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Teflon Lou always escapes the NCAA's grasp
July 17, 2005
BY CAROL SLEZAK SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST Advertisement
Say what you will about Lou Holtz, but the guy knows how to stay one step ahead of the law. Hoo yeah! NCAA investigators can chase Holtz, but they never can catch him. First at Minnesota, then at Notre Dame and now at South Carolina. Everybody else see the pattern here? Holtz comes in, turns the program around, then leaves. And he leaves behind a slew of violations for the NCAA to discover.
And this is the best part: Holtz never knows a darn thing about any of them.
You mean to tell Holtz that South Carolina recruits were invited to attend offseason tutoring sessions and workouts? You mean to tell him that his former tailback Derek Watson was given special treatment? You mean to tell Holtz that the former governor of South Carolina, Jim Hodges, was doing a little recruiting on the side?
A long history of trouble
Holtz didn't have a clue about any of it. Nope. The university might have admitted to 10 violations, including five major violations, but Holtz had nothing to do with any of them. You think he's lying? Well, the NCAA didn't finger Holtz for the violations. The NCAA blamed the strength and conditioning coach and a former academic support services guy. That proves Holtz knew nothing. Doesn't it?
My goodness, Holtz is amazing. He was a meticulous, brilliant, hands-on football coach. Yet never once did he notice when the people around him -- his people, for the most part -- were breaking the rules.
The 68-year-old Holtz, who retired from coaching in November after six seasons at South Carolina, is headed for an ESPN studio, where he will analyze college football games. South Carolina, the school he left behind, is headed for probation.
Funny, a similar thing happened when Holtz coached at Notre Dame. The program wasn't doing so well when Holtz arrived, but he quickly turned it around. He stayed at Notre Dame for 11 seasons, winning a lot of football games and one national title. But by the time he resigned in 1996 -- he said at the time that he was retiring from coaching -- Holtz had worn out his welcome in South Bend. There were allegations of steroid use, illegal loans to players, a program run amok.
And what do you know? After Holtz departed, the NCAA placed Notre Dame on two years of probation for a series of violations stemming from booster Kim Dunbar's involvement with the program. Sure, Holtz had left town already. But the Dunbar saga began under his reign.
Of course, the NCAA report did not fault Holtz, who by then had unretired to take the South Carolina job. Because, once again, the investigators found that Holtz was in the dark. He had no idea about what had been going on with his football program.
Funny, a similar thing happened when Holtz coached at Minnesota. The Golden Gophers were an abysmal football team before Holtz arrived in 1984 but managed to make it to a bowl game in his second season there. Holtz coached Minnesota for only two years, but that was long enough to leave behind a mess. When the results of the NCAA's investigation were released several years later, Holtz actually was cited for giving money to a player and to a recruit. But because of a technicality in the NCAA legislation, Holtz wasn't penalized. (Slippery little guy, isn't he?)
In their 1993 book, Under the Tarnished Dome, authors Don Yeager and Douglas S. Looney presented compelling evidence about the many improprieties in Holtz's program at Notre Dame. The book includes the following passage about Holtz's reaction to the improprieties that occurred during his tenure at Minnesota: "... [A]s word spread that more than a dozen of his Gopher players were receiving illegal payments, Holtz moaned, 'The thing that bothers me is why I didn't know about it. A coach should know it ... I've looked back and thought, why didn't I know? Usually, where there's smoke, there's fire. Never once did I ever hear it.'''
Know no evil
Amazing, isn't it? Holtz never knows what's going on. How in the world did he coach all those teams to so many victories?
Holtz downplayed the South Carolina violations when he was asked about them during a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada on Thursday. According to the Associated Press, which obtained a transcript of Holtz's comments, "Holtz said the violations didn't involve any real major stuff that happened.''
Holtz is safe now, headed for the comfort of a TV studio. He has retired from coaching once again, this time probably for good, and there's nothing the NCAA can do to him now. He's untouchable. But then, hasn't he always been untouchable?
I wonder if Holtz ever thinks about college football fans. Or his former players, assistant coaches and administrators. Or the coaches he has gone up against during his long coaching career.
If he does, he probably laughs and thinks to himself, "Suckers!''
