Fighting Irish Legend: Lou Holtz's Path to Notre Dame | Undeniable with Joe Buck

Introduction to Lou Holtz [Music] [Music] my guest tonight is a college football legend and proof that hard work and the right attitude can overcome any challenge since his time as an undersized linebacker at Kent State leis Leo Holtz has defied Expectations by coaching six different College Programs to bowl games accumulating more than 240 victories and leading the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame to a national championship but before he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame did you know he coached his first football team when he was 18 18 years old was taught by the sisters of Notre Dame before ever setting foot in South Bend and was an assistant coach under Woody Hayes tonight we'll learn what makes this undeniable icon who he is a man who once said life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it please welcome the one and only Lou Holtz thank you thank you my good right out of the gate of Standing Ovation I didn't know we had that main Notre Dame fans here in Los Angeles do we have any Notre Dame F yeah just getting to know your Story doing the research for this interview Early Life and Upbringing you know here you sit as an 80-year-old man we didn't need to go there well yeah I I think that's that's that's a pat on the back I mean no nobody would ever guess that you've stayed young at heart and where your story starts born in 1937 in fand be West Virginia a lot of people that have sat in that chair said you know we didn't have much but back then I didn't know we didn't have much it was just life well I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth I I really was uh I was born during the Depression my dad had a third grade education who had one room for my sister myself and my parents we had a kitchen we had a half bath a half bath did not have a tub a shower sink there's no welfare there's no food stamps there's no safety n the reason I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth I was born in this country and I was taught that if I made good choices whatever happened in your life if I made good choices got an education worked hard didn't blame other people I could have very positive things happened to me I was not unwanted I was not unexpected and I was not unloved it isn't what you have it's what you're taught about the values of life I I your dad was many things one of them a bus driver um and and I I wonder as you look back you know this resolve that you have was that instilled by him you think I I think the resolve came I think I was about five and they needed students to fill up the first grade they got out the baptismal certificates went to my mom said you mind if flu starts to school early I'm the last child oh oh that's great well I I was younger than everybody else it hurt me athletically it hurt me socially I never had a date because of that people picked on you're smaller you're weaker I had a very bad list which I still to to this day but you learned to handle that you you learn to have a sense of humor among things and you move on that you find out not everybody likes you and you're aren't the biggest you aren't the fastest you aren't the strongest but I think all the adversity they had growing up you have two choices either you give up or you make up your mind you're going to make the most out of it you were surrounded obviously though by a lot of love and and and tell me tell me about your mother because I think people would say Lou Holtz had a strong Father Andrew and obviously a hardworking man but tell me about your mom my mother was valid dictorian of her high school class she is very smart and that's why she's a little disappointed point where you know I was in the lower third of my high school class if it was not for people like me there could have been no upper half of the class just on the bottom but yeah that's it's all in how you look at it you were in the half of the class that made the upper half possible that's it wasn't for me they could not have had the upper half but it just my mother was a loving person uh she was one that always saw a catastrophe before it ever happened you know she always was sort of negative about things but the real person in my life was my Uncle Lou he was your uncle yes but he was only how many years older than 10 years older than me but took me under his way became the closest person in my life I I'm talking about he was a brother he was a father he was a friend he is the one right or wrong that started your love for sports absolutely he was the one he played football we go watch him he was a very very good football player and that's where it all started the first time you played football was in fifth grade fifth grade mon was a coach when he got out of service he coached St Al L wish seventh and eighth grade team he let me play on the team when I was in the fifth grade he put me in the game we're playing imaculate conception out of Wellsville and guy came through and I safety and he's going to make a touchdown if I didn't tackle him and I dropped my head and I missed him intentionally and I came to sine now we won the game obviously we're way ahead or I wouldn't have been in the game and I I I I saw my uncle and I said my helmet filled my eyes which was wrong but I tell you what you know what I learned then the mental pain was much more painful than the physical pain I would have had if I tackled a young man it was a great lesson I learned that the physical pain will go away the mental pain of that to this day the disappointment of my Uncle Lou that I intensely turned a guy down never did it again it changed my whole attitude about the game of football now I I understand Notre Dame was rolling back then but Coaching at Notre Dame they were the they were the team that you were falling in love with as a little boy well my grandpa my Uncle Lou all