How former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz never forgot his guys

SOUTH BEND – He was more than just his head coach; he was family. 

That’s what former Notre Dame football player Shawn Wooden first thought when he heard that former Irish head coach — his head coach — Lou Holtz died at age 89 on March 4. Holtz was his coach for five years (1991-95). He pushed Wooden hard. He made decisions that Wooden didn’t like. 

Their relationship was more hard-headed than heart-to-heart. 

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It took Wooden a long time, long after he batted down that pass in the north end zone to preserve the victory over Florida State in 1993 and give Holtz his final No. 1 ranking as Notre Dame coach, long after he became a starter in the NFL, long after his football days ended, to understand why Holtz did what he did during their time together in South Bend. 

A man that Wooden admittedly did not like during his playing days became something more, something he never saw coming. One of five team captains in 1995, Wooden first saw Holtz as a crazy uncle. He came to consider Holtz like his father. 

“That’s the role that he took in my life,” Wooden said earlier this week before attending services for Holtz. “Somebody that was extremely influential in your life and very special.” 

Even when none of them knew it at the time, Holtz was teaching his players life lessons they would carry forward. It wasn’t about a practice or a game or even a season at Notre Dame. Yes, winning Saturday against whoever the opponent, that was pretty important. For Holtz, it was just as important to ready his players for the years after he was their coach. 

Something would happen post-football in a way that caused Wooden, now 52 but still looking like he could cover you down the field, to reflect and realize that was all Coach Holtz. Again. Always. Holtz knew even when his players had no clue.

“He just wanted you to be prepared,” Wooden said. “The thing that is so weird is that he didn’t motivate you for the moment. He motivated you for your whole life.” 

Wooden wished he could see then what he sees now. He couldn’t. Not at that age. All you cared about was that you should play more than you play and do more than you do. It was football first, second and third. Life lessons? 

“At 17 years old? Come on,” he said. “We had a love-hate relationship.” 

Wooden and Holtz went many rounds on many subjects. On playing time. On his major. At the time, Wooden was an engineering major. Holtz didn’t see Wooden as an engineer— too demanding to balance academics and athletics — so Wooden switched to computer applications. On the position he would play. Wooden came to Notre Dame a running back, then realized that with Jerome Bettis, Tony Brooks and Rodney Culver in the same backfield, he wasn’t going to get many carries. 

He moved to wide receiver, but that didn’t work. 

“I ran the wrong routes (and) couldn’t catch a cold,” Wooden said. “Coach Holtz then tells me that I won’t play for the rest of the year.” 

He didn’t. Wooden eventually moved to cornerback, where he became a cornerstone as a team captain. Still, the coach and the corner rarely agreed. Even in 1993, when Notre Dame came within one win of the national championship, they were at odds. Wooden moved on to the NFL following the 1995 season. He was a sixth-round pick of the Miami Dolphins. He went from playing for Holtz to playing for Jimmy Johnson. 

One day as a Dolphin, after Johnson named Wooden a starter at safety, a Western Union telegram (ask your parents) arrived. It was from Holtz. 

“It said, ‘Congratulations, I knew you could always do that,’” Wooden said. “I kept it in my locker for years.” 

Finally, everything that Wooden had been through with Holtz made sense. The arguments. The disagreements. The hard feelings and hard words exchanged. There was a method to the madness that Wooden didn’t understand when he was caught in the eye of another Holtz hurricane. 

“Early in your career, he challenged you to become a man,” Wooden said. “Late in your career, once you had been there, he built you up. I never had any self-doubt after playing for him. 

“He poured so much energy into you that you had so much belief that you believed you could walk on water.” 

In the end, Wooden believed Holtz did that — walked on water. He wasn’t alone. It didn’t matter if you were a five-star recruit with a can’t-miss NFL future or a walk-on who had no chance of ever playing, Holtz saw something in everyone that they didn’t see in themselves. 

“If you gave him your four (years), he was going to give you that 40 like he always said,” Wooden said. “He kind of missed it for a couple of us.” 

Wooden got 31 years post-Notre Dame from Holtz. At times, that felt like forever. At others, not nearly enough. 

“Looking back, you’re like, I could have reached out a little more,” Wooden said. “Whenever I did, he was there. He was always there for you.” 

Returning to Notre Dame is a priority for Wooden. Being on campus helps him “recharge.” He was recharged this week while back for the Holtz services. It rekindled memories of his time with his head coach. The conversation with him in his office here, the walk from the practice field to the locker room with him there. 

Many times, none of it made sense. In the end, all of it does. 

“You’re like, ‘I get it. I get what you were doing and appreciate it,’” Wooden said. “He challenged me not to be a better player but to be a better person, a better husband, father. He built you up to be the best version of yourself for the rest of your life. 

“What an honor it was to play for him.” 

Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: How Notre Dame football legend Lou Holtz impacted his players forever