Column: ‘Not my coach.’ Notre Dame icon Lou Holtz risks estrangement from the university and his former players with his tone-deaf RNC speech.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college...story.html
By SHANNON RYAN
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
AUG 30, 2020 AT 7:00 AM
Notre Dame’s stern rebuke of legendary former coach Lou Holtz’s speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night was a warranted stiff-arm.
Given Notre Dame’s political straddling as a Catholic university, it was extraordinarily bold for President Rev. John Jenkins to release a statement distancing the university from Holtz, who endorsed President Donald Trump for reelection.
Holtz, of course, has the right to endorse any candidate he likes. Holtz’s background as a successful coach is the reason he was invited as a noted speaker to back Trump.
But when Holtz blasted protesters against police brutality, he criticized many of his former players.
“There are people today, like politicians, professors, protesters and, of course, President Trump naysayers in the media, who like to blame others for problems,” Holtz said in a recorded RNC speech. “They don’t have pride in our country and — because they no longer ask, ‘What can I do for my country?’ only what the country should be doing for them — they don’t have pride in themselves. That’s wrong.”
Holtz must be added to a long list of disappointing white coaches (see Ditka, Mike) and players (see Urlacher, Brian) whose proximity to Black players and teammates did nothing to open their minds or hearts. In Holtz’s case, as a college coach, he made fortunes off the unpaid labor of mostly Black players.
And he has greatly disappointed at least some of them.
“We feel as though the hero we loved and adored, that we would run through a brick wall for, died in front of our eyes on Wednesday night,” former ND receiver Bobby Brown, who played for Holtz from 1996-99, said as host of his web show “Ball Hog Sports Talk.” “We have literally shed tears because of it. It seems as though you’ve abandoned us based on your alignment with a man who is at least very sympathetic to racists, if he’s not a racist himself.”
Sometimes people gain understanding when they’ve witnessed inequalities against people they love.
But not Holtz.
Police shot and killed one of his best defensive players. Demetrius DuBose was a charismatic team captain and an All-American linebacker before being drafted in 1993.
In 1999, at 28, an unarmed DuBose was shot 13 times, including six times in the back.
Hundreds marched in San Diego for him.
Brown mentioned several former Irish players feel Holtz betrayed them.
“This ain’t just about me,” Brown said as he wiped away tears while reading his public letter to Holtz on the podcast. “It’s about Demetrius DuBose, who you coached and was killed by police. It’s about all the Black players you coached who felt as though our lives were in jeopardy during a routine traffic stop.”
How does Holtz refuse to connect those dots? Does he mean those protesters seeking justice for DuBose and countless others — including Jacob Blake — lacked pride in themselves? Did they not care about their country?
Pride in self and love of country are why protesters have flooded streets in countless American cities this summer.
“I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually,” author James Baldwin wrote in his 1955 collection of essays “Notes of a Native Son.”
Holtz likes to wax poetic about overcoming odds by growing up with a lisp and living in a one-bedroom home in West Virginia. His stories indicate anyone else surely can pull himself up by his imaginary bootstraps, a popular American ethos that fully ignores systemic racism.
One of many popular Holtz’s quips: “The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it.”
Holtz dropped the ball at the RNC by cruelly dismissing calls for justice as whining.
His stances aren’t new and they go beyond standard politics.
Even in the 1980s while coaching at Arkansas, his endorsement of Sen. Jesse Helms, a Republican from North Carolina who was well known for his stance against the Civil Rights Act, caused controversy.
In 2016, Holtz agreed with Trump that NFL players kneeling as protest against racial injustice during the national anthem should be punished. “You choose to kneel for the national anthem, you’re choosing not to play,” Holtz said. “It’s that simple.”
He has compared police killing Black people to him getting an unwarranted speeding ticket.
In a recent Fox News interview, Holtz advocated for a college football season to continue during the COVID-19 pandemic, using the illogical rationale that young soldiers fought a brutal battle in Normandy during World War II.
In his RNC speech, Holtz also criticized Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, whom Notre Dame awarded in 2016 with the prestigious Laetare Medal honoring American Catholics, saying Biden’s faith was “in name only.”
“While Coach Lou Holtz is a former coach at Notre Dame, his use of the University’s name at the Republican National Convention must not be taken to imply that the University endorses his views, any candidate or any political party,” Jenkins said in a statement.
“Moreover, we Catholics should remind ourselves that while we may judge the objective moral quality of another’s actions, we must never question the sincerity of another’s faith, which is due to the mysterious working of grace in that person’s heart. In this fractious time, let us remember that our highest calling is to love.”
Holtz was a media favorite among those he let in his inner circle at Notre Dame, where he won the 1988 national championship — the program’s last. His quotes were folksy — inspirational at best, shtick at worst.
Holtz’s media bashing in his RNC speech also was filled with irony considering how he lapped up news coverage at Notre Dame, helping him receive the benefit of the doubt with some reporters to whom he made himself especially accessible.
And let’s not forget, Holtz was part of “the media” as an ESPN analyst for a decade.
He is maybe more closely associated with the university than anyone who has graduated from the South Bend, Ind., campus. A statue in his likeness sits outside the stadium.
But now he risks being estranged from those he coached and who glorified him.
In his podcast, Brown said a popular phrase “among Black folks” about Trump is “not my president.” He stopped to wipe away tears and compose himself before continuing to address Holtz.