loved Notre Dame they were they went in the late 40s from 46 to through 49 Notre Dame never lost a football game and so I went to St aloicious I was taught by the sisters of Notre day we marched out every day at noon recess and dismissal to the Notre Dame victory march I mean three times a day we would pray for Notre Dame on Friday before a ball game and you just scw up thinking boy that was just a the very very special place and and at that time even though this is you're young you're studying The Playbook right you you knew what everybody was supposed to be doing out on the field yeah I guess everybody said I did that I know my high school coach uh felt that I he liked me in the game cuz I could tell everybody what to do I mean we didn't have the brightest class of the world so when I'm in the lower third it wasn't a particularly smart class I might add but we we had great football in his ccle the whole city turned out it just it came easy to me the but I mean how difficult can it be what are you probably going to become what was the career in East Liverpool I I never had any goals growing up nobody from our family never gone to college had no desire in the second grade the nuns asked everybody what do you want to be I want to be a fireman a doctor a lawyer I wanted to be a garbage collector that's the guy they said what I said they only work on Tuesdays good deal work one day it doesn't get any better that but but that that was my mentality in the way I thought then at the end of uh my junior year my high school coach came up and told my parents I should go to college and be a coach in addition of playing I saved money when working to buy a 49 Chevrolet my parents decided I was going to college I said I wasn't going to college I said y so we compromised and I went that was a typical compromise way but the thing that really changed it was I I was at the neighborhood grocery store and they had the big stack and I'm on one out and I heard Linda hobc and Freda Toof two neighbors talking they said in as shame the host are going to waste what little money they have to send that kid to college and it motivated me I I when to college I made up my mind I was going to prove that I could do the work for one year then I was leaving I coming back and getting a job in the steel mill so I that's all what so I put in the year in college I come back I get a job in the steel mill labored in the open Earth worked one week got out of calendar I didn't know what I wanted to do but I knew what I want you to do the rest of my life and I want to go work at the steel mill and then I went back and then went out for the football team at Kent State and made it yeah and you were part of tell me about Lou Holtz the football player at Kent State I I had a lot of friends on on the team and I wasn't a very good football player but I think that they respected me because I practiced hard as was very positive I was good in the locker room Etc and just been in that locker room and listen the coach and being on the sideline and being in the on the field or being in the bench whatever I know what the other third teer is fed like when I'm at Notre Dame or Arkansas or somewhere you have empathy you know what it's like to be have pain and to do everything you could and it's still not really appreciated by coaching all these things that add up into how you're going to be as a coach see I think the two most important days in your life one is the day you're born and the other important day in your life is the day you discover why you were born and somewhere along the line I discovered that I was born to be a coach but also I think that when we really look at why was I born is to end up helping other people when does that hit W.I.N. Philosophy you that I'm different than the other guys in this locker room and people will listen to me and I know how to lead people I had a assistant coach at Ken State named Rick frano great human being and uh Frank spouse those two coaches they believed in me and they they could say that I was going to be a coach when I was a sophomore junior I I really didn't know that where I was going to be but it it just people along the line have taken an interest in me and helped me and guided me and you you you get after this coaching thing you get after learning what what it takes to be a successful leader and and I mean this this assistant trail that you go on is is really remarkable what are your goals when you get into coaching I I always wanted to be the head coach at Notre Dame Fighting arti but I didn't think I ever would because until they hired Forest until they hired air Paran they had never hired a non Alum at Notre day and so I just think they're always going to hire Alum once they hired a who was not a notre D malam then I I wanted to go but I really didn't think I would ever end up there I didn't think it for whatever reason you hoped that you could but at some point during your early years you make a a goal sheet out with 107 goals well what what happened as I go to South Carolina under a guy named Marvin bass my wife's eight months pregnant with our third child we spent every cent we had in the bank for a down payment on home I'm there one month I get up on the Monday morning the headline of the paper reads Marvin bass resides I said to my wife I wonder if he related to my coach an hour later I'm unemployed after my wife gives birth to Kevin uh she went to work as the next ray technician I'm a stay-at-home dad and feeling defeated you know and here did you think coaching was over for you well I yeah probably because it was March nobody going to hire you in March this was in spray back and and so I'm really feeling down and she bought me this book of paperback It's Magic I think it big and one day true story when the children taking a nap I got a paper and pencil and did what the book asked me to do made five columns things I want to accomplish as a husband and a