July 17, 2005
BY CAROL SLEZAK SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST Advertisement
Say what you will about Lou Holtz, but the guy knows how to stay one step ahead of the law. Hoo yeah! NCAA investigators can chase Holtz, but they never can catch him. First at Minnesota, then at Notre Dame and now at South Carolina. Everybody else see the pattern here? Holtz comes in, turns the program around, then leaves. And he leaves behind a slew of violations for the NCAA to discover.
And this is the best part: Holtz never knows a darn thing about any of them.
You mean to tell Holtz that South Carolina recruits were invited to attend offseason tutoring sessions and workouts? You mean to tell him that his former tailback Derek Watson was given special treatment? You mean to tell Holtz that the former governor of South Carolina, Jim Hodges, was doing a little recruiting on the side?
A long history of trouble
Holtz didn't have a clue about any of it. Nope. The university might have admitted to 10 violations, including five major violations, but Holtz had nothing to do with any of them. You think he's lying? Well, the NCAA didn't finger Holtz for the violations. The NCAA blamed the strength and conditioning coach and a former academic support services guy. That proves Holtz knew nothing. Doesn't it?
My goodness, Holtz is amazing. He was a meticulous, brilliant, hands-on football coach. Yet never once did he notice when the people around him -- his people, for the most part -- were breaking the rules.
The 68-year-old Holtz, who retired from coaching in November after six seasons at South Carolina, is headed for an ESPN studio, where he will analyze college football games. South Carolina, the school he left behind, is headed for probation.
Funny, a similar thing happened when Holtz coached at Notre Dame. The program wasn't doing so well when Holtz arrived, but he quickly turned it around. He stayed at Notre Dame for 11 seasons, winning a lot of football games and one national title. But by the time he resigned in 1996 -- he said at the time that he was retiring from coaching -- Holtz had worn out his welcome in South Bend. There were allegations of steroid use, illegal loans to players, a program run amok.
And what do you know? After Holtz departed, the NCAA placed Notre Dame on two years of probation for a series of violations stemming from booster Kim Dunbar's involvement with the program. Sure, Holtz had left town already. But the Dunbar saga began under his reign.
Of course, the NCAA report did not fault Holtz, who by then had unretired to take the South Carolina job. Because, once again, the investigators found that Holtz was in the dark. He had no idea about what had been going on with his football program.
Funny, a similar thing happened when Holtz coached at Minnesota. The Golden Gophers were an abysmal football team before Holtz arrived in 1984 but managed to make it to a bowl game in his second season there. Holtz coached Minnesota for only two years, but that was long enough to leave behind a mess. When the results of the NCAA's investigation were released several years later, Holtz actually was cited for giving money to a player and to a recruit. But because of a technicality in the NCAA legislation, Holtz wasn't penalized. (Slippery little guy, isn't he?)
In their 1993 book, Under the Tarnished Dome, authors Don Yeager and Douglas S. Looney presented compelling evidence about the many improprieties in Holtz's program at Notre Dame. The book includes the following passage about Holtz's reaction to the improprieties that occurred during his tenure at Minnesota: "... [A]s word spread that more than a dozen of his Gopher players were receiving illegal payments, Holtz moaned, 'The thing that bothers me is why I didn't know about it. A coach should know it ... I've looked back and thought, why didn't I know? Usually, where there's smoke, there's fire. Never once did I ever hear it.'''
Know no evil
Amazing, isn't it? Holtz never knows what's going on. How in the world did he coach all those teams to so many victories?
Holtz downplayed the South Carolina violations when he was asked about them during a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada on Thursday. According to the Associated Press, which obtained a transcript of Holtz's comments, "Holtz said the violations didn't involve any real major stuff that happened.''
Holtz is safe now, headed for the comfort of a TV studio. He has retired from coaching once again, this time probably for good, and there's nothing the NCAA can do to him now. He's untouchable. But then, hasn't he always been untouchable?
I wonder if Holtz ever thinks about college football fans. Or his former players, assistant coaches and administrators. Or the coaches he has gone up against during his long coaching career.
If he does, he probably laughs and thinks to himself, "Suckers!''
