on other activities and of course my studies. But if I wanted
to play football at that level I would have wanted Lou Holtz
for my coach.
Coach Lou Holtz had a wonderful way of developing players
and making them confident in their abilities and their game
without constantly being on their backs, berating and bellowing
all the while, as some coaches are wont to do. Holtz rarely got
angry at a player, only when the player did something
monumentally stupid. Coach Holtz, a native of West Virginia,
had a homespun sense of humor and of viewing life which he
passed along to his players, his coaching staffs, and to his
audiences he spoke to when he was on the lecture circuit.
Holtz kept football fun, and made it more so for not only his
teams, but for the fans.
After some years as an assistant coach for the renown Ohio State
coach Woody Hayes, Coach Holtz was a head coach for six
college teams and one NFL team, the New York Jets. While not
so successful at New York (the Jets won all of three games in his
only season) he compiled a record of 249-132-7 in the college
ranks with his greatest success in reinvigorating Notre Dame's
program resulting in 100 wins and a national title in 1988,
going undefeated that season. It was the Fighting Irish's last
time they went undefeated as well as having won the NCAA-I
football crown. He left his position as the head coach there,
stating that he accomplished all that he wanted to and didn't want
to "maintain the program anymore", rather than growing it.
Seeing no room for that growth, he left and became the head coach
at South Carolina, taking a weak team with a weak program and
getting it into bowl games which they won.
After retiring, Coach Holtz had more time for public speaking
and was highly regarded as a motivational speaker, addressing
business folk, athletes, athletic coaches and educators among
other audiences. One of his most famous sayings was what he
told many an audience: "You're never as good as everyone tells
you when you win, and you're never as bad as they say when
you lose." He used this gem of wisdom to keep his players'
spirits up and their egos in check.
The coach was a devout Catholic, and therefore was a good fit
for Notre Dame, both the football team and the university.
Coach Holtz entered a hospice a few weeks earlier, and passed
away there yesterday at 89. Lou Holtz left a legacy of success
tempered by humility, gratitude, enthusiasm, positivity, and
love for the game, his teams, his family, and his friends, of
which he had many. He was also very patriotic, and was a
staunch conservative who was once seriously considered for
public office by the Republican Party. He was a supporter of
President Donald J. Trump, and had a warm friendship with
him. Godspeed Coach! Now you are coaching the saints (and I
don't mean New Orleans!) to gridiron success.
Requiescat in pace.
MEM