father column number two was things I want to accomplish religiously God's important my life but I don't preach it I Don't lecture it I hope the way I live my life reflects it column number three was things I wanted to accomplish financially column number four was things I want to do professionally I want to be a head coach I want to coach n dve win national championship being Hall of fi and last column was thing want to do for excitement I want to go on the submarine wanted to be on tonight show Johnny Carson want to go white waterer after on stake River wanted them to go to pumpone and run with the bulls with the slower person and the truth I had 107 of them my wife come home I said honey here's 107 of them we're going to do them all she said GE that's great she said why don't we had get a job so we made it we made it we have done 102 of those I've done everything I mentioned except run with the bulls and my youngest son has done that but don't go through life and be a spectator remember the word win what's important now ask yourself that's what I want to do what's important now valuate the past focus on the future tell you what you have to do in the present my dad went to Ohio State my dad called Woody Hayes a friend of his and you end up on his staff what was it like coaching with the legendary Woody Hayes Lessons from Woody Hayes it was a great experience he probably did more to formulate My Philosophy than anybody else but the thing about Woody ha two things number one he believed in fundamentals and blocking and tackling is is critical the other thing that if you're in a leadership role your obligation is make people the very best that they can possibly be not everybody can be all americ not everybody be first team everybody can be the very best they're capable being and your job leadership role not to be their friend if you want a friend what AG you say go buy a dog but the most important thing you have to get across to them that when you join a team you join the military you join a company you join a spouse you bring a child in the world you have obligation you have responsibilities and you want to fail you have the right to fail you do not have the right to C other people to fail because you don't fulfill your obligation that was the one thing I learned from them I carried with me to this day you don't have the right to cause other people to fail what one other thing I I I'm an old man my birthday candles cost more than a cake I understand that but people say What's the difference between athletes today and 40 years ago today everybody wants to talk about their rights and their privileges 40 years ago we talked about our obligations and our responsibilities and I believe that we still need to get back to the obligation responsibility you have to other people just simple Lou Holtz's Coaching Principles let's in 1969 you become head coach at William and Mary while you were there you developed three rules to coach by yeah do what's right do the best you can show people you care and you follow those three rules I I guarantee you're going to build a trust you're going to build a commitment you'll build a genuine caring of it and of course we developed those three roles as we went along be you know we complicate life you you realize there only seven colors of the rainbow look what Michelangelo did there's only seven musical notes look what bee toin did there's only 10 numbers look what Bernie Midol did with those 10 numbers it I mean it's always good but we don't need to complicate life but you end up taking them to a bull we we turned the program around so North Carolina State writes me Earl Edwards had retired they had an interim coach I they want to know if I'd be interested in talking to them about the job I said I'd love to when the season's over so now the last Monday of William Mary quarterback Club gives me a new car I said I can't take that car there's no way in this it's not to keep you here it's what you did for wa I said no I will not take it so I come home after the last game the next day I'm going to NC State to become the head coach I come home my wife said you won't believe what happened today at halftime they called me out the stands and gave me a new car I said we can't keep it she said they gave it to me and I am keeping it she said beside our old car won't get to Ry North Carolina and so embarrassed we leave with their car to go coach NC State so that's how I end up in NC State you had a great run at NC State with with the bowl games yeah really every program you took over needed resuscitation and and Lou was there with the paddles well it was like Urban Meyer he wants to be the head coach of bowling greed and he said to me can you help me I said yeah I know Mike Wilcock the chairman of the board and Bob Sao I played High School football let me call so Urban calls me two weeks later said Bly green offer me the job but I'm going to turn it down I said that's interesting why is that he said it's not a good job I said no it's not it was a good job the other gu still be there good jobs don't open up bad jobs open up and if it was a good job why would they hire you but so when you say you always went to a losing team well those are the kind of jobs that open up the good jobs are going to stay there so it's only natural you're going to end up taking over program program that needs resuscitation but as your career goes forward you get an opportunity to coach the New York Jets in the NFL in NFL Experience with Jets 1976 mhm why' you jump to the NFL and what was that experience like for you well I turned a job down three different times and Al Ward was a general manager and he said to me you need to come to New York and tell Mr Phil Island and Leon has tell the two owners you don't want to coach a jet you owe it to them so I went up to New York I called my wife at night she said you did what I said I'm the head coach of the Jets she said you went