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Former Miami University athlete and coach Ara Parseghian dies at age 94

Miami alumnus and renowned football coach Ara Parseghian died on Wednesday at the age of 94.

Best known for transforming the Fighting Irish from a declining program to a football powerhouse, the former Notre Dame coach of the 1960s and ‘70s was also a product of Miami’s “Cradle of Coaches.”

“I lost my childhood idol,” said Chuck Martin, Miami’s head football coach in a statement to Miami University on Wednesday. “Ara is one of the all-time greats of our profession.”

Parseghian, a 1949 Miami graduate, played football for the RedHawks and earned All-Ohio honors in 1946 and 1947.