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.
Hey I just learned that we have a game this week! All I've read on ND boards is stuff about Brian Kelly!! I'd forgotten the team is leaving for Boston to play BC on Sat afternoon. I did a quick dive and found out that BC isn't very good, but in spite of that they gave a good Louisville team a run for their money last Saturday. So I guess Freeman had better take the first team with him and prepare to play a undermanned but fired up team coached by BOB. I hope the Irish get off to a fast start and bury them early so we can get the backups a lot of 2nd half reps. Also please no more injuries to the OL!!!
Devine is a HOF coach and I imagine his tenure at ND looks far better now than at the time of his retirement because of the Davie, Willingham, and Weiss years. His post Missouri job choices of Green Bay and ND put him in a rough position given that the teams coached by Lombardi and Ara were still fresh in the minds of Packers and Irish fans.
Bobda, you said what I've always thought about Devine, i.e., he had the misfortune of following a legend. He obviously was a good enough coach to win a NC at ND. I met him and sat next to him at an ND banquet in Fort Wayne in the spring of 1978 after we had won the 1977 NC. Before we sat down for dinner, I had asked for an autograph for my son. As the dinner wore on and he spoke, I decided not to bother him by asking again. He reminded me of it and proceeded to write a personalized note to my son. At that moment I knew he was a friendly, humble, regular guy. I hated the way he was portrayed in "Rudy".
Irish women lose on the road 1-0 to Pitt, no Izzy Engle, no offense. Pitt has not had a great season and were 1-8 in ACC play before tonight. The loss gives Stanford the ACC regular season crown and the #1 seed in the ACC playoffs. Rough way to finish the season draw vs Wake Forrest and the loss to Pitt. This team has the talent to make a deep run in the NCAA's and to win the ACC Tournament. But as we all know you have to go out and do it, it's never handed to you. Stanford also has that talent level.
We finally get on the scoreboard with a 4th down completion for a 40 yd TD. But kicking woes continue, we clank the extra point off the goal post. Kidking game is going to kill us in the end.
BC finally gets on the board with 22 seconds left in the half and it's 12-7. Very sloppy play so far by the Irish. New BC QB James seems to have energized the BC offense. Not the 1st half I expected from the Irish.
We get a chance at a FG at the gun and miss it badly. Different kicker, but same result. I don't know how they can fix this at this point in the season. It's a huge negative.
We get a big sack and it's nullified by a BS bad call, and they end up with a FG. Irish 12-10. We need a score really badly, now.
OK Irish respond with a drive and have a good mix of run/pass and score. Now we bring in the 3rd string kicker and he misses the xp. Oh my 18-10 Irish. I guess we have to go for 2 from here on out.