there to turn it down I said well let's see what happens well what did they say how did they get you from I'm going to turn it down to yes I'll take the job you're a New York you're at a French restaurant and you say Broadway Joe namus my quarterback and you didn't say oh man this going to be but I went there without a vision without a plan but I didn't put together the proper staff I didn't understand professional football the one thing that I learned is in college you control every single facet of the program in the pros the locker room belongs to the players what I should have done was go to Joe namoth Jerome barkam and say you won the superball and now we have one of the worst teams in the league what's the difference in the lock gr that would have told you volumes about what you need to do in the man you I could have learned so much more from the players hav never been in the NFL before it just it's something that I wish that I would have succeeded I wished I would have followed up on but you know that's part of life that's just that's a chapter of my life I learned from it benefited from moved on so Frank broal hires you at Arkansas the success Time at Arkansas Razorbacks followed you guys went 10 and one uh right out of the shoot yeah we won 10 and one we lost to Texas and Earl Campbell uh in the last minute of play but then we go to a bowl game we go play Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl I want to set this up you're going to play in the Orange Bowl against Oklahoma a favored Oklahoma team and three of your top players get in trouble before the game well the three scored 78% of our touchdowns the entire year so I would think they were pretty instrumental in our success okay I've read where you said they broke your do the right thing rule well they broke it big time okay they broke the do right rule okay so now you are without your three best players or most instrumental offensive players they're great players the Press goes crazy about this right oh yeah because I wouldn't say what what they did I just they violated new right Rule and they AR going to play and we got obscene phone calls because the last time Arkansa played Oklahoma Oklahoma beat him 108 to nothing and so all of a sudden it was a big deal and I tell the athletes they AR going to play and I tell our team they AR going to play and the team did not receive it particularly well and so it looked like we're going to have a boycott but that didn't materialize yeah that's a big thing though where you're feeling pressure the Press I'm sure you could kind of take or leave but there's pressure from the school to to win I mean you're taking on Oklahoma there's pressure from your team a lawyer gets involved and tells the athletes I can get an injunction and get you to play in the game so they take me to court the attorney general for Arkansas calls me who goes by the name of Bill Clinton later President Clinton that's how I ended up sleeping in the Lincoln bed bedro because of him but he calls and say cuz you're a state employee I can represent you and we had a we talked every night on the phone I would get mad I'd scream I'd holler he'd calm me down but he did a great job we won the case they would not be allowed to play and I I've never been in a situation where you felt like the whole world was against you and I even told my wife I said you know this may cost me my job it may cost me the coaching profession but we're going to stand for what we truly believe so you had to rely at least a running back on a backup Rolland Sals yes three days before the game I had a team in disarray we became the largest under doogs who's ever been to Bow this is when the orange bow was the last game of the year and I said I know why we can't win cuz I pick up the paper and I read about the great players from Oklahoma going to play and in that same paper I read about the great players from Arkansas that're not going to play so I know why we can't win I've never read one positive comment about anybody in this room just who isn't going to play tell me why we can for a while nobody said anything think a player got up and said we have the number one defense of the country which we did he said we are going to get beat near as bad as everybody thinks well wasn't what have wanted but it was a step in the right direction and then that's not exactly win one for the GI that we we point out we had a great competitor quarterback had a great offens line had a great punter play the more they talked when they left the room was a different team because they looked at why we could do something instead listen everybody tell us why we couldn't win here's what happened Alney hands the ball off and there goes sail sail to the 10 to the five and down to the three goes roll f c Kagney car how vindicating was that win for you because yet again this is an example of you doing the right thing you stood for what you believed in and you won and you beat a heavily favored team how vindicating changed my life completely we come back from the bow game IBM and General Motors calls me we want you to come speak to our people about what I've never I had one speech class my life that was Ken State 101 speech 101 I got to see I got a listen come tell about what you did to turn it around at yourb so I go speak for IBM all of a sudden IBM exploded people in the audience and now running Kroger or would you come speak that's how the speaking started and just from that b game up until then nobody wanted to hear me speak but that that changed my life in every way after all the success at Arkansas were you surprised it came to an end the way it did yeah it really was I I I was shocked you know we had been there seven years had seven b bids uh four top 10 faes had the best one loss record in the history of Arkansas the second best one loss record in the history of the Southwest Conference o to D Royal and came home from church and got a call