[Book] Wins, Losses, and Lessons by Lou Holtz

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<html><img src=http://www.irishenvy.com/images/books/wllholtz.jpg hspace=10 align=left></html>Wins, Losses, and Lessons: An Autobiography

When I die and people realize that I will not be resurrected in three days, they will forget me. That is the way it should be. For reasons known only to God, I was asked to write an autobiography. Most people who knew me growing up didn't think I would ever read a book, let alone write one. —Lou Holtz

Few people in the history of college sports have been more influential or had a bigger impact than Lou Holtz. Winner of the three national Coach of the Year honors, the only coach ever to lead six different schools to season-ending bowl games, and the ninth-winningest coach in college football history, Holtz is still teaching and coaching, although he is no longer on the gridiron.

In his most telling work to date, the man still known as "Coach" by all who cross his path reveals what motivated a rail-thin 135-pound kid with marginal academic credentials and a pronounced speech impediment to play and coach college football, and to become one of the most sought-after motivational speakers in history. With unflinching honesty and his trademark dry wit, Holtz goes deep, giving us the intimate details of the people who shaped his life and the decisions he would make that shaped the lives of so many others.

His is a storied career, and Holtz provides a frank and inside look at the challenges he overcame to turn around the programs at William and Mary, North Carolina State, Arkansas, and Minnesota. From growing up in East Liverpool, Ohio, to his early days as a graduate assistant at the University of Iowa, to his national championship runs at Notre Dame and his final seasons on the sidelines in South Carolina, Lou Holtz gives his best, a poignant, funny, and instructive look into a life well lived.

About the Author

After nearly three decades on the sidelines, Lou Holtz retired from coaching and now shares his strategies for success with Fortune 500 companies, groups, and organizations. He is the author of two bestsellers, The Fighting Spirit and Winning Every Day. He lives in Florida.

Buy This Book

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jiggafini19

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Great read. Finsihed this one rather quickly too.

Worst thing he ever did was take the NY Jets job. His stories about being on Woody Hayes' staff at tOSU were classic.

Read the reasons why he left ND. Interesting stuff.
 
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BruceDickinson

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How would you compare this to prior books Lou wrote?
 
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notdam4

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Never read any of the other books he wrote but this one didn't interest me too much. I got the feeling I was being lectured to for about half the book. That's just my opinion.. take it for what it's worth.
 

philipm31

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I can understand the feeling of being lectured to, because he constontly harped on the need for discipline, "do things right", etc. However, if you can look past that and read the book as the autobiography it is, then you can sit back and realize that is just the way he operated, he worked for him, and he had an amazing because of the way he lived his life. If he feels like lecturing a little bit, then I think you should look at it as an insight into the way he coached his teams, not a lecture to the reader. He was just recounting the way things worked out for him.

I liked the chapters leading up to the Notre Dame job. His "Notre Dame Clause" in the Minnesota contract was something I never knew about, and I don't know if many other Minnesota fans ever knew about it, either. Some people just thought he left the Gophers high and dry so he could pursue the ND job, when in fact, what happened, was a stipulated clause in his contract.

But I do think he passed the buck a little bit. After there were rules infractions at both Minnesota and South Carolina that were discoved right after he left. Of course, there were some second-rate infractions that ND incurred after he left as well, although the Dunbar thing was fairly major and happened under his watch. So, despite his constant harping on being accountable, it seemed that as the jobs got bigger and more intense, the schools that Lou left behind, at the very least, incurred some minor infractions in each case and yet he just said they were innocent oversights in each case. I want to believe Lou, after all I met him and got the book he wrote with Heisler autographed at the FedEx St. Jude Golf Classic Pro-Am in 1989. Still, it seems that Lou dropped the ball a bit at ND and South Carolina, and was not accountable for what happened. If he is the leader of the program, there is no way he can be everywhere at once, but he is ultimately responsible and should have just owned up to the infractions.

That said, I enjoyed the book immensely, and it was amazing to think about all the people that he met and interacted with in his life like Bill Cowher and Clinton, the people on his staffs, the Ohio State stories, and particularly the ND chapters were a great fun to read.

I thought it was interesting to hear his thoughts on his dismissal from ARK, and his leaving the other jobs--particularly Minnesota and ND. Go out and read this book, Irish fans. I know you will love it as much as I did.
 

goirish#1

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I read this book a few years ago and it was very inspiring to me! It had some cool stories and it was very interesting.
 
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