“If you don’t face the hurt you cause, you will soon hear, ‘Not my coach’ when describing you,” Brown said. “It’s that real for us.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college...story.html
By SHANNON RYAN
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
AUG 30, 2020 AT 7:00 AM
Notre Dame’s stern rebuke of legendary former coach Lou Holtz’s speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night was a warranted stiff-arm.
Given Notre Dame’s political straddling as a Catholic university, it was extraordinarily bold for President Rev. John Jenkins to release a statement distancing the university from Holtz, who endorsed President Donald Trump for reelection.
Holtz, of course, has the right to endorse any candidate he likes. Holtz’s background as a successful coach is the reason he was invited as a noted speaker to back Trump.
But when Holtz blasted protesters against police brutality, he criticized many of his former players.
“There are people today, like politicians, professors, protesters and, of course, President Trump naysayers in the media, who like to blame others for problems,” Holtz said in a recorded RNC speech. “They don’t have pride in our country and — because they no longer ask, ‘What can I do for my country?’ only what the country should be doing for them — they don’t have pride in themselves. That’s wrong.”
Holtz must be added to a long list of disappointing white coaches (see Ditka, Mike) and players (see Urlacher, Brian) whose proximity to Black players and teammates did nothing to open their minds or hearts. In Holtz’s case, as a college coach, he made fortunes off the unpaid labor of mostly Black players.
And he has greatly disappointed at least some of them.
“We feel as though the hero we loved and adored, that we would run through a brick wall for, died in front of our eyes on Wednesday night,” former ND receiver Bobby Brown, who played for Holtz from 1996-99, said as host of his web show “Ball Hog Sports Talk.” “We have literally shed tears because of it. It seems as though you’ve abandoned us based on your alignment with a man who is at least very sympathetic to racists, if he’s not a racist himself.”
Sometimes people gain understanding when they’ve witnessed inequalities against people they love.
But not Holtz.
Police shot and killed one of his best defensive players. Demetrius DuBose was a charismatic team captain and an All-American linebacker before being drafted in 1993.
In 1999, at 28, an unarmed DuBose was shot 13 times, including six times in the back.
Hundreds marched in San Diego for him.
Brown mentioned several former Irish players feel Holtz betrayed them.
“This ain’t just about me,” Brown said as he wiped away tears while reading his public letter to Holtz on the podcast. “It’s about Demetrius DuBose, who you coached and was killed by police. It’s about all the Black players you coached who felt as though our lives were in jeopardy during a routine traffic stop.”
How does Holtz refuse to connect those dots? Does he mean those protesters seeking justice for DuBose and countless others — including Jacob Blake — lacked pride in themselves? Did they not care about their country?
Pride in self and love of country are why protesters have flooded streets in countless American cities this summer.
“I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually,” author James Baldwin wrote in his 1955 collection of essays “Notes of a Native Son.”
Holtz likes to wax poetic about overcoming odds by growing up with a lisp and living in a one-bedroom home in West Virginia. His stories indicate anyone else surely can pull himself up by his imaginary bootstraps, a popular American ethos that fully ignores systemic racism.
One of many popular Holtz’s quips: “The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it.”
Holtz dropped the ball at the RNC by cruelly dismissing calls for justice as whining.
His stances aren’t new and they go beyond standard politics.
Even in the 1980s while coaching at Arkansas, his endorsement of Sen. Jesse Helms, a Republican from North Carolina who was well known for his stance against the Civil Rights Act, caused controversy.
In 2016, Holtz agreed with Trump that NFL players kneeling as protest against racial injustice during the national anthem should be punished. “You choose to kneel for the national anthem, you’re choosing not to play,” Holtz said. “It’s that simple.”
He has compared police killing Black people to him getting an unwarranted speeding ticket.
In a recent Fox News interview, Holtz advocated for a college football season to continue during the COVID-19 pandemic, using the illogical rationale that young soldiers fought a brutal battle in Normandy during World War II.
In his RNC speech, Holtz also criticized Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, whom Notre Dame awarded in 2016 with the prestigious Laetare Medal honoring American Catholics, saying Biden’s faith was “in name only.”
“While Coach Lou Holtz is a former coach at Notre Dame, his use of the University’s name at the Republican National Convention must not be taken to imply that the University endorses his views, any candidate or any political party,” Jenkins said in a statement.
“Moreover, we Catholics should remind ourselves that while we may judge the objective moral quality of another’s actions, we must never question the sincerity of another’s faith, which is due to the mysterious working of grace in that person’s heart. In this fractious time, let us remember that our highest calling is to love.”
Holtz was a media favorite among those he let in his inner circle at Notre Dame, where he won the 1988 national championship — the program’s last. His quotes were folksy — inspirational at best, shtick at worst.
Holtz’s media bashing in his RNC speech also was filled with irony considering how he lapped up news coverage at Notre Dame, helping him receive the benefit of the doubt with some reporters to whom he made himself especially accessible.
And let’s not forget, Holtz was part of “the media” as an ESPN analyst for a decade.
He is maybe more closely associated with the university than anyone who has graduated from the South Bend, Ind., campus. A statue in his likeness sits outside the stadium.
But now he risks being estranged from those he coached and who glorified him.
In his podcast, Brown said a popular phrase “among Black folks” about Trump is “not my president.” He stopped to wipe away tears and compose himself before continuing to address Holtz.
“If you don’t face the hurt you cause, you will soon hear, ‘Not my coach’ when describing you,” Brown said. “It’s that real for us.
