Columnist Dean Juipe: Holtz finds he’s cursed in Carolina

Dean Juipe

Friday, Sept. 24, 1999 | 9:52 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

While John Robinson has stepped out of a brief retirement to seemingly take the first strides in resurrecting the UNLV football program, across the continent another somewhat fabled coach has found his return to the sport nothing to crow about.

Fact is, Lou Holtz has to be miserable and has to be questioning why, at the age of 62, he's feeling cursed.

Not only are Holtz's South Carolina Gamecocks, a team he inherited this season, 0-3 and looking at a likely fourth loss Saturday when they face 3-0 Mississippi State, at least two other programs he was once affiliated with are knee deep in calamity.

Once a regular on the Tonight Show, Holtz might now be a more appropriate guest on one of the many confrontational daytime dramas where tales of woe are the stock in trade.

In addition to his Gamecocks' current troubles, Holtz is on the receiving end of a good deal of scorn from Notre Dame fans for the improprieties that took place during the latter portion of his 11-year tenure as head coach of the Irish. Notre Dame and the NCAA have been looking into allegations of academic fraud -- and some other minor dalliances -- that took place while Holtz was with the Irish, and penalties are likely to be self-imposed or handed down shortly by the NCAA.

It doesn't help Holtz's image that Notre Dame is 1-3 this season, in part, no doubt, because current Irish head coach Bob Davie has had to recruit with the public fully aware the NCAA will be demanding retribution for what happened during his predecessor's watch.

Another slap in the face for Holtz, although it certainly can't be laid on his doorstep, is the fact his alma mater, Kent, currently has the nation's longest losing streak (16) and hasn't won a football game since 1997.

Holtz, of course, is something of an oddball in spite of his many gridiron conquests. While he may possess the fourth-best record of any active coach (216-98-7 in what is now 28 seasons), he is generally perceived as the Jeff Foxworthy of sports: slyly hip, but definitely hick.

Holtz played to that image during regular visits on Johnny Carson's old show, yucking it up with assorted magic tricks and some down-home reasoning. His quick wit came in handy and added to his star power, yet when his audience was nothing but his own football players he was always perceived as a stern disciplinarian.

South Carolinians were elated to coax Holtz out of retirement and away from a part-time gig as a TV football analyst, as they purchased a record 53,000 season tickets this season to see a team coming off its worst record of the century.

Anticipating some rejuvenation with 15 starters returning, Sports Illustrated ranked South Carolina No. 50 prior to the season and Jeff Sagarin's power ratings (which are carried by USA Today) had the Gamecocks at No. 63. The latter paper also had Holtz featured on the cover of its special college football edition, sharing the co-feature with UNLV's Robinson.

While Robinson's team won its first two games and is now 2-1, Holtz's team has lost to North Carolina State, Georgia and East Carolina and is last in Division I in scoring (with 12 points).

For comparison's sake, Robinson may have a better situation at UNLV than Holtz does at South Carolina. Plus he's nothing like Jeff Foxworthy.