| Busy Weekend For Holtz | ||||
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 Lou Holtz has quite a weekend ahead of him. In addition to all of the festivities that the members of the College Football Hall of Fame Class of 2009 will go through, Holtz will also be in the midst of preparing a football team. The Notre Dame Legends Team began its preparations for July 25’s Notre Dame-Japan Bowl with an 8:30 practice on Thursday evening, but Holtz and his staff began with a meeting at 2:30 on Thursday afternoon. On Friday morning, Holtz is likely to miss the Hall of Fame’s Celebrity Golf Tournament for an 8:30 team meeting and a 10 a.m. practice for the Japan Bowl. The afternoon will be packed with the Legends having another meeting as well as a team photo at Notre Dame Stadium at 3:15 followed by another practice at 4:00. Holtz will try to find some time to make an appearance at the Enshrinement Downtown Block Party, which starts at 1:30 and goes until 10 p.m. On Saturday morning, Holtz will probably have to choose between the Hall of Fame’s Grand Parade, which starts at 9:30 a.m., and his latest squad’s 7:30 a.m. meeting and 9 a.m. practice. Holtz is scheduled to be at the Hall of Fame’s Autograph session at noon on Saturday and all of the members of the Class of 2009 will be introduced and receive their official Hall of Fame blazers at a Pep Rally that starts at 1 p.m. From there, it will be back over to campus for a 3 p.m. practice before the Enshrinement Dinner and Show, which starts at 6 p.m. After what is sure to be a long, joyous evening, the Legends will board a bus at 6:30 in the morning for O’Hare International Airport and by 11 a.m., they will be in the air for their 13-hour flight to Tokyo. And all of that running around does not include any of the many media obligations that Holtz will surely make time for. But on Thursday, it was all about reuniting with some of his former players and getting the chance to work with some new ones. “You can tell the ones that played for me because they have a pretty good concept,” said Holtz. The Legends have two quarterbacks on the roster, Tony Rice, who helped Holtz to the 1988 National Championship and Gary Godsey, who played six games at quarterback as a sophomore under Bob Davie in 2000 before being moved to tight end. “It’s very difficult for Gary, he hasn’t been a quarterback for a long time, but he’s one of two and he’s got to get ready to play,” said Holtz. “He doesn’t understand the concept, but he will be fine.” Weather forced the team’s opening practice to end about 25 minutes early, but the coach was still impressed with what he saw. “It was good to see the guys out here, their attitude is good and they worked hard,” he said. “I’m sorry the lightning cut our practice short, but that’s something we can’t control.” As always, don’t expect Holtz to overlook the Japanese Senior National Team. “This is a very good team, I’ve seen film on them,” he said. “This is big for them and it’s for real and they take it very serious. All I want to do is make sure that we’re as prepared as we can possibly be and we play as well as we possibly can.” With the circus-like atmosphere of the weekend, Holtz is still managing to enjoy being back on the field coaching football at Notre Dame, even if it is only for a brief time. “The relationship with the players and the teaching and the camaraderie and the spirit,” he said. “I learned more on the football field than I ever did in a classroom about perseverance about accepting a role, being with other guys and having fun with what we do.” |
| Last Updated ( Friday, 17 July 2009 11:35 ) |