Lou Holtz era

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Love this thread - many memories. Two things to add:
1 - Lou was a bit “lucky” in another way during his MN stint. His first year with us (1984) was also the Les Steckel year for the Vikings - without a doubt the worst coach in their history and one of their worst records (3-13). A short window in which the diehard MN Viking fan might have been looking around for something else. Had Holtz stayed, the pro football strike of 1987 might have brought even more interest the gopher way.
2. Reusse and others have said that there was no real ND clause in his contract - perhaps an unwritten understanding, but nothing explicitly on paper. Was a convenient excuse to attempt to somehow soften the blow of his departure (“everyone has a dream job” etc)
 

cemba99 said:
Love this thread - many memories. Two things to add:
1 - Lou was a bit “lucky” in another way during his MN stint. His first year with us (1984) was also the Les Steckel year for the Vikings - without a doubt the worst coach in their history and one of their worst records (3-13). A short window in which the diehard MN Viking fan might have been looking around for something else. Had Holtz stayed, the pro football strike of 1987 might have brought even more interest the gopher way.
2. Reusse and others have said that there was no real ND clause in his contract - perhaps an unwritten understanding, but nothing explicitly on paper. Was a convenient excuse to attempt to somehow soften the blow of his departure (“everyone has a dream job” etc)
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Les Steckel - A Name That Will Live in Infamy!!!!
 

Face The Facts said:
Yes. Feel free to rotate that in to your regular evening viewing schedule.
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Rotating as we speak. Also like the Henry Blake-Cal Worthington ending.

Honestly, thanks for posting-I was young and don't remember all the hoopla.
 


If he would have stayed for a decade or more, I think we would have become a national power, because the entire state bought in to what he was selling. I also think he, not Tim Brewster, is the reason so many were/are so skeptical of PJ. It may even be subconscious in many cases. We got burned badly by Holtz.


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cemba99 said:
Love this thread - many memories. Two things to add:
1 - Lou was a bit “lucky” in another way during his MN stint. His first year with us (1984) was also the Les Steckel year for the Vikings - without a doubt the worst coach in their history and one of their worst records (3-13). A short window in which the diehard MN Viking fan might have been looking around for something else. Had Holtz stayed, the pro football strike of 1987 might have brought even more interest the gopher way.
2. Reusse and others have said that there was no real ND clause in his contract - perhaps an unwritten understanding, but nothing explicitly on paper. Was a convenient excuse to attempt to somehow soften the blow of his departure (“everyone has a dream job” etc)
Click to expand...

I might be remembering incorrectly, but I thought Bud Grant's retirement effective the end of the 1983 season and publicly known before the Vikings' final game had occurred in part because Joe Salem was known to be a goner when the Gophers concluded their season and the U of M had at least some interest in Les Steckel whom the Vikes saw as a strong candidate to replace Bud. Les got the Vikes job and the U of M hired Lou Holtz. How different might history be had Les Steckel took over the Gophers? I always thought he was far more suited to college football than the pros, but he never took a college job after his Vikings failure. He was an NFL assistant for about 20 years after.

As an aside, the Les Steckel season had to happen in a way. The last Bud Grant coached Vikings team that was really good was the 1977 team that lost the NFC Championship Game to a much superior Dallas Cowboys team. From 1978 to 1983 it was all about managed decline. There was a lot of dead weight on the team by the time Bud stepped down in 1983, guys who he hung on to that weren't terrible, but weren't good enough to get that team anywhere. Les' drill instructor approach was all wrong considering what a loose ship Bud ran and how many long term vets were around.

That 3-13 disaster led to the draft picks to take Chris Doleman, Isaac Holt, and Kirk Lowdermilk in 1985. A trade was made to get the rights to Anthony Carter and a bunch of the used up vets were either gone already or marginalized enough under Steckel that Grant in his one year return and Burnsie afterwards were able to make a clean break and move on. It set the Vikings up for a revival by 1987 just as it became increasingly clear that John Gutekunst wasn't the right pick for the job after Lou Holtz left.
 

Holtz would have failed here in the end without a Rose Bowl. Too difficult to cheat here, zero commitment to football, not enough rich guys willing to offer endorsements. He did get people excited and overall was positive. He knew, we knew,he was only going to be here until The ND job opened. He was not the best coach that ever lived..
 



The thing that was not obvious at the time, but is clear in retrospect, is that Holtz had a limited shelf life everywhere he went, and was never going to be a long-term, "name the stadium after him when he's gone" coach, either here or elsewhere. His last season at Arkansas: 6-5. His last three seasons at Notre Dame: 6-5-1, 9-3, 8-3 (after starting each of those seasons ranked in the top 10).
 

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