Rivals: Holtz's return will be emotional

[USFishin]

Holtz's return will be emotional

Tim Prister

IrishIllustrated.com

It won’t be quite like running out of the Notre Dame Stadium tunnel in his home blue jersey, nor will it be the same as coaching for his Hall-of-Fame father.

But when Louis Leo Holtz, Jr. - Skip since he was a young boy - brings his South Florida Bulls team onto the field on Sept. 3 to take on the Fighting Irish, he’ll be battling against the overwhelming memories of his days gone by at Our Lady’s school.

“I just need to keep in perspective that the game is much bigger for South Florida than it is for Skip Holtz,†said Holtz Monday in a teleconference from his home base in Tampa. “I’m going to have to put my emotions and enthusiasm (aside) for what we’re trying to do as a team.â€

Holtz, a 1987 graduate of the university and a member of the Irish special teams in ’86, hasn’t been in Notre Dame Stadium for a football game since his father coached his final home game against Rutgers (a 62-0 victory) in 1996. He coached his final game as an assistant coach for the Irish in 1993 before departing for the head coaching position at Connecticut.

After reconnecting with his father at South Carolina, Skip Holtz landed the head coaching position at East Carolina, where he won 38 games in five seasons, and then took the South Florida job last season as the Bulls won eight games - second only to West Virginia in the Big East.

But coming back to Notre Dame Stadium is different.

“You’re talking about one of the most storied programs in the country - tradition-wise, history-wise, award-wise, winning-wise, and everything else that’s there - against the youngest program in the BCS (six years) and only playing football for 13 years.

“Somebody pointed out to me that when we were founded in 1956, Notre Dame had already won seven national championships. They are celebrating their 120th year and we’re just celebrating our 100th win. That tells you a little bit about the difference in the programs.â€

But as everyone in college football knows, when there’s a Holtz involved, anything is possible. Skip Holtz’s East Carolina team knocked off No. 17 Virginia Tech and No. 8 West Virginia to open the 2008 season en route to the first of back-to-back nine-victory seasons with the Pirates.

In his first season with the Bulls, Holtz won his final three games on the road against Cincinnati as an 8 1/2-point underdog, versus Louisville in overtime, and against 12-point favorite Miami.

The task will be even more daunting on Sept. 3 when the Bulls take on No. 16-ranked Notre Dame as Brian Kelly revives a dormant tradition.

“We’ll address the opportunity to play at Notre Dame with all the tradition and history that they have there,†Holtz said. “Having been through it in three phases - as a coach, a player and a student - I’ll be able to give them a little bit of insight about what we’re walking into.â€

Holtz first set foot on the Notre Dame campus back in the early ‘80s when he accompanied his father to Chicago for a speech. They then drove to South Bend, where the younger Holtz fell in love with his future alma mater.

“I didn’t grow up watching Notre Dame on TV every week as a coach’s son,†Holtz said. “We moved around. My favorite team was always the school we were at, whether that was William & Mary, N.C. State, Arkansas, the Jets?you kind of followed where you were and what you were doing at that time.

“When I was in high school, my father asked me what schools I’d really like to look at. We went down to South Bend and had an opportunity to meet with Coach (Gerry) Faust and Digger Phelps. Once I went around and saw the campus, it was a place that I really kind of fell in love with emotionally. I said, ‘This is where I want to go to school.’ It was a great experience for me.â€

Holtz didn’t go out for football until his father’s first season at Notre Dame, which was Skip’s senior year. He ended up becoming a fairly prominent member of the Irish special teams. Even a critical penalty on Skip Holtz didn’t prevent Tim Brown from completing a come-from-behind victory over USC in the 1986 regular-season finale, propelling the Irish to greater heights from 1987-93 when Holtz Sr., was 72-13-1 during that seven-year span.

