Head Football Coach Lou Holtz

The North Carolina State Years

At North Carolina State, Holtz produced the best four-year win-loss record (33-12-3) in the history of the school. All four of his Wolfpack teams earned postseason bowl invitations, giving him a personal string of 10 straight bowl games including the six at Arkansas. He took over a program that had won only three games in each of the previous three seasons before he arrived-and reversed that figure by coaching the 'Pack to an 8-3-1 record in 1972. North Carolina State won seven of its last eight games that year, including a 49-13 victory over 18th-ranked West Virginia in the Peach Bowl to end up 17th in the final AP poll. Holtz was rewarded by being named Atlantic Coast Conference coach of the year.

Here's what Holtz's next three Wolfpack teams accomplished:

His '73 squad won the ACC title with a perfect 6-0 record, beginning the season ranked 17th and ending it ranked 16th (both AP and UPI) after a 31-18 Liberty Bowl win over 19th-ranked Kansas left North Carolina State 9-3. His team's only losses that season came on the road at second-ranked Nebraska, at Georgia and at sixth-ranked Penn State, a team that finished 12-0.
His '74 team won its first six games and later handed Penn State one of its two losses that year. The Wolfpack lost only consecutive league games to North Carolina and 15th-ranked Maryland before tying Houston 31-31 in the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl. The 9-2-1 slate left North Carolina State ninth (UPI) and 11th (AP) in the final polls.
His '75 team began the season ranked 13th (AP), with the highlight of the campaign a 15-14 road win at eighth-ranked Penn State. The Wolfpack fell to West Virginia in the Peach Bowl to end up 7-4-1.

North Carolina State's ninth-place finish in the final UPI poll in '74 marks the only time in the school's history its football team has finished in a wire-service top 10.