There Todd Griffin stood, on the Notre Dame sidelines at the Pittsburgh game last November, near former Irish players Marc Edwards, Jerome Bettis, Malcolm Johnson and Bobbie Howard.

And Pete Duranko.

"At first, I didn't know who he was," Griffin recalled of meeting Duranko, an Irish defensive tackle during the 1960s. "I could tell he was either a former player or involved in the school in some aspect. You could just tell by the way he carried himself."

"I asked one of the guys standing next to me who he was and he said `That's Pete Duranko,'" Griffin said. "So I went up to him and we talked throughout the game. I never took a picture of him but I was telling one of my friends that a picture would never describe what I felt, standing there talking to him about Notre Dame football, where it's been, where it's going and what it is today. We were talking about coming out of the tunnel and Rudy and Knute Rockne and about names most people don't know. It was great."

Griffin was back on campus this weekend, not as a fan but as a coach. He was one of among nearly 300 coaches from all over the country at a clinic sponsored by USA Coaches Clinic. It was an atmosphere of dreamers, with coaches young and old trying to get a first-hand look at how things operate in a major Division-I football program. They got the chance to meet with Irish coaches, attend Friday and Saturday practices and learn useful drills and techniques to bring back to their own schools.

From the smile on his face, it didn't look as though many of them were having a better time than Griffin.

"I thought I was going to come here and get a tour of the locker room, go to the bookstore and pick up a bunch of stuff and that was it," Griffin said. "But I've really learned a lot. I've got probably 10 pages of notes. I'm dying to get back home, type them on my laptop and print them out. I've really enjoyed my time here."

A native of Spotsylvania, Va., a town 50 miles south of Washington, DC, Griffin coaches special teams and linebackers at a local high school. Griffin, who is 31 years old and married with two children, also works for the FBI in Washington.

But his passion lies in football.

"I'll sit there and watch tapes in super slow motion, the whole tape," Griffin said. "It may take four or five hours. I've watched Notre Dame games that I've taped in super slow-mo to try to get some ideas, especially when Lou [Holtz] was here with special teams. There's certain things he did that I try to use."

Griffin got into coaching about 10 years ago when approached by a semi-professional team. He enjoyed the experience, though the conditions were far from ideal.

"It's kind of looked down upon because they're privately owned," Griffin said of the semi-pro leagues. "They're not that well-structured but I got an opportunity and I've made the most of it."

From there, Griffin moved on to Spotsylvania High School, a team that has won five of the last nine state championships. This coming season, he will begin coaching at a new high school in the same district.

His love of coaching stems from his relationships with his father and his own high school coach, two tough men who helped Griffin when he was a teenager.

"He's not even a coach anymore but I still call him coach," Griffin said of his old coach. "I talk to him all the time, get pointers from him. I love him to death. He instilled a lot of things in me. He stayed on my butt when I felt like quitting or taking a break. Just little things like that. He's the one who pushed the extra rep out of me. He stayed with me through thick and thin when I had personal problems. He helped me get my grades up and get my priorities in order."

Then there's his father, a hard-nosed Irish man who has had a major impact on Griffin's life as well.

"One day in high school I was sick at home," Griffin recalled. "I couldn't even lift my head up without throwing up. My parents got in an argument about me going to football practice later that afternoon."

"So my dad drives me to practice. He said `If you can't sit up, you lie down on the bench.' That's the type of attitude I try to instill in my players. Maybe not that harsh but I try to let them know. There's time to play and there's time to work. And I work my boys hard."

Just like Griffin's coaching hero, Holtz used to do with his players. And Griffin would know all about Holtz, having been a Notre Dame fan for as long as he can remember.

Griffin's heard stories about his father propping him up as an infant every Saturday in front of the television to watch the Irish.

One game in particular stands out in his mind, when in the mid-1970s, he was watching an Irish game with his grandfather, who was a Notre Dame alum, and his uncle.

"My uncle wanted to change the channel at halftime," Griffin said. "There were a bunch of other college games on. My grandfather said to my uncle, `Bruce, there's only one team we watch in this house.' I've been wanting to write to the writer of "Rudy" and tell them that it actually happened to me."

Though he never wrote the letter to the "Rudy" writers, Griffin continues to faithfully follow the Irish. But now, instead of only watching them on TV, Griffin has also been able to attend several games in the past few years. Included among these was the 1995 game against Navy, the first time Griffin ever stepped foot in Notre Dame Stadium.

"It was like six degrees," Griffin said. "The week before was Halloween. I knew at halftime that the lines were long so I told my brother to bring some candy. At halftime, he gave me a candy bar and it was frozen solid. That's how cold it was here. It was almost 20 years to the day when my father and his father went to a game here. It put a lump in my throat."

The emotion felt that day also was on display this weekend. On more than one occasion, Griffin took time out to reflect on where he's been and the opportunities he's had.

"Most guys don't get a chance to come out here and see a big-time program like Notre Dame and be able to walk through the locker room or even the lawn in front of the library," Griffin said. "I'm just grateful that coaches like Bob Davie are taking their time out to help us."

Though he'll probably never be a coach here at Notre Dame, Griffin knows that the realm of coaching goes far beyond the on-field performance.

"I know personally I'm going to have to come to a fork in the road soon where I'm going to have to decide," Griffin said. "If I can't get into a big-time program, I'm going to have to accept it and stay at the high school level, which is great. I feel like I'm giving back to the community and hopefully making a difference."

NOTES:

u Bob Davie mentioned several players who have been pleasant surprises this spring including quarterback Gary Godsey, cornerback Shane Walton and offensive tackle Brennan Curtin. According to Davie, Godsey, who is down to 240 pounds, is now a legitimate number two quarterback.

u Gerome Sapp has been moved from free safety to strong safety. He will compete with Ron Israel for the starting position.

u Sapp and running back Terrance Howard both sat out Saturday's practice due to hamstring injuries.

u Running back Julius Jones was excused from Saturday's practice 30 minutes early to catch a flight home. His brother Thomas was drafted seventh in this weekend's NFL draft by the Arizona Cardinals.

u Only 49 scholarship players are currently practicing with the team due to an assortment of injuries.

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