My son, who's the Secretary-Treasurer of Holtz's Heroes Foundation, confirms that this post is not coincidental. He's seated to the immediate right of Coach Holtz as you view the photo:
I think Freeman has the same love for ND as Ara and Lou had in my lifetime. Faust loved the Irish but as we know couldn't coach them to the required heights. I've never been sure about Dan Devine, did he have that same love for ND as Ara and Lou, or was it a good opportunity and a great job to follow up his lack of success at Green Bay? But maybe I'm not being fair to him, he had an excellent run and won a Natty so there is always that to bolster him. That's why I don't think LSU, Florida, Penn State or even Ohio State somewhere down the line will be able to temp him to leave for a "bigger" better job with more resources and a better chance to win it all. The real question is how long can Freeman last emotionally and mentally at ND. Even if he has an Ara like run for 10 years, it takes a lot out of you, Ara was worn out when he retired. I think Lou was worn out as well, even though after a few years to recharge the batteries he took the South Carolina job.
Thoughts from the cheap seats: 1. USC, one of the most penalized teams in the nation committed one penalty for 5 yards in a hotly contested rivalry game? Kiss. My. Ass. 2. It doesn't seem to matter what young man we plug into OL, they maul people 3. Denbrock is an acquired taste. Make no mistake, 4 or 5 times a game he's gonna call some dumb sh*t that makes sense only to him. Sometimes they work, sometimes I throw the remote. I can live with that. 4. I've been giving Ash time to grow on me. He's clearly a zone guy and he's got the greatest set of man coverage guys in the nation, with more on the way. He's learning and adjusting though and that shows character. Like Denbrock, he's gonna call 4 or 5 dumb ass coverages, but by and large, I can live with it.