Lou Holtz’s tenure at Notre Dame was its own reign of terror, and a fact Urban Meyer had to learn the hard way. The former Ohio State head coach recalled how demanding Holtz could be, sharing an incredible story from his time at South Bend, where he forgot that family comes first.

Meyer narrated this incident on an episode of the Triple Option Podcast. Every other coach who worked with Lou Holtz knows very well how much of a stickler he was for rules. One of them was having all the required coaches in the day’s first meeting, which used to be at 7 am. One day, to avoid invoking Holtz’s wrath, Meyer, on school dropoff duty, had to drive through the snow to rush his kids early in the morning. He got them to school and somehow made it to the meeting, drenched in sweat. Little did Meyer know what trouble he’d caused.

He only realized when his wife, Shelley, who had been ringing him all morning, was able to reach him through his assistant. When he answered, he was met with, “You’re an idiot…You didn’t realize it was a snow day.”

Meyer also narrated that he drove the kids to school through a heap of snow, and that he also forced them to ditch coats because he was getting late. While on the phone with his wife, he also recalled that there was almost no one around when he made the drop-off. It sure was a massive goof-up for Meyer, leaving his daughters in the cold with no coats. The children were able to return back as security was there to ensure their safety. However, Meyer said he had to take all these risks just so Lou Holtz didn’t have a reason to be mad at him.

“If they’d even jeopardized my kids’ health, obviously, I was not going to miss that staff meeting or be late. Because your life is miserable if you’re late.”

Back in 1996, Holtz brought Meyer onto the staff as the wide receivers coach during what would ultimately be Holtz’s final season at Notre Dame before retiring. Interestingly, at first, Lou didn’t want to meet Meyer, but his son, Skip Holtz, convinced him to give a young assistant a shot. So, as a sign of gratitude, the last thing Urban wanted to do was get on the wrong side of Lou Holtz’s famously unforgiving standards that early in his career.

It wasn’t easy to maintain that. They were not making much money in those days, so his wife worked full-time as a nurse to support the family. Meyer’s job involved recruiting players and working long hours with the football staff, which made mornings especially hectic. This was Meyer’s first proper coaching job at a major program, which made it even more important that he didn’t get off on the wrong foot with Holtz.

The risks ultimately paid off for Meyer, who went on to share an extremely rewarding rapport with the iconic coach. Despite spending a short time coaching together, Urban Meyer made sure to make every moment count. In fact, he “wore him out” with his incessant calls about anything to do with football.

Meyer’s experience was common for coaches. But players under Holtz faced even more heat from Holtz, as Notre Dame legend Jerome Bettis can attest.

Lou Holtz and Jerome Bettis’ psychological warfare tale

As revered as Holtz is on the Notre Dame campus, he was equally feared by those he worked with, including players. The late coach told Secretary of Education Linda McMahon that he never “disciplined players.” Instead, he ” let them live with the consequences of their actions.” Facing that consequence alone was a nerve-wracking moment for Jerome Bettis when he played at Notre Dame.

“I’ll never forget they told us, if the door is closed, do not come in. Under no circumstances do not to come in, right? That always kind of hung in the back of my head. I believe I was late one time, and it was like you had a panic attack. You’re outside panicking because you know the worst is coming,” the star RB told Meyer.

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Jerome Bettis also used to call Lou Holtz “Napoleon,” but for a good reason. The coach used psychological warfare on Bettis. Holtz once tried to humble him by calling him arrogant in front of the whole team just for looking at a magazine he got featured in. This led to a brutal practice where Holtz basically told the team to beat up on Bettis to teach him a lesson.

Holtz once famously said, “The way you motivate a football team is to eliminate the unmotivated ones.”

The late head coach is a legend for shaping Notre Dame into a national contender, but this result has only been made possible because of instances like these.

But it wasn’t just Notre Dame. Holtz carried this standard wherever he coached. One of the most famous examples of Holtz’s uncompromising toughness occurred when he was the head coach of the Razorbacks. Arkansas was facing No. 2 Oklahoma in the 1978 Orange Bowl.

Three of Arkansas’s best players, including the starting running back and wide receiver, were caught with a woman in their dormitory room. Oklahoma was a heavy two-touchdown favorite, and the star players were threatening lawsuits. Holtz still went ahead and suspended them for breaking his “do-right” rule. Despite threats of a boycott by players, Holtz stood firm, and the depleted Razorbacks crushed Oklahoma 31-6. Holtz later called it a reward for “doing the right thing”.