So many inaccuracies in this film. And Dan Devine was the real hero.

For those of us who never attended Notre Dame, never played football, never had any interest in sports or much of anything the story of Rudy plays along really well.

I would guess that having an adversarial coach would have enhanced the drama as just another adversary for Rudy to overcome that would play well into the storytelling. There was no brother named "Frank" either! Frank was included as an all inclusive metaphor for all those who belittled poor Rudy.

Stories and screenplays like Rudy usually just don't work well when the writers follow the exact real life story-line, too boring, minimal drama, etc. There are elements in a screenplay that just need to be rewritten, revised, or extracted so as to enhance the drama and excitement in order to make the movie more enjoyable to watch and attract a larger audience.

For those of us ignorant to the true facts of what transpired for Rudy we don't really know or really want to know. I enjoyed the movie, the story, and especially the music score. There are elements of Rudy that equal some aspects of real people's lives including my own! So, the Coach Dan Devine may be upset over how he was portrayed and his hero aspect wouldn't have played well though it could be argued that the aspect of a real life inspiring coach's purpose may have contributed and perhaps enhanced the movie.

I felt coach Devine was redeemed at the end when he smiled about the situation.

As it says in the article, screenwriter Angelo Pizzo was trying to portray Devine not as evil, but as a final obstacle standing in the way of Rudy's dream. Two of the most important moments in Rudy's story are when Rudy learns he will play in the final game, and when he actually is put into the game. Pizzo probably thought these moments needed to be emphasized and played up more to have greater dramatic impact.

Personally, I think it would have worked fine to show Rudy finding out that he would be in the last game by reading his name on the posted list, or by hearing about it at the final practice (which is what the article says really happened).

What's unfortunate is that the filmmakers offered Devine the opportunity to read the screenplay to see how he would be portrayed, but he declined to do so. He signed off on his portrayal without knowing what it was like.