and Frank BR said I want your resignation and I said why he said it's best interest of the program when not give me a reason I was so mad I was so bitter that I was going to uh the media I knew where all the bodies were buried I could really get them and my wife said no we know what we Minnesota Golden Gophers Era did we'll move on you don't get ahead of anybody by getting even with them so I never talked to the media never once and I just moved on but it was uh difficult but my attitude was they prove him wrong so you do the right thing you don't go to the Press you don't make it personal you just move along you go to Minnesota and it's at Minnesota that you make a deal in your contract the Notre Dame Clause yes and and this is interesting the I guess in essence it had two parts if you took them to a bowl that's it and if the Notre Dame job came open yes they had could leave they had to contact me and here's a deal why did I think Notre Dame might hire me Jean Cory was the new athletic director at Ohio at Notre Dame he was at Virginia he tried to hire me three different times and my feeling was if we turn Minnesota around and he tried to hire me before why would he not think I was a best job and so they the only fair thing was we had to take Minnesota had to accept a bow bid first the logic being if I took a program here we took it up here and went to a bowl game that means that we're pretty good now you get somebody else that take it the rest of the way but if we didn't accept a b bit I not not free to go we played Iowa our last game of the year and get the B bid I said to Paul Gil you know what happens he said I think it's more important to the program following Monday Notre Dame calls me about being the head coach the Monday after we accept a b bit you grew up as a child around a radio listening to Notre Dame football I can't imagine for a young boy in your home listening to those games marching out recess to the Notre Dame song the fight song what it was like as the head football coach at Notre Dame when they called me they said to me before you accept the job at Notre Dame I want you to understand there certain things at Notre Dame are not negotiable don't think you're going to come to Notre Dame and change them understand this is Notre Dame we don't take red shirts we don't take transfer we don't have nle Dormer Training Table we're going to play the most difficult schedule we can find we expect to win we have high academic standards we aren't going to lower them and he said we don't have good football facilities we don't want to improve because we don't want somebody come here because of our weight room we want them to come because of our chemistry Department these things are not negotiable and the other thing we have a Paul say the head football coach at Notre Dame is not allowed to make more than the President of Notre Dame and the president Notre Dame's a priest that took the V poverty that's not negotiable so when you go there you are going to go say we need a new weight room no that is not negotiable and you go there but you understand and I never looked and said wow I'm at Notre D what I felt was important you understand that the other coach had just gotten fired and and I didn't want that on my record at Notre Dame so I was worried about winning I wasn't worried about wow this is your Chie I'm the head coach at Notre Dame no getting there is nice but getting sucessful there is more important but the fact is it's a responsibility that you have to build Notre Dame the the the football team should reflect the values of Notre Dame University we got to play intelligently we got to play together we got to play a sports but we ought to play with a great commitment Excellence so this team that you took over after 85 was down how did you changeed the culture when you got to Notre Dame first of all we had Talent at Notre Dame my first year but they didn't know how to win or didn't expect to win but we we had good talent there it wasn't that we're losing because of lack of Talent two things you do you give people something they can do and demand they do it that's number one I may not expect you to reach out and block an All-American defensive tackle we run outside hey you can't do that but you can block down on a man he may be great but you can block down I'm going to give you an angle it and do gun I expect that to be done so I'm going to give you something to do I'm going to demand that Transforming Notre Dame Football you do it to the best of your ability and the only other thing that convinc we rely on one another it all comes down to teamwork you took the names off the back of the players jerseys well they have ND on it there there's nothing more important you got another name on it why why do we need your name don't yell at me don't yell at me it's game isn't about you it's about us it's about us as a team and we represent the university D not you if you want your name on it then you go to that school that's losing it's just like we would it's like we would run the stadium steps and the players come play these steps too big well go to a smaller School you come to the big time you're going to have big time steps that's all part of it I I'm I'm anxious to ask you about you being a smaller guy standing up in front of these big Behemoth men with the lisp thinking how am I going to get them to follow me does that make sense is that a fair question oh yeah that's a fair question I I think you my the players were always scared of me I have no because I was so intense but this was important usually when you take over a job and you GW meet the team for the first time usually say to him I know you had no choice in who was going to be the head coach nobody allowed you to vote and if you did you would not have picked me I understand Michigan Pregame Speech Insight that cuz you hear I'm a disciplinarian I've never disciplined anybody in my life I I but you would