Word: holtz
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...disciple of Ohio State's legendary tough guy Woody Hayes, Holtz often joins huddles during scrimmages and scrutinizes backfielders like a Customs inspector. The idea, he says, is "to make practice worse than the game." The 5-ft. 10-in., 152-lb. coach once barreled onto the field and sacked quarterback Rice for goofing off during a passing drill. During competition, Holtz calls every offensive play from the sidelines...
Lately, however, things are looking up. Way up. Employing a combination of teamwork, discipline and canny recruiting, new head coach Lou Holtz, 51, now in his third year, has fielded a young squad that is stomping powerful foes with the zeal of modern-day Crusaders. Last year Holtz's Irish pulled off an 8-4 season, and they currently boast a sterling 9-0 record. More important, Notre Dame last week moved up to the No. 1 ranking, and the team just could capture its first national championship since...
...toughest schedules in the NCAA and lacking the services of 1987 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown, who graduated, the Irish were ranked 13th in pre-season projections. Eleven of the 22 first-stringers were starting for the first time. To compensate for the lack of experience, Holtz relentlessly drilled his specialty squads and relied on raw speed. In the season opener, the Irish edged out tenth-ranked University of Michigan 19-17 on the strength of four field goals by diminutive Reggie Ho, a former soccer player from Hawaii...
...been unbeaten in 36 regular-season games. As a sellout crowd of 59,075 roared in the South Bend stands, Irish quarterback Tony Rice threw touchdown passes to freshman wide receiver Raghib ("Rocket") Ismail and junior fullback Braxston Banks, and scored one himself on a keeper option play, a Holtz favorite. Says Holtz with a grin: "We've proved that there is life after Tim Brown...
Much of the Irish success stems from perfectionist Holtz's famous practice sessions and attention to detail. When he arrived at Notre Dame in the winter of 1986, Holtz, who had been head coach at William and Mary, North Carolina State, Arkansas and Minnesota, concentrated on molding the Irish into a clockwork mechanism. Says senior linebacker Wes Pritchett: "He gave out shirts with TEAM on them in big letters and ME in tiny letters. It sounds corny, but the message got through: everyone can't be a star, but if you tackle your assigned role with 100% effort...