This month's edition of Out of Bounds features an account of the hiring, twice, of Ara Parseghian.

So by the end of the 1964 season, Ara Parseghian's relationship with Notre Dame was just hunky-dory. There wasn't a bandwagon big enough for all his supporters. But there had been a bit of choppy water in the beginning: a few alumni wanted a bedrock Catholic as coach; and there was a conflict of unknown origin that caused Ara to change his mind - briefly - about wanting the job in the first place.

On December 16, 1963, Notre Dame had scheduled a press conference in the Morris Inn to announce The Hiring. Thirty members of the press gathered in a conference room while Parseghian and Father Joyce, vice-president in control of atheltics, met in an upstairs suite. The press waited. And waited. It soon became evident that something was amiss. Hugh Devore, who had been in the room to brief the reporters, glanced nervously at his watch, loosened his tie, made frequent trips to the bathroom - he was stalling for time.

Two hours behind schedule, Parseghian showed. Quite obviously, he was angry. He paused in the lobby of the hotel, read a terse statement saying he had not yet decided to take the job, then stalked out to his car and gunned it toward Chicago.

A swarm of reporters buzzed around Father Joyce, whose only comment was: "No comment." Moose Krause said the same.

The reporters suddenly found themselves with a story that had twisted beyond recognition; they scrambled to find the reason for Parseghian's puzzling change of mind. One fellow fished through wastebaskets until he found the scrap of paper on which the coach had written his statement. Another chased Joyce to his office and shouted at him over the office intercom until the priest emerged, just as tight-lipped as before. Still others, in the finest journalistic tradition, retired to the Morris Inn bar for the afternoon. There was much speculation, but no one ever learned the subject of the disagreement.

Whatever it was, it made no difference, because Ara and Joyce settled the conflict after a couple of days. Notre Dame had their coach. The high-voltage electricity that had been but back since the days of Leahy was flowing again -thanks to a Presbyterian Armenian with jet black hair and drop-forged eyes.

The reason Parseghian walked out of the press conference? Fifteen years later, the people who know still aren't talking. Even insiders in the administration can't find out: "Goodness knows, I've tried," says a high ranking priest. "I even played it cagey.. I waited for a couple of years, then asked Ara about it in an offhand way. No dice."

Father Joyce and Parseghian pledged to keep the disagreement a secret. Not even Bill Cullen, Kitty Carlisle, Tom Poston and Peggy Cass could crack that one.