have never picked me I understand that but I want you to understand one thing I had a choice I had a good job I didn't need to move my family but I came here because I thought if we work together we could really do some special things so I had a choice I know you didn't but I hope you always remember I won to be with you I hope you'll want to be with me you move on from there man so he can obviously win a crowd over here but before his first game against the Michigan Wolverines here is Lou Holt's pregame speech to his players we said we were going to bring respect don't talk about it only one way you get respect and that's by looking at somebody in the eye for 60 minutes go out there hitch up your TR and say hey baby here I am now let me see your through me now let me see you show some disrespect for me when I'm no are you knows what do you [Applause] think God I love that audio that was the pregame speech before Michigan you lose by one but everybody is excited about what they're seeing with this Notre Dame football program you're the guy that put up play Like A Champion today at Notre Dame what what happen when I go to Notre Dame I go to the library and I get all the books on Notre Dame history football and I see a picture in this old book play Like A Champion today and I said what happened to that sign it was right above the entrance way to Notre Dame I mean it was a no Notre Dame picture nobody had ever heard of it nobody knew anything about it so I said I want that picture I want that sign printed exactly the way it was then and I said I want that we're going to put it up and we're going to hit that sign and every time you do it you're going to think about the great players that came before you about the obligation you have representing the university know D about all the sacrifices your family and friends made for you to be here I want all this to go through your mind to understand when you go through that you got to play Like A Champion dat not necessarily for you but for everybody in neigh with you to be here and that's what that's how it came about I didn't put it up but I did the research how important at that time was winning a national championship for you personally I I I think dreams are everybody needs four things in your life if you don't have four things in your life you file tremendous void something to do everybody needs something to do everybody needs someone to love everybody needs somethingone to believe but everybody needs something to hope for having something to hope for is critical Martin Luther King made one of the 10 greatest speeches in the history of mankind where he said I have a dream he had a dream do you think that speech would had the same effect and he stood up and said I have a strategic plan I want to show you strategic plan it's "Play Like a Champion Today" Significance dreams it's excitement it's belief this great 1988 season you start the year ranked 13th Miami slides up to number one at some point and it just there's a collision course happening here between Notre Dame and Miami how do you prepare for this game against the Miami Hurricanes well Miami came from like 14 down in the last couple minutes to beat Michigan and we beat Michigan so I called Bo and Bo I love Bo shenck we're great friends off the field and I said you played both of us do we have a chance to beat Miami he Strategy Against Miami Hurricanes said you have a chance chance but you're going to have to play awfully well I said all I want to hear was that we had a chance and all year we knew that if we're going to make it to the big time we had to beat Miami not just because they were number one in defending sh they had beaten US 58 to7 the last game before I became the head coach they had run fake punt reverses they did all these different they ran it up they they embarrassed Notre Dame pions doing the TV and he said from these ashes Notre Dame will rise up again they they had they had embarrassed us and and that was Our obligation to correct that this is the game they called Catholics versus convicts but that wasn't fair it was inaccurate because not all our team was Catholic convicts you have no problem with I can't control that but we weren't all Catholics there's a great moment that you have in the locker room before your team takes the field and you're getting your guys psyched up you're doing your thing and at the end you say something to the effect of you go out there and kick their asses you save Jimmy Johnson from me no like you were going to kick his ass in the parking lot after that what happened is we do our pregame warmup they do theirs Miami comes down they bump our players they run through our team a big fight happens before the game before the game but warm up in The End Zone and the people getting fights are the third teamers they aren't going to play but they go back to the doorm yeah I punched the guy you know but now we come in the locker room after the big fight I'm so embarrassed here we are number one at Notre Dame and we're the host and we treat guest like that there is no understanding explanation that I will accept that would cause us to be in that fight I don't care what they did we're the host so now we're in the locker room before the game and I have this long speech I want to give him and I said to him if anybody does anything but show class during this entire game you will not only not play the rest of this year you will't never play at Notre Dame again I want you to go out and and I want you to play as hard as you can but with nothing but class and just the way you conduct yourself now after the game if they want to fight in the parking lot that's fine we'll meet him in the parking lot and if they do you save Jimmy Johnson's ass for me I hadn't planned on it it wasn't what I wanted to say but that's how mad I was and I never said a word about it for 20 years but that's exactly what happened we're going to run the the end