Play Like a Champion Today
Notre Dame has agreed to cede all rights to the “Play Like A Champion” motto – including barring its display on campus – in exchange for Oklahoma head football coach, Bob Stoops.
The deal was announced this morning in a short, joint statement by Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick, Oklahoma President David L. Boren and Laurie Wenger, who owns the copyright to the “Champion” sign.
Stoops will succeed Coach Brian Kelly as the 32nd coach of the Fighting Irish. He amassed a 179-46 (.795) record in 16 seasons with the Sooners, including a 2000 National Championship and a second appearance in the final in 2010.
The Irish have long coveted Stoops, reaching out to him at least twice after the firings of Bob Davie, Ty Willingham and Charlie Weis. Sources close to Swarbrick said the athletic director had reached out to Boren after expressing displeasure with “average” nine-win seasons under Kelly.
On the Oklahoma side, sources familiar with the negotiations said Boren initially dismissed the overture, but rejoined negotiations when Swarbrick offered to remove “Play Like A Champion Today” signs from Notre Dame’s campus and disassociate themselves with the motto.
The iconic sign has hung outside the Notre Dame football team’s home locker room since 1986, when then-head coach Lou Holtz commissioned Wenger, a campus sign painter, to make the unmistakeable gold placard with blue writing. Since then, it’s become tradition for football players to touch the sign before taking the field. Similar signs have been temporarily erected in visiting locker rooms and for other athletic teams associated with the university.
Oklahoma fans and alumni have expressed bitterness over Notre Dame “stealing” its aphorism, which they believe was coined by their legendary coach, Bud Wilkinson, sometime between 1947 and 1951. The original sign is showcased in the Switzer Center Museum, with the five words reprinted on a mural in a tunnel that leads to the Sooners’ home field.
As part of the agreement, Wenger will no longer contract with two South Bend-area printing companies, AP Image Team and Dec-O-Art, to make the iconic blue and gold version and will instead begin partnering with two Norman firms, King Kopy & Printing and Action Printing, to produce the sign in crimson and cream. The university will buy the first 10,000 units for its bookstore, located in the Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
Although not disclosed, Notre Dame will also pay a portion of Stoops’ remaining contract to Oklahoma, up to $5 million, according to a source who requested anonymity because he was not authorized by the university to speak about the negotiations.
The source said Kelly learned late Thursday night of his termination. Attempts to reach him this morning were unsuccessful.
Notre Dame graduate, class of '02 (the Davie years!). A former newspaper and TV reporter, andrewwinn is now professionally involved in something far less fun to discuss than college football. A dad, a husband and a wannabe data nerd.
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