Assuming this is not rhetorical
by Cheg80 (2021-10-16 19:46:43)

In reply to: Who knocked Oklahoma off for us? *  posted by Moff

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Arkansas did the trick with a rather convincing win over the Sooners.

A certain future ND coach was in charge of the Hogs at the time.

Holtz told an awesome story about that week
by irishrock  (2021-10-16 21:50:30)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

There was an incident on campus the day or two before Christmas and Holtz took a late night phone call.

He had to suspend 3 players that were responsible for 78% of the offensive production. (I believe through reading stories about this that this was part of a deal to get the players released from the charges)

So they're preparing for the game and his practices were not going well. So he stopped practice and brought the team together and said, "Look, we're getting ready to play a team that we last played 75 years ago and beat Arkansas 106-0...I know all the reasons we can't win this game: the media's telling me, our fans are telling me, coaches I know are telling me...so I know all the reasons we can't win. Now, you guys are going to tell me why we CAN win this game"

"Coach, we've got a great OLine"
"We've got an All American kicker and punter"
"our defense has been great all year and they're all playing"

(Holtz did add that he was disappointed nobody brought up that he was an excellent coach which obviously elicited a big laugh)

Arkansas was a heavy underdog and won 31-6 (helping springboard ND to the national championship)

He says that the attitude changed right then...when they started focusing on why they could win the game and stopped the focus on why they couldn't win. Great life lesson in there.

So he didn’t say to “Just do your job and execute” * *
by OldIrishFan  (2021-10-17 09:56:13)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

Or “ we need to match our opponent’s intensity.”
by Son of Galway  (2021-10-17 12:59:00)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

A philosophy straight out of middle management.
it wasn't Holtz's job to motivate his team
by irishrock  (2021-10-17 11:58:37)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

but the guy whose job it was took the week off.

Holtz cared...Kelly doesn't.