of the game the Highlight in two parts here's the first one with your noted a Fighting Irish leading Miami late late in the fourth quarter Jimmy Johnson brings the offense so it has come down to this play it is fourth down aren't they something touchdown Andre Brown Jimmy will use a timeout it's 3130 at 45 seconds now they'll go for two I believe touchdown it's 31-30 so Jimmy Johnson calls timeout and The 1988 Notre Dame-Miami Rivalry he has made the decision as it turns out to go for two and the win you have an opportunity to talk to your team I'm dying to know what you said to your defense leading by one point with them going out there to try and win it just everybody do what you're supposed to do don't try to play two positions have faith and trust in your team just play your position we'll be fine what was that like for you on the sideline watching this unfold hope they did what I asked them to do well let's see if they did 45 seconds to play Notre Dame 31 Miami 30 and going for two incomplete this place about to explode we've said it before and we'll say it again that's why they play the game 3130 Notre Dame over Miami I'm T I'm I'm taken by your demeanor on the sideline when you win that game against Miami it's the same demeanor you had at Arkansas when you beat Oklahoma there's no jumping up and down Lou Holtz running around like a a crazy guy there you you were very restrained but I I want to ask you what that win against Miami felt like for you and for that team oh it was a great win but you your players are going to follow the demeanor you have a head coach if you're screaming and hollering and yelling they get the attitude boy we're in trouble coaches really panicking and remember this after the game beating Miami that's a big game that makes a week next week's game even bigger every time you win a game the next week's game becomes even bigger but you're going to take on West Virginia an undefeated Mountaineers team in the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship how do you prepare for this game the day before the game we took them to the stadium one of their gift was a picture and everybody takes picture of their teammates and c and then I assigned every senior to be carried off the field by the underclassman I had it worked out you four will carry this senior off you three will carry this one off and we practiced carrying them off after the win that's how you prepared for the game the day before we this you basically prepared the celebration well we can't celebrate if we don't win so don't screw me up just but I I would joke with I'd have the game plan on vanilla fer and say to him man this game plan is so great the Hall of Fame wants it in the only way you can keep hisself if you don't execute it because I want to tell you it's brilliant right here everybody knows us said don't foul me up you just joke with him a lot here it is the 1989 Fiesta B Johnson is the man to watch the fullback or rice on the keeper Johnson touchdown so the score is nine to nothing well no pressing here on Third and long rice so is for a touchdown Lou holds such a master when it comes to utilizing his players and there it is a final seconds take away and Notre Dame will duy 1989 Fiesta Bowl: Notre Dame vs West Virginia celebrate a national championship no doubt the Irish are number one what did it feel like for you to win this National Championship it's just something that they can't take away from you it's an accomplishment that I was happy for the players uh I've been part of one at Ohio State uh and now to win this you come so close and you got to be so lucky in so many respect you know my wife and I made our decision we're going to be buried at Notre D our our burial plots are at Notre D and it's on campus and they're beautiful they Overlook the golf course which I love and the golden dome and it's a better view if you're sitting up but but we have it and and the reason yeah Lums buried me every Saturday so but here's the thing three of our four children graduated from Notre D the one place they will always go back to is Notre D they won't always go somewhere they what so that's why we're going to be buried at Notre Dame we have this quote we have this quote on the wall um life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it I believe that's true you can't control the things that happen all the time you can control how you react to it the other thing I said is what you're capable of doing determined by the amount of talent God gave you maybe he gave me the ability to run the 1099 so that's my talent but what I do is determined by my motivation I may be capable of running 99 but I'm not even going to run it unless I'm motivated to do so and then how will you do something determined by your attitude Talent deserves what you can do motivation what you do but attitude is how will you do something you have the right attitude you're going to run it 99 you might be motivated to run it but you're editor you're going to running 104 let it's right it's just we complicate life and I when I I'm say I'm not very book smart I I'm not being humble or anything else I'm being accurate but I just think I try to learn from people as I see and use common sense on it at the end of your time at Notre Dame take us through the pressure that you were feeling win once and and then you're going to find out how hard it is to coach at Notre Dame so you win in the 88 season and and now now you you know you're always measured against your own standard yeah and and tell us what it was like at the end of that stretch this might be the most important thing I'm going to say on this show all day and that is that once we sign the NBC contract there was a backlash with the media towards Notre dve the NBC contract meaning that Notre Pressures of Notre Dame Coaching Dame was on every Saturday Notre Dame had their own network would be exposed and there was a backlash which is a huge