at the University of Notre Dame, inheriting the position following the 32-year tenure of Edward “Moose” Krause. Corrigan immediately set in place plans for an athletic endowment fund to expand athletics opportunities. The move contributed to men’s lacrosse, women’s swimming and diving and women’s cross country achieving varsity status during his tenure, while volleyball was expanded with the aim to compete nationally.
During his tenure at Notre Dame, Corrigan oversaw the addition of Rolfs Aquatic Center to the Joyce Center, while also spearheading the projects which would become Loftus Sports Center/Meyo Field and Eck Tennis Pavilion.
Corrigan served as the Division I Independent representative on the NCAA Council and was deeply involved in television rights negotiations between the NCAA, College Football Association and broadcast partners. He was also actively involved in the hosting of the 1987 International Summer Special Olympic Games at Notre Dame.
Perhaps Corrigan’s largest and most lasting impact came with a pair of coaching hires in football’s Lou Holtz and women’s basketball’s Muffet McGraw. Holtz went on to secure a consensus national title in 1988, while McGraw continues to lead the women’s basketball program with a pair of national titles, nine Final Four appearances and more than 800 wins at Notre Dame.
Corrigan left Notre Dame to serve as the third commissioner of the ACC. The league captured 27 NCAA championships during his tenure, while Corrigan secured Florida State’s membership in the conference in the fall of 1990. He was one of the leaders in the creation of the Football Bowl Coalition, while also securing other bowl arrangements for the ACC to guarantee postseason destinations for the league’s top four teams.
Corrigan spent his final two years as ACC commissioner while also serving a term as NCAA President. At various times, he served on the NCAA Special Advisory Committee to Review Distribution of Revenues, NCAA Cost Reduction Committee (chair), NCAA Division I Championships Committee, NCAA Lacrosse Committee, NCAA Executive Committee, NCAA Division I Basketball Committee, NCAA Division I Steering Committee and NCAA Council. He was chair of the Honors Court and a member of the board of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame and sat as president of both the Collegiate Commissioners and United States Lacrosse Coaches Association.
