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As I read in the Charleston paper this morning about South Carolina's 5 seniors who were among Lou Holtz's 1st recruiting class at USC (that went 0-11 their 1st year), I sure hope our guys have the same attitude as Rod Thomas. His quote? "Going 0-11 was the best thing that ever happened to me. Losing that badly makes you never to want to lose again and makes you work that much harder".

I'm looking forward to seeing what this year's true Frosh who are currently redshirted might accomplish before they finish their careers at SMU.

From the news reports coming out of SC, I'd be careful holding Lou up as the model - although early returns had that program being a remarkable turnaround.

http://www.firelouholtz.com/

great post - cp!

Originally posted by Charleston Pony:
"Going 0-11 was the best thing that ever happened to me. Losing that badly makes you never to want to lose again and makes you work that much harder".

God I pray!! I swear to god I pray that our players have that same type of attitude!

I think they are a very resilient, confident bunch, and that's a reflection of Coach Bennett, who obviously is a very resilient man. Losing tears him up, but all it does is make him work harder.

In addition to Lou Holtz and South Carolina's 0-11:

(1) Joe Novak's first three years at NIU were 1-10, 0-11 and 2-9

(2) Bill Synder's first two years at K State were 1-10 (0-7 Big 12) and 5-6 (2-5 Big 12)

(3) Paul Johnson' first year at Navy 2-10 (thanks to SMU and Army)

smudad-
Lou Holtz just got a one year contract extension today. It doesn't take much to start a website.

And Ron Meyer's first 4 years at SMU were 3-8, 4-7, 4-6-1, and 5-6.

<img src="http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/geo/sports/m-footbl/auto_headshot/p-cavan080902.jpg" alt=" - " />

Many folks are reading "No Confidence" into that one year deal.

Well, that would seem like a waste of $800,000 if you ask me. Regardless, you can't question Lou holtz as a football coach. The man has won everywhere he has coached (minus the Jets). The point is that even great coaches can have bad teams in the beginning and turn them around. He successfully took over a team that won zero games and made them into a competitve team in one of the best conferences in the country. What has happened since then isn't really comparable.

smudad-sounds like you know quite a bit about USC, may even be a fan, but surely you are aware that quite a bit has changed for Holtz over the last few years. He's not getting any younger, he refuses to make a commitment longer than a year at a time due to his wife's health. I guess you have to wonder if the fire is still there. I'm sure all these factors come up when you are looking at replacing him.

I think the bottom line is that even a coaching legend can produce an awful, even no-win, season if he doesn't have the talent and players to fit his system.

Lou Holtz is in no danger of losing his job at USC as long as Mike McGee is A.D. there. This one year extension gives Holtz that all important 5 yr rolling deal as rumors swirl around arch rival Clemson's head coach, Tommy Bowden. Clemson has a new A.D. (Terry Don Phillips who left Okie St to take that job). Despite what could turn out to be a 9-4 season and his 5th straight bowl appearance, Bowden may be fired and Phillips just might bring his boy Les Miles to Clemson (that's my opinion).

Carolina people who are upset with Holtz (and started firelouholtz don't understand his current Frosh. RS Frosh and Sophs have the makings of a future SEC championship team...assuming Holtz can reel in another couple of strong classes and find the right guy to QB his team.

We can only wish we had USC's "problems".

Originally posted by Charleston Pony:
....Bowden may be fired and Phillips just might bring his boy Les Miles to Clemson (that's my opinion)....

Not a bad guess. I think if Bowden gets canned, he's getting a raw deal, but if he does, I could see Miles joining his old buddy - with Miami in the fold, the ACC will be the premier football conference in the country. And while he's #2 in the state at OSU, would it be safe to say he's #1 in the state at Clemson? Or does SC take top billing out there?

Clemson has a significant advantage in the two schools' long history of playing each other and has a ntional championship and lots more bowl appearances, so they have been the stonger football program over the years, but USC is no slouch and right now under Holtz they are closing the gap...but this year is typical. Clemson is 7-4 going into their rivalry game Saturday and talking of firing their coach while USC is 5-6 and needs this win to vbecome bowl eligible, but extended Holtz's contract. Both are solid, but for Miles, it would be like jumping to a Nebraska or Texas...unlike OSU, it would be a school that expects to compete for the ACC title and a national championship.

Bill Snyder uses an athletic model that not even Stallion would endorse. BTW_ His first years were in the Big 8, not Big 12. The lack of quality football at that time in the Big 8 helped him also. I believe only Nebraska was very good at the time he took over with occasional good teams from CU. KU, MU, OSU, ISU (most of the time)and even OU were pretty mediocre during that stretch. And please don't refute this with bowl game stats. We all know that Bowls are more inclined to tap teams that bring crowds rather than the best available.