COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Holtz's place in USC football lore appears secure

Lou Holtz, coach of a national championship team at Notre Dame in 1988, brought instant credibility, prolific media attention and a winning mindset to South Carolina's long-docile program when he assumed command of the Gamecocks in 1999.
(Photo: USC Athletics)

An Associated Press report contributed
to this story, which was prepared by
Bonesville staff member Danny Whitford.

COLUMBIA — Lou Holtz made bold promises when he became the guardian of South Carolina football in 1999. For the most part he delivered, leading the Gamecocks out of a state of persistent underachievement to an exhilarating new era of respect.

Now, in the wake of his retirement at the end of last season and the school's recent dustup with the NCAA, the jury is out to some extent on how the Holtz legacy will ultimately be defined at USC.

The initial reading of the facts is that Holtz's ties to the indiscretions were so indirect as to pose little danger of undercutting the virtual reverence with which he is held in Gamecock Land, a place where he galvanized support for the football program like no coach before him.

The university admitted to 10 violations in a summary disposition report released last week. It agreed with the NCAA enforcement staff that five of those violations were major. South Carolina classified the other five as secondary, although the NCAA disagreed and called one of them major also, an issue that will no doubt get taken up when the NCAA Committee on Infractions discusses the report in the coming weeks.

Even the state's governor, Jim Hodges, apparently was more directly involved in an infraction than Holtz. Gov. Hodges was cited for an NCAA violation when he talked to prospects.

With Holtz named in only the most minor of ways in the report, the governor suggests that it's not inevitable that Holtz' successful tenure will be clouded.

``I don't know if it changes anything,'' said Gov. Hodges. ``Lou did a lot of good things for the university.''

That was certainly the case early on when Holtz stunned the football world — and probably most South Carolina fans — by going from 0-11 in 1999 to 17-7 and consecutive Outback Bowl victories in 2000 and 2001.

When news broke in 2002 that the NCAA was looking into South Carolina, Holtz angrily defended his program.

``They don't think we can win without cheating,'' Holtz said at the time. ``They don't think we can recruit without cheating and this is nonsense.''

At a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada last week, Holtz said the violations didn't involve ``any real major stuff that happened.''

``No coach was involved,'' he said, according to an interview transcript provided by the tournament. ``The major fallacy was that we tutored two young men or I guess the academic people tutored two young men before they attended the university.

``Five of the violations were reported by us,'' Holtz continued, ``there was no money involved, no recruiting violations, no enticements, but nevertheless, we don't want any marks against us.''

The school proposed penalties of two years' probation, losing four football scholarships over two seasons and reducing its on-campus paid recruiting visits.

The 80-page summary disposition report largely leaves Holtz out of transgressions.

The most serious violations involved the conduct of former athletic administrator Tom Perry and former football strength and condition coach Pat Moorer.

The report said Perry provided academic assistance to a pair of recruits who had signed with South Carolina but had not yet enrolled.

In Holtz's interview with NCAA investigators, the coach said he had no knowledge of tutoring assistance being provided. He ``did say the football staff might have monitored'' the progress of an incoming player who was at Midlands Technical College, according to the report.

The NCAA report found that Moorer was the ``chief actor'' in conducting out-of-season athletics activities for football student athletes. Holtz said in the report he had no knowledge of Moorer conducting mandatory summer workouts or punishing or compelling makeup workouts for those players who missed sessions. Holtz noted to investigators, ``I assume players would go.''

As far as Gov. Hodges' contact with prospects, Holtz told investigators he was ``as shocked as anybody'' to see the state's chief executive.

Holtz said he did not know such contact violated NCAA rules until after the fact. Governors are ex-officio members of the university's board of trustees.

Holtz has kept a very low profile in the state since leaving South Carolina in November. Recently retired athletic director Mike McGee, who brought Holtz out of retirement in December 1998 and then hired Steve Spurrier as football coach after this last season, has said Holtz was disappointed how his final year ended.

Still, Holtz is optimistic about the Gamecocks chances under Spurrier, even with NCAA sanctions.

``He's a winner,'' he said at the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship. ``We took the program from the bottom. We made it very respectable in the SEC. I think he can take it to the next step.''

Spurrier, involved in the same celebrity golf tournament, also downplayed the fallout from the violations.

"I don't think it's going to be that big of a deal at all," Spurrier told television reporters in Lake Tahoe, NV. "We're going to offer a couple of scholarships to the NCAA, and certainly we've got a couple of players on scholarship that we probably won't miss at South Carolina."