Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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FAN FORUM this. Lou Holtz was fired or demoted as an assistant one year at South Carolina, was hired for one season as a defensive backs coach by Woody Hayes at Ohio State the next — and one year later he became a head coach at William & Mary. It worked out fine. Bob Stoops had never been a head coach, brother on the 2000 Sooners title team. John Ray had a memorable five-year and then walked into one of the pressure cookers at Oklahoma with zero head coach- ing experience in 1999. Two years later, he was a national champion. With Mike Stoops, it didn't work out at Arizona after serving as a defensive coordinator for his stint under Ara Parseghian at Notre Dame from 1964-68 and turned down nine head coaching jobs before taking Kentucky in 1969. He was fired after a four-year mark of 10-33. Who would have thought? Later, Barry Alvarez was a defensive coordinator for only two years in college, under Holtz in 1988-89 before taking over a moribund Wisconsin program that had won seven Big Ten games the previous five years. He became a Hall of Fame head coach. FROM THE WEBSITE On the Wednesday before the Oklahoma game, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly appeared on the radio show of ESPN's Colin Cowherd and stated: "We're not a great team. But I'll tell you what — we're mentally and physically tough and we'll go play you anywhere, anytime … I would be the first to tell you we're not a great football team, but we're getting better each and every week." That received mainly an "I understand" response from Irish fans: Vin4irish: I don't disagree with him … This is a very good football team and when the offense starts clicking, it will be great. We are a top-12 team in my opinion. Te'o4Heisman: I think we all expected more than 4 passing touchdowns out of Everett Golson, especially if ND was 7-0. @atlas: I would have preferred Brian Kelly to phrase it a little differently … something along the lines of, "We're not a great team YET" or "Team can't achieve greatness when they're only 7-0." Tommyd44: I am sure that what he said in that interview is not news to the guys in the locker room. Psdo51: Kelly's comments were fine: You don't give out trophies at halftime and you don't claim great- ness in a studio. Close the deal on the field and other people will do the talking for you. FamilyMan5: So instead of Kelly downplaying the team by advising them they still have a lot of work to do, he should pull a Rex Ryan and say how great they are, how great he is as a coach and that they will win a national title? I don't think the boys would be very motivated. NDlaw83: I don't think Kelly needs precedent, but Lou Holtz poor-mouthed his teams to the point that it was comical. Want to stay up-to-date with all the Irish news? Like Us On Facebook: www.facebook.com/blueandgoldillustrated Follow Us On Twitter: www.twitter.com/BGInews