“We are who we are because of the experiences that we’ve had, and I had an incredible experience at Notre Dame as a student,†Holtz said. “Then to have the opportunity to play football there, and the opportunity to not only coach there but coach with my father?We are who we are because of the experiences that we’ve had and the people we’ve had a chance to be influenced by.â€

When Skip returned for his father’s home finale in 1994, the Holtz family turned it into a true celebration. Skip’s son, Louis Leo Holtz III - Trey - was baptized at the Log Chapel on campus as the Glee Club gathered outside to sing Ave Maria.

“It was a job that my father so dearly loved and truly enjoyed going to every day because he believed in so much of what Notre Dame stood for,†Holtz said. “Knowing that that was coming to an end was a sad time for us as a family, but also an opportunity for us to reflect on all the great memories and joys and successes that he had at Notre Dame.â€

Holtz insists that his attention is on coaching South Florida, not daydreaming about one day following in his father’s footsteps as the head coach of the Fighting Irish.

“You have to control what you can control, and I don’t have any control over whether that happens,†Holtz said. “Everybody would love the opportunity to one day coach at their alma mater. Not just at Notre Dame, but Cincinnati, South Florida, wherever it is.

“But outside of that, I really haven’t spent a lot of time on it. I haven’t sat around and dreamed about ‘one day?’ I’ve always found the best way to promote yourself is to do the best job with the one you have. I never applied, tried to apply, sent in a r?m?or made phone calls to try to get a foot in the door. I believe that’s the administrator’s decision to sit down and make a decision on who they think best fits what Notre Dame needs as a football coach.

“The best thing I can do right now is coach at South Florida. I enjoy it here. My family is very happy here. This has been a great move for us as a family, and this is a program that has an awful lot of upside. We’re just in the growing stages as a program both on and off the football field. I have more than I can say grace over just trying to get this football team ready to play a season rather than thinking about what could be or where I want to be.â€

Holtz, Sr., was given the opportunity to go back to Notre Dame for the South Florida game, but chose instead to maintain his game-day duties as a member of the ESPN crew.

“He’ll be in the studio that day. They’ll be working,†Skip Holtz said. “That’s one of things that’s been hard for him. He hasn’t been able to come to too many games. He told me before (how) hard it is to watch. I can only imagine. It would hard to watch my son compete. You want to get on the phone and tell him what to do and run this play and run that play. He’s been great about giving me advice from afar and not climbing in the middle of it.â€

For Skip Holtz, it’s all about the job on Sept. 3.

“It’s going to be exciting, but the University of South Florida having the opportunity to play against Notre Dame is a much bigger picture than just Skip Holtz coming to South Bend for the first time since I left there in ’94,†Holtz said.

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[Jihme]

thank goodness all the attention is on holtz so that players don't have as much attention on them.

[GaUSFBull]

There was a similar blog post on ESPN yesterday, and someone made a good comment about how most of our guys probably won't be "oohed and ahhed" by Notre Dame, and he had been more worried about going into the Swamp last year.  I tend to agree, I don't think it's a stretch that a lot of the guys on the team don't know about don't care about the Notre Dame "mystique."  We're talking about a team that played someone decently for a half at Florida and won on the road at Miami last year.  Those are the teams I feel like our team would have butterflies in the stomach going up against.  I thought the Bulls poster on ESPN had a pretty good point about that. 

[BleedGreenAndGold]

There was a similar blog post on ESPN yesterday, and someone made a good comment about how most of our guys probably won't be "oohed and ahhed" by Notre Dame, and he had been more worried about going into the Swamp last year.  I tend to agree, I don't think it's a stretch that a lot of the guys on the team don't know about don't care about the Notre Dame "mystique."  We're talking about a team that played someone decently for a half at Florida and won on the road at Miami last year.  Those are the teams I feel like our team would have butterflies in the stomach going up against.  I thought the Bulls poster on ESPN had a pretty good point about that. 

I'm sure a lot of coaches say something about there being nothing magical about ND, 120 long X 53 wide and all that.  When Holtz says it you have to think it'll have a little more credibility.