Head Football Coach Lou Holtz

Philosophies on Other People

• Visiting Darrell Royal: "When I was an assistant at Connecticut, I went to Austin to see Darrell Royal, Texas' head coach. I was going to make the most of the time I had with him, and once I got into his office I had a list of 80 questions I wanted to ask him. I know he didn't expect this and I'm certain he had to cancel a golf game because I took up so much of his time. But he couldn't have been more gracious about helping me. I wrote down the answers to every one of those questions and I still have them in a box somewhere."
• Believing in Yourself: "I was at a convention just after taking the job at N.C. State and I was talking to Wayne Hardin, who was coach at Temple. He said, 'Lou, do you think you're the best coach in the country?' I said, 'No way, I'm not even in the top 10.' He said, 'Well, North Carolina State hired you because they think you are. If you don't act like you are, you shouldn't be in coaching.' That changed my whole outlook."
• His Hero: "One of my favorites always has been Ted Williams. He had such a great talent, and yet he developed it to the maximum. He kept his private life quiet, but he answered the call from his country in the prime of his career. In terms of football coaches, I don't think you can possibly be around Woody Hayes without having an awful lot of him in you. He was a beautiful person. Maybe some of the people in the news media didn't always like him, but he believed in his coaches and players more than they believed in themselves. It's rare today to find a player or coach who worked under him who didn't love him. He wouldn't accept anything less than their best, he drove them and he never backed away from a challenge. Darrell Royal and Rick Forzano also had strong influences on my coaching beliefs."
• The Tradition: "I looked at the records of people like Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy and Ara Parseghian and I thought they were misprints. I didn't think anyone could win that many and lose so few."
• On His Players: "Our athletes at Notre Dame have inspired me and they have gained a tremendous amount of respect from me. Take an individual at 19 years of age with tremendous expectations by our alumni and people around the country. Perfection is not only expected, it's demanded. When you look at the athletic pressures and the social pressures - they have girlfriend problems, financial problems and they are trying to adjust to their spiritual life and find themselves to formulate their own philosophies, it's a very trying time, but a very important time in a man's life. Add the pressures of academic life at Notre Dame - to watch them be able to handle it and compete, and see how they grow and develop, you can't help but say they are special."
• Coaching Your Team: "My second year at William & Mary, we went up to West Virginia for our first game. We played pretty well, but they scored with a minute to go and edged us 43-7. At halftime I met Bobby Bowden (now Florida State head coach) at midfield and we weren't doing real well and I said, 'Bobby, I thought you were a good friend of mine.' He said, 'Hey, you can only coach one team at a time. You coach yours and I'll coach mine.' After the game I was still upset and I said to him, 'Bobby, why'd you run the score up on me?' He said, 'I want to tell you something. It's your responsibility to hold the score down, not mine.' I'll never forget that."