The Orlando Sentinel reports: Former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz says the profession has taken a turn for the worse since he was walking the sidelines in South Bend and elsewhere."You didn't feel threatened by everybody," said Holtz, who coached the Irish from 1986-96. "Most I ever made was $135,000. It wasn't about money. You just enjoyed what you were doing and you had a security about what you were doing. You didn't have the Internet and everybody getting fired and offensive. On Friday night after we put the team down, we'd go have drinks with the media ... It's changed, and it hasn't changed for the better."
On the player-mistreatment charges involving Mike Leach at Texas Tech and Jim Leavitt at South Florida, Holtz said: "I grabbed a facemask on a player because I wanted to make sure I had his undivided attention. He had done something to a player that wasn't reflective of the game we teach ... I probably shouldn't have done that."
Get the full story: OrlandoSentinel.com
Photo: Lou Holtz on why he never drinks water: "It has no taste, and if it does, it's not good for you." (Annie McQuary/Ap)
BTS: Thank you for a valuable first-hand perspective.
Notre Dame will triumph despite the efforts of chitownfan61 and his many aliases.
I have read Under the Tarnished Dome and remain unconvinced.
I roomed with a football player at ND who was not a genius but he went to class, lived in his dorm and did the homework. He was a horrible writer but he did his papers; I edited them for him with a pen and he took my suggestions. Old-fashioned peer-editing. Point = he went to class and did the work. I really didn't even like the guy, but I peer-edited his papers because I loved ND. Yes, ND is legit. Holtz was a tough bastard; very old school. Worse than Holtz was Joe Moore the offensive line coach. He came to practice with a baseball bat one time...
If you read Under the Tarnished dome with a critical eye you will make several observations:
a) very few players agreed to be interviewed; those who did were bit players who appeared to have an axe to grind
b) yes, Tony Brooks was trouble. It seems the entire book revolves around one bad apple who everyone admits was a troublemaker. Holtz suspended him for the biggest game of the season: USC. That's more than the finger-gouger at Florida got recently from Urban Meyer.
If you rewatch the games from that era on youtube everyone looks smaller than players these days. I think the steroid issue is probably a much bigger problem now than it was then.
ND took in some really tough guys and made them better people. Think Zorich. ND takes chances on some guys, yes, but the chances are much more targeted, higher percentage chances and the guys are given a huge support system and are surrounded by smart people in dorms that have chapels instead of athletic party houses.
The authors of Tarnished Dome were upset because Holtz declined to let them (the authors) follow Holtz around for a year...the book, in my opinion, was sour grapes.
I was there. ND is legit. Players go to class and do homework and live on campus and get bored in the winter and drink lots of beer like all college students. That's really about it. No surprises, no saints either.
Hey "Classic" - when are you going to answer my questions?
Classic Domer on January 18, 2010 2:20 PM
Players who drop out or leave the program before they use up there eligibility are not included in graduation rates. The rate are calculated by counting those who either get a degree or use up their NCAA eligibility. When schools use that statistic to claim that the majority of their players are scholar athletes, they are full of it.
Um, Classic, that's exactly backwards. Player who leave early, transfer, or drop out count against your grad rate.
Your grad rate is the percentage of players from a signed recruiting class that actually graduate.
If that's your point, what's your evidence? Are you suggesting that graduation rates have zero probative value?
"Classic Domer": What's your point?
Some of you need some serious help.
Coach Holtz is right on with his comments and to be honest, some of you goof balls should have no right to freedom of speech. Yes, true, standards (GPA'S) were lower some when he came, but those standards were still and are today still the top of all programs. Look over recruiting and player profiles and the one thing that stands out with all of them is this, high GPA and above average scores on the ACT/SAT tests.
Coach is right, things have changed and people that have wrote their opinions on here are pathetic and in need of help.
ND's graduation rates are second to none.
I stiil have not seen any of you haters give any specific instances of Lou or the program being dirty.. The only thing that went on at that time was that they were allowed to have four players on the roster that could not meet the academic standards. but cuz they were atheletes they got to go to Notre Dame. What school in the country has not done this at some point. Most schools will let you in with a $20 bill and a subway club card. Grades mean more to Notre Dame than wins. Thats just the way it is today.
ND continues to be a shining beacon in the world of college athletics.
from the anonymity and safety of cyberspace they come, drawn by the sight of someone who has the cojones to stand up in public and say something they disagree with
to those of you who accuse the coach of dirty deals (done dirt cheap!?) - could we have some specifics please?
(can you say "graduation rate" boys and girls?)
Just the facts, ma'am..... Ok just ONE fact.
(Does the name Chris Zorich mean anything to you?)
Just the facts - NCAA sanctions etc. - what SPECIFIC dirt do ANY of you (pretend to) have - ANYTHING on the football program at Notre Dame during Coach Holtz' tenure there?
(Other than the obvious fact that you hate the place, and the fact that they are arrogant as hell does NOT count!)
Thank you and to those of you who are preparing to dump on me - I'm gonna go outside and play in the freshly fallen snow.
And then I go pick up my doggie from daycare.
afn&tt
P.S - Yes I saw him grab the kid by the facemask and get in his face - the kid needed it and at that time it was the right thing to do.
Lou Holtz was and is a great person. He ran a great and noble program at Notre Dame and was an example to right-thinking people throughout the NCAA.
Absolutely right. He left behind a cloud of stink in the wake of every coaching stop he made. Although with ND, it couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch.