Wins, Losses, and Lessons

Lou Holtz

📚 GENRE: Biographies & Memoirs

📃 PAGES: 318

✅ COMPLETED: May 12, 2018

🧐 RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Short Summary

Lou Holtz discusses the ups and downs he experienced on his journey to becoming one of the best college football coaches of all time. Holtz explains how he overcame adversity and challenges to turn around the programs at William and Mary, North Carolina State, Arkansas, and Minnesota.

Key Takeaways

1️⃣ Choose Wisely — Life presents us all with choices, and the decisions we make ultimately dictate our life path. Try to make decisions that align with your goals and vision for yourself. 

2️⃣ Perseverance is Key — Lou fought through a lot and overcame serious adversity to become one of the best college football coaches of his time. Don’t allow setbacks to prevent you from going for what you want. 

3️⃣ Do The Right Thing — While at Arkansas, Lou was criticized for sitting three of his players in the Orange Bowl for disciplinary reasons. The players had been involved in an incident with a woman in their dorm. No matter what people might think, do the right thing. 

Favorite Quote

"Nothing is as good as it seems and nothing is as bad as it seems. Reality is always in the middle."

Book Notes 📑

Chapter 1

  • Late in his coaching career, Lou led South Carolina football to one of the biggest program turnarounds in NCAA history.
    • South Carolina was 0-ll before Holtz got them inside the Top-10 less than 2 years later. 
  • Quote: “Pressure comes when you are called on to perform a task you are not prepared for.” 
  • Quote: “Momentum is attitude.”
  • Success ends when you die. Significance lives on through those you’ve impacted.
  • Lou was born January 6, 1937.
    • Great Depression Era 
    • Lived in small house with no shower, no tub, no refrigerator, no privacy.
    • Lou, his sister, and parents shared one bedroom. Everyone bathed in sink.
    • Lou owned one set of clothes that he wore daily. 
  • Lou grew up very poor, but was happy: “I knew God and my family loved me. That was all that mattered.” 
  • W.I.N. = What’s Important Now
    • Lou lived by this system and used it to make decisions. 
  • Introduced to football by his uncle, who was a good tight end.
    • Grew up listening to Notre Dame football on the radio. Learned to read by reading ND articles.
  • Quote: “Heroes walk the walk with quiet confidence.” 
  • Entered high school under 100 pounds and had a speech impediment.
    • He was picked on, but, “It only strengthened my resolve to succeed.”
  • Quote: “Learning can only happen if you want to learn.”
  • Quote: “It’s not what you have, it’s who you have.”
  • Didn’t want to go to college, but parents and high school coaches insisted, even though they were poor.
    • Attended Kent State University. Coached freshman football during summer months.
  • Quote: “Commitment and dedication triumph every time.” 
  • Quote: “Life presents us all with choices. The decisions we make determine our success. You must take full responsibility for your decisions and not blame others.”
    • If you accept that your current state is a result of your own decisions, you can begin to make better decisions to better yourself.
  • Quote: “You determine your success in life. Your decisions pave the way.”
  • Served in Army for 6 months out of college.
    • After serving in the Army, Lou had Assistant Coaching offers at a local high school and at the University of Iowa.
      • He chose the high school because he got engaged to Beth, his wife, and didn’t want to move away from Ohio.
    • Beth broke up with Lou at the last second. Lou then changed his mind and chose the University of Iowa job.

Chapter 2

  • At Iowa, Lou was a graduate assistant running errands and coaching the freshman team.
  • Quote: “Persistence is the key to success.”
  • Iowa went 9-1 and Lou convinced Beth to marry him again all in his first year at Iowa.
    • Lou was later let go by a new head coach who didn’t want a married man to be an assistant.
    • Lou then took an assistant coaching job at William and Mary College in Virginia.
  • After three years at William and Mary, Lou took an assistant coaching job at the University of Connecticut.
    • Lou spent 2 years at Connecticut. By this time, he had two children with Beth.
  • Lou contemplated quitting coaching, but gave himself a 5-year ultimatum to make some good progress.
  • Lou was later hired by the University of South Carolina as an assistant. But after moving to South Carolina, the head coach retired.
    • Lou was let go by the new head coach before he had coached a single game at South Carolina.
    • Quote: “Nothing focuses the mind like a crisis.”
  • After two months of being unemployed, Lou took a pay cut to become the academic advisor and scout team leader at the University of Couth Carolina.
    • Quote: “Change builds character. It teaches you things you didn’t know about yourself.”
  • Lou led the scout team and was later promoted to the defensive backs coach at South Carolina.
  • Lou went to a coaching conference in New York in 1967. He impressed some big-time coaches and received an assistant coaching offer from The Ohio State University and head coach Woody Hayes.
    • He also had an offer from Georgia Tech.
  • Woody Hayes was a character.
    • He threw tantrums and was an angry dude.
    • Woody ‘fired’ Lou several times. They weren’t real firings, just random fits of rage.
  • Ohio State beat Michigan 50-14 in the first year Lou was there.
  • Ohio State beat USC 27-16, holding OJ Simpson to 97 yards on 27 carries to win the National Championship.
    • Ohio State finished the season undefeated.
  • Following that undefeated season, Lou took the head coaching job back at William and Mary College.

Chapter 3

  • 1969 — Lou went 3-7 in first year as the head coach at William and Mary.
    • Cites bad decisions, trying to intimidate players, as reason.
  • After bad first season, Lou took accountability and came up with new plan.
    • Lou and staff changed offense to the “veer.”
      • They were one of first teams to use this. Became very popular by late 1970s.
      • De La Salle still uses it.
  • Team improved a lot in Lou’s second season, especially on offense.
    • Willing and Mary eventually lost in Tangerine Bowl to Toledo.
  • Lou’s third season at William and Mary went well, almost upset heavy favorite North Carolina.
  • NC State heavily pursued Lou for their head coaching job.
    • Lou accepts the NC State job. He inherited a team that had three straight 3-8 seasons.
    • At NC State, Lou coached Bill Cowher, one of best NFL Coaches ever with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
  • 1972 — Went 8-3-1 in first year at NC State
    • Beat West Virginia in Peach Bowl (48-13).
  • 1973 — Went 8-3 in second season.
    • Won Liberty Bowl and finished the season at No. 16 in the polls.
  • 1974 — Went 9-2 in third season.
    • Won the ACC title and finished the season at No. 9 in the polls.
  • Quote: “Nothing is as good as it seems and nothing is as bad as it seems. Reality is always in the middle.”
  • Quote: “You can learn a lot about a person by how they handle their mistakes.”
    • People who don’t take accountability and blame others are not people you want to be around.
  • After a 7-3 season at NC State, the NY Jets pursued Lou.
    • Lou met with the Jets in NYC. He was their No.1 candidate.
    • Lou accepted the Jets job despite not really having his heart in it.
    • Coached legendary QB Joe Namath while with the Jets.
  • Jets went 3-11 in first year with Lou at head coach.
    • Lou later left the Jets in1976 and took the University of Arkansas head coaching job.
    • Lesson: Either fully commit to something, or don’t commit at all.
  • 1977 — Lou led Arkansas to an 11-1 season in first year.
    • They played Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.
  • Just before the Orange Bowl, three of Lou’s best players were involved in an incident with a woman in the dorms.
    • The police and school administrators turned a blind eye.
    • Lou chose to sit and suspend the players. The decision was met with a lot of uproar.
    • Many other Arkansas players threatened to sit out of the Orange Bowl unless the suspensions were lifted.
    • Lou was taken to court over the suspensions.
      • Bill Clinton represented Lou in court.
    • Despite losing three key players, Arkansas upset Oklahoma 31-6 in the Orange Bowl.
      • Lesson: Focus on what you have, not on what you don’t have.
    • After the win, Lou became one of the hottest head coaching candidates in the country.
      • Lesson: Do the right thing, no matter what.

Chapter 4

  • 1979 — Arkansas goes 10-1 and loses the National Championship Game to Alabama.
  • 1980-1982 — Arkansas continues to be one of the best programs in the country under Lou’s leadership.
  • 1983 — Arkansas goes 6-5 and Lou was forced to resign, surprisingly.
  • After being fired, Lou was recruited by the University of Minnesota and accepts the job.
    • Minnesota had lost 17 of their last 18 games.
    • Interestingly, Lou worked a clause into his contract that stated that if Lou led the team to a bowl game AND Notre Dame offered him their head coaching job, he could take it and leave Minnesota.
  • 1984 — Minnesota wins four games.
    • After the season, Minnesota wanted to remove the ‘Notre Dame Clause’ and offered Lou a lifetime contract and Athletic Director job if he allowed them to remove the clause.
      • Lou declined.
  • 1985 — Minnesota wins a good number of games and only lost to undefeated Oklahoma by five points when the two teams met.
    • Minnesota finishes the year with a 6-4 record and is invited to a bowl game.
  • After the 1985 season, Notre Dame offers Lou its head coaching position.
    • Lou accepts. This was his DREAM job.
    • Lesson: Hard times WILL come, but when they do, remember that faith, hard work, and an unwavering commitment to goals will turn things around.
  • Four Rules of Life to Follow:
      1. Do what is right, always.
      2. Do your very best.
      3. Treat others like you want to be treated.
      4. Excuses only come out of the losing locker room. Winners don’t make excuses, they are too busy finding solutions.
      • Put a solution on the board.
  • In his first year at Notre Dame, Lou established some new rules and built a new culture.
    • He put pressure on QB Steve Beuerlein and tried to build the confidence of the team’s No. 1 receiver, Tim Brown.
      • Brown went on to win the Heisman Trophy and was later elected to the NFL Hall of Fame.
  • 1986 — Notre Dame starts the year 1-4 and finished with an overall record of 4-6.
    • Notre Dame upset USC in dramatic fashion in the final game of the season.

Chapter 5

  • Quote: “If you want to achieve perfection, you have to demand it.”
    • Have high expectations for yourself and try to hold yourself to those standards.
  • Quote: “Self-discipline is the greatest asset an individual can possess.”
    • The key to achieving anything is self-discipline. This is a consistent theme in many of the books I’ve read.
  • 1988 — Lou leads Notre Dame to a National Championship.
    • The Irish went undefeated that year.
    • Lou is offered, and accepts, a lifetime contract from Notre Dame.
  • 1996 — Lou retires after 11 seasons at Notre Dame.
    • After retiring, Lou’s wife, Beth, is diagnosed with throat cancer.
      • She survived despite long odds.
  • Four Things You Need in Life:
      1. Something to do
      2. Someone to love
      3. Something to believe in
      4. Something to look forward to
  • 1999 — Lou comes out of retirement to accept the University of South Carolina job.
    • 1999 — South Carolina goes 0-11.
    • 2000 — South Carolina goes 7-4 and breaks its 21-game losing streak.
    • 2001 — South Carolina goes 8-3.
      • They beat Ohio State in a bowl game and finished the year ranked No. 9 in the country.
  • 2004 — Lou retires again, this time for good.
    • Steve Spurrier was his successor.
  • Lou finished his career with 249 wins, good for 8th most in college football history.
    • He took 6 different teams to a bowl game.