Father's loss leaves 'huge void' for Notre Dame QB coach Gino Guidugli
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SOUTH BEND —Gino Guidugli, now in his fourth season as quarterbacks coach for Notre Dame football, made it through the Wisconsin game, but it couldn’t have been easy.
His father, David, died a day earlier back home in northern Kentucky at age 77.
“He had to put the personal hat on and do the things he needed to do for his family and himself,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said this week. “Then, when he was at work, he had to put his work hat on. He's a pro, and he did that.”
Freeman, who worked with Guidugli for four years at Cincinnati, called David Guidugli “a great man” and a “tough dude,” a rugged individual known for his career as a boxing coach and personal trainer.
“One of a kind,” was how Guidugli termed his late father after Wednesday’s practice.
“That was his profession and that was his trade and that was his impact he had on the world,” Guidugli said. “Being a teacher, being a coach, being a personal trainer, he kind of gave himself to everybody else and helped people realize potential that maybe they didn't see.”
How David Guidugli prepared his sons for college football
Foremost among those was Guidugli himself, who went on to break records at Cincinnati as the Bearcats quarterback from 2001-04.
“I wouldn't be where I'm at today without his influence, without the way he pushed me, without the experiences he put me in as a young child,” Guidugli said. “I grew up in a boxing gym, working out with NFL players as a 10- and 11-year-old. They're busting my nose with a medicine ball, doing drills, and it was just like that was the expectation.”
Those early morning workouts on Saturdays prepared the aspiring quarterback for whatever came next. The same held for Ben Guidugli, his younger brother, who played tight end at Cincinnati from 2007-10.
“Next thing you know, you're in that setting when you're in college,” Gino Guidugli said, ”and it's like, ‘This is nothing.’ I've worked out with NFL offensive linemen since I've been 10. I played basketball with (former NBA forward) Danny Fortson since I was 11 years old.
“You get into that next setting, and you don't blink. It's just like, ‘All right, this is where I belong.’ He's going to be missed, man. It's going to be a huge void in my life, for sure.”
Funeral services for David Guidugli were to be held on Thursday, Sept. 10, in Newport, KY.
That came one day after the funeral services for Don Shuler, father of Irish safety Adon Shuler, in New Jersey. The elder Shuler died Aug. 31 at age 47.
“To lose a father is a difficult thing,” Freeman said. “Fortunately for me, I haven't gone through it, but you're right there with them. I think a lot of us view our fathers as invincible; they just find a way to get through things.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Father's loss leaves 'huge void' for Notre Dame QB coach Gino Guidugli