Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM APRIL/MAY 2026 21 — and we felt like if we didn't play our best game, we could lose that game. So, we had to go into every game with that edge, thinking that if I don't be the best player I could be, we'll lose. And that was part of the magic of Lou Holtz." Bolcar recalls one exception — the Mi- ami game in 1988. Yes, that Miami game. "Catholics vs. Convicts." The Irish had just beaten Pitt, 30-20, a result that gen- erally would've warranted a "you didn't do enough" spiel from Holtz. But with the Hurricanes having embarrassed the Irish 24-0 the year before, he read the room and changed his tune. He turned to positive reinforcement. Immediately. Right then and there in the Pitt postgame locker room debrief exactly one week before kickoff of the Miami game. "He said, 'All right, great win, let's en- joy it for 24 hours or whatever they say,'" Bolcar said, "and he said, 'But tomorrow, we are going to show you how we're going to beat the hell out of Miami next week.' That's the first time I ever heard him say, 'I'm going to show you why we're going to beat them.' So, a whole different mindset. "He knew we knew how good Miami was. He didn't have to convince us to prepare for them like he would have to for SMU or somebody else. He wanted to say, 'No, no, you've got to be confi- dent, and we will beat them. And we're going to show you.'" It worked. No. 4 Notre Dame beat No. 1 Miami, 31-30. In that postgame locker room debrief? Back to the usual. "We made some mistakes in that Mi- ami game, and the next day in film, it was like, 'Oh my gosh, how are we ever going to win another game?'" Stams said. "He did a great job of keeping our feet on the ground and going forward. So, we were well-grounded with Coach Holtz." Notre Dame didn't lose a game and won the program's 11th national cham- pionship. 'WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU?' Early 1990s Notre Dame running back Reggie Brooks is the executive direc- tor of The Holtz's Heroes Foundation, "a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and extending the legacy of love, trust, and commitment exempli- fied by Coach Lou Holtz and his players, coaches, and staff." In his time playing for and working with Holtz, Brooks will always remember one question Holtz was so genuinely fond of asking. How can I help? "I like his attitude," Brooks said. "That was one thing. He's always going to be there, show up for other people. That's what he did when he coached. That's what he's doing now." Right up until the very end. There might not have been a better example of it than what he did for late 1980s Notre Dame defensive end Bryan Flannery. "When I was done playing ball at Notre Dame, I went to talk to Coach Holtz and I was talking about trying out for the NFL," Flannery said, "and he just sat down and said, 'To be honest, Bryan, you might make the team but you might last a couple years. These are the facts. NFL, you got a three-year career.' He posed to me the question, with that known, 'What are you going to do after?' And I told him I'm in- terested in politics. He said, 'I'll tell you what, I'll get you a job in Washington, D.C., this summer and that can set you off.' And that's exactly what he did for me." Flannery was on the Lakewood City Council from 1994-98. He was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives and was a member of the state legisla- ture from 1999-2002. In all, he served 10 years in public of- fice. During his tenure, Holtz hit him with a variation of the question Brooks heard so often through the decades. Flannery received it time and again, too, but this particular time, he was ready for it. And Holtz delivered on his end. "These people like Coach Holtz that are just great individuals, they always ask, 'What can I do for you?'" Flannery said. "And he did that a few times and I was pissed off at myself because I didn't have the answer. But one time he said, 'Bryan, what can I do for you?' and I said, 'This is what you can do for me, Coach; you can come into Cleveland and have a fundraiser for me.' And he said, 'I'll do it.' And he came in, and we raised some good money. That's the way Coach Holtz is." 'GOD BLESS LOU' You can't succeed in coaching without making correct calls on decisions that aren't black and white. You've got to go with your gut here and there, like Marcus Freeman choosing CJ Carr over Kenny Minchey as Notre Dame's starting quar- terback. Not to say Minchey wouldn't have worked out, but Carr most certainly did. And Freeman was right about that. Holtz had the same kind of keen foresight in his Notre Dame tenure. He "He's always going to be there, show up for other people. That's what he did when he coached. That's what he's doing now." FORMER IRISH RUNNING BACK REGGIE BROOKS ON HOLTZ Holtz was a master motivator, doing whatever was necessary depending on that week's opponent. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME