Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 15, 1993 TAG: 9305150034
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
What he hasn't done, until today, is bring a team to Virginia.
"I've been waiting for this to hit me," said Corrigan, in his fifth year as men's lacrosse coach at Notre Dame, which visits UVa at Klockner Stadium today at 1 p.m.
In the crowd for the first-round NCAA Division I Tournament game will be Corrigan's father, ACC commissioner Gene Corrigan, a former athletic director at Virginia and Notre Dame. Gene Corrigan was the lacrosse coach at UVa from 1959-67.
"He thinks he's a jinx," Kevin Corrigan said, "but I told him to forget about it."
The younger Corrigan is a member of the NCAA advisory committee and was not surprised to see Notre Dame (11-2) draw fifth-ranked Virginia (9-4). The Cavaliers moved up from seventh in the next-to-last Division I poll.
"I don't think there was any question about Virginia," Corrigan said. "There was a lot of question about some of the teams ranked below Virginia."
Brown, ranked seventh, was not one of the 12 teams to make the field. Notre Dame, ranked 15th, received the bid that annually is reserved for the top "Western" team.
"To be honest with you, it was the goal of our kids to get the bid within the regular selection process," said Corrigan, whose team got as high as 12th during an 8-0 start. "But the Western bid has been a tremendous thing for the sport.
"It would be silly to turn your back on something because it works. When I came to Notre Dame, there was not a single full-time coach in the Midwest. Now, a lot of the programs have one."
Corrigan, who has taken the Fighting Irish to the NCAA Tournament in three of the past four years, was coaching the midfield at Virginia when he was chosen to coach at Notre Dame.
"It would be more emotional if I had just left," he said, "but none of the kids - or even the coach [Jim Adams] - are still there."
by CNB