Notre Dame, IN (UHND.com) – Just by looking at Lou Holtz on Saturday, you couldn’t tell it had been over 10 years since he roamed the sidelines of Notre Dame. Holtz, an honorary coach for the Blue-Gold game this year, picked up right where he left off – chewing out quarterbacks, giving referees an earful, and picking grass up and down the sidelines.
It didn’t take long for Holtz to strike a couple familiar poses for the record crowd of 51,800. Before halftime Holtz was pacing up and down the sideline, stopping to pick the grass like he did so many times during his 11 year career under the Dome.
Holtz was also seen giving one of his quarterbacks and earful on the way into the locker room for halftime. After Evan Sharpley took a sack with no time outs remaining, Holtz couldn’t resist getting in his quarterbacks ear just a little bit. “We just prayed on it a little bit,” the former Notre Dame head coach joked before adding, “You don’t win because you make the great play; you win because you eliminate the bad play.”
Holtz expanded on the missed opportunity at the end of the first had, “We had no more time-outs and you know, I’m always open on the sideline. We should have had a chance for a field goal but you learn from that. And football is a game of physical, but it’s also a game of mental.”
While his initial reaction was a bit animated, Holtz spoke with the young quarterback on the way into the locker room. “You know, these are all hopefully a learning experience and hopefully they will all benefit from it. That’s all learning. I just tried to make it a learning experience for them, that was all.”
Despite showing a lot of emotion on the sideline Saturday, Holtz said he doesn’t miss coaching. “I’ve got to be honest, I do not miss coaching,” Holtz said. “It was fun to be there etc, but I doubt it. I did it for many, many years. It’s a young man’s game. Step back and let the young people take it. It’s a new generation. It’s time for other people to move on.”
Holtz coached the gold team to a victory Saturday complete with a Gatorade bath which took Holtz by surprise. “I’ll tell you one thing, you don’t throw Gatorade on a guy at 70 years old in a spring game when it’s not suspected,” Holtz said. “I could have had a heart attack and sued Notre Dame for a lot of money.”
Gatorade bath aside, Holtz walked away impressed with what Charlie Weis has done during his short tenure in South Bend. “He’s got a very, very healthy program here,” Holtz said of Weis. “As a matter of fact, I’m proud of what Notre Dame has done in all of their athletic programs, whether it be women’s soccer or anything else, they have just done a marvelous job. This football team is going to be a very, very good football team.”
Just how good does Holtz think the Irish will be? “I would pick them top 15 right now. I think they will finish the season in the top 15 based on what I’ve seen and based on what I know.”
Holtz also left Notre Dame this weekend very impressed with the Notre Dame defense and new defensive coordinator Corwin Brown, “I think defensively you have to be impressed. The secondary moved well. Very well coached. I did not expect to see a defense that was as physical and played as hard as they did today in a spring game.” Holtz would go to give Brown some praise by adding, “I just think that the guy’s got great leadership. I’m very impressed with him.”
One are where Holtz didn’t have much to say about the quarterback derby only saying, “I think that they will be fine with the quarterback once they settle on it; they have several good candidates.” He didn’t single any one quarterback out in terms of any sort of analysis, but did say that once the Irish settle in on a quarterback and receivers, they will be a tough team to beat.
While Holtz may have enjoyed his experience, the Notre Dame fans may have gotten even more enjoyment from seeing Holtz roam the sidelines of Notre Dame Stadium one more time and listening to Holtz joke with the media after the game.