advantage to to Notre Dame theoretically but it also we had changed athletic directors we had an athletic dick Rosenthal love him like a brother he was great we we had more fun together no secrets he retires they bring another ad and it just was difficult to communicate with it might have been my fault I don't know but in any event I decide to leave Notre Dame now there's a rule of Life Ladi and gentlemen you're either growing or you're dying the trees either growing or is dying so is grass so is a marriage and so is a person it doesn't have a thing to do with age has everything to do with you trying to accomplish something once you win a National Championship everybody has you on a pedestal uh and then the only story is how you're not perfect no matter what it is you know we finished second in the country everybody called me an idiot that idiot finish second guy finishes last in medical school they call him doctor that doesn't seem fair but that's life so it it changed because you have a sense of accomplishment but the expectations at Notre Dame always so difficult when I went there they say coach oh we want to do is be competitive first year we lose five games by total 14 points I think that's competitive thep said no you don't understand competitiv us means to win not come close second year we win go to cotton ball they said we said win we meant win them all third year we win them all they said we meant by a big score so you never going to satisfy but you get on top and you say this pretty good nine straight years we go to January one both sugar cuton orange or Fiesta nobody's done it before since 10 straight years we go into November with a chance to win the national championship and you get on top and you say this pretty good let's maintain it and the r life you're growing or dying I thought I was tired of coaching I wasn't I was tired of maintain it after I left Notre Dame I never thought I'd coach again where'd you go from Notre Dame courtne my mother go directly to Heaven you sit by the co by the pope you don't coach anymore then you go live in a town where the average agent dece East and what you find out you weren't tired of Coach you're tired of maintaining and that's a lesson I learned you like you like the build right oh yeah yeah I which is what you ended up doing coming back at South Carolina South Carolina might have been the more difficult situation I've ever inherited we're talking about 1999 and that program was down and out the program was down we had Coaching Burnout Discussion three offensive L on scholarship one quarterback and we lost him the second game for the entire year but now we're on 11 my first year we never had a chance we play pretty good defense we didn't have a chance and everybody's criticizing he's too old the game pass to by you can't win at South Carolina I Building Programs vs. Maintenance remember I'm in an airport after that year and a guy come up and said anybody tell you look like Lou Holts I said happens all the time he said really makes you mad doesn't it you know you're on the bottom you got two choices you stay down or you get up you can succeed Ed when No One Believes In you no chance you don't believe in yourself I don't care what anybody else says we can succeed when we believe in ourselves I don't care who else believes but we're bound and determined and 12 months later we have the second greatest turnaround the history of NCA football we beat Ohio State on January 1 and following year we finished 11th country beat Ohio State again on January 1 but do you have any regrets as you look back uh we make a lot of mistakes you learn from them you benefit from them but uh lucky I am to be married to the person I am to have the children we have to be in the country that we have to have the opportunities and uh I I I don't think it you live your life regrets you just try to learn and benefit from it and be thankful every day you can either be happy or you can be sad it's life matter choices you you choose to act or procrastinate believe or doubt pray or curse help or heal succeed or fail be happy or sad that's your choice I choose to be happy last question I asked before this is uh what's next for you I I don't know I'm still riding in the front of the hearse long long as I'm doing that I think we're okay uh you know I I just I want to be active I I I want to be active I want to have a reason to get up each and every morning and to go do things all right fun questions here we go it's the way we wrap up would you rather have your flight delayed 16 hours or lose your Light-hearted Q&A Session luggage oh I'd rather lose my luggage because I don't ever check it you travel late it's like guy goes up and said I want this suitcase go New York that one to Los Angeles this one to Chicago she said we can't do that he said you did it the last time I flew [Laughter] your would you rather have one life that lasts 1,000 years or 10 lives that are 100 years each oh I I I'd rather have 10 100 years I I would think I I I just long as long as I end up with my wife in my family and in the in this country to me I think being in this country is the most important thing because of the opportunities you have here's the last question I'm asking you I swear to God on my children it's a simple question what makes a great coach [Applause] wins for the sake of my daughters I cannot ask a followup I'm sorry um I hope that you've enjoyed this as much as I have uh this is a brilliant man who grew up uh in East Liverpool Ohio is in the Hall of Fame and is a molder of young men and thank God that uh that he was just that you've made everybody proud I know that knew you back in the day and you are making it a difference and those choices that you make like being happy I think you've spread that around anybody you've been around ladies and gentlemen the great Lou Holtz thank you thank you you do a great [Applause] job thank [Applause] [Music] you [Music]