THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 9, 1997 TAG: 9701090524
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: 65 lines
The year was 1966, and a determined Lou Holtz, having just lost his assistant coaching job at the University of South Carolina, sat down and wrote winning a national championship, appearing on ``The Tonight Show,'' meeting the Pope and 103 other goals he wanted to achieve in life.
He then showed the list to his wife.
``You need to add one more,'' she said.
``What's that?''
``Get a job.''
Thirty years later, Holtz, the former Notre Dame head football coach who related this story and several others during a motivational speech at Willett Hall Wednesday, finds himself out of work again. But after 219 coaching victories and having accomplished 98 of the goals on that list, Holtz doesn't appear to be in any hurry to land his next steady job.
``I have no idea what I'll do next,'' Holtz said. ``First I'll see if I can do without coaching. If I can't, I'll coach again. I'm just going to let God lead me.''
Holtz, who resigned in November at Notre Dame at age 59 having coached more games than anyone in school history, has received nearly as much acclaim for his speeches as he has for his coaching acumen over the years.
He showed why Wednesday, ignoring his inimitable lisp to deftly mix uplifting messages with self-deprecating humor - ``I'm 5-10, 152 pounds with a body that looks like its been infected with beriberi and scurvy most of my life'' - and one-liners with the timing of a standup comic.
``My son Kevin is a lawyer and when he passed the bar I told my wife that's the first bar he passes since he turned 18,'' Holtz deadpanned.
Mostly, however, Holtz talked about being disciplined, making the right decisions in life and dealing with disappointment.
``When people have adversity, they should focus on what they have, not what they lost,'' Holtz said. ``You may never reach a point where you can say you've got it made, but you should also never reach the point where you feel there's no hope.''
Holtz has ties to the Hampton Roads area; he spent time living in Williamsburg and coaching at William and Mary. One of his sons, Skip, now the head coach at Connecticut, briefly attended Williamsburg's Walsingham Academy. One of his players with the Tribe, Lew Johnston, is now the head football coach at Western Branch High School and was at Willett Hall Wednesday.
Although scheduled to speak for 60 minutes, Holtz commanded the stage for two hours, then hosted a reception for the Portsmouth Sports Club, where Western Branch volleyball star Cathy Arnette and Churchland cross country runner Robbie Williams were named the city's male and female atletes of the fall sports season.
Holtz again maintained he left Notre Dame ``because it was time,'' and said he is not pursuing any coaching position. But Holtz has been known to play fast and loose on the coaching front. After all, this is the same guy who called a press conference to announce he was ``perfectly content'' at Minnesota three days before he resigned to take the job at Notre Dame. The same guy who dismissed reports he was about to resign at Notre Dame days before he went ahead and did so.
Besides, among the nine unreached goals on Holtz' 30-year list: win a Super Bowl. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot
After 219 coaching victories, Lou Holtz doesn't appear to be in any
hurry to land his next job.
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