- 1 day ago
105.7 the Fan's own Vinny Cerrato joined Rob and Jeremy during Thursday's Big Bad Morning Show to remember the life of the great Lou Holtz.
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00:00Vinny, I found out in the news yesterday about a man that you worked for, Lou Holtz, and I'll be
00:06honest with you, I don't think it took a minute for me to text you, knowing how close you were
00:10with him.
00:10When did you first meet Lou Holtz?
00:131983.
00:16And I was on the staff at Minnesota.
00:19Joe Salem was a coach.
00:20I was a GA.
00:22And Joe Salem got fired during the year, and then they brought in, and I was out recruiting because all
00:28the coaches were fired.
00:29So one of the assistants said, you know, go out and recruit.
00:34So I was out recruiting, and then Lou came in, you know, and he let me stay on as a
00:41GA because I was recruiting, and, you know, there was some kids that were coming.
00:48But, like, we'd have these luncheons, and he'd get up and speak and everything, and speaking, you know, it was
00:55like you're in awe of listening to him speak.
00:57And then he'd have the coaches stand up.
00:59Every time he introduced me, Vinny Iovino, stand up.
01:03I'm like, who's that?
01:05You know, it was me.
01:06I guess he had another coach or a player at one point who was Vinny Iovino.
01:12So that's who you became then.
01:13Yeah, I became Vinny Iovino.
01:15You know, and then the thing how I got to know Lou pretty good was in the offseason and stuff,
01:25he would go speak, and the airport was probably 25 minutes away.
01:29So I was the one that would drive him to the airport and pick him up.
01:34So I did that the whole time, you know, the three years I was at Minnesota.
01:39So I got to be pretty good, pretty tight with him just because we talked all the time.
01:43It wasn't about football, just about other stuff.
01:46And, you know, when he was going through the Notre Dame job stuff, you know, he was talking to me
01:50about it and everything.
01:52So it was – and then, you know, what was funny was when he takes the job at Notre Dame
01:59and he has – he calls the staff.
02:04It was 10 o'clock at night.
02:05Calls everybody in and we all was like, yeah, we're all going to Notre Dame.
02:09So we go into the staff meeting and he sits down and he says, guys, I hate to tell you
02:16this, but you're all under contract and, you know, you're playing in a bowl game.
02:22And I can't take any of you until December the 18th and that's too late for me to recruit.
02:28You know, if any of you want to talk to me, you know, meet me in my office after.
02:34I'll meet you one at a time.
02:35And got up and walked out and we were like, damn, you know, because we all thought we were going
02:39to Notre Dame and now none of us is going to Notre Dame.
02:42So then my office was right next to his.
02:45So he pops in.
02:46He said, see me last.
02:47I said, all right.
02:48So I sat in my office till, you know, like midnight or whatever.
02:51And he says, you want to go?
02:54I said, yeah.
02:55I says, what do you want me to coach?
02:57He says, I want you to be a secondary coach.
02:59I said, no.
03:00He says, why don't you want to be a secondary coach?
03:02I said, because that's what you coach.
03:04And I says, if I go coach secondary, I'll get fired, you know, quicker than anything.
03:09So I said, do you want, I said, I'd like to be the recruiting coordinator and travel and do all
03:16that.
03:16And he says, well, let me think about that.
03:18I said, all right.
03:19So then, boom, he's gone the next day to South Bend.
03:23And then, you know, we worked it out and everything.
03:26And I was the first one on the staff.
03:27He and I were at the Morrison and living in a hotel, different rooms.
03:33But, like, we'd eat our meals together, but he eats, like, in 30 seconds.
03:36And I eat fast.
03:37Well, you know, I eat fast, but he eats.
03:40Done yet?
03:42You know?
03:43But he was fun to be a great coach.
03:46I mean, like, speaking, like, you're in awe watching him speak.
03:50And they're like, you go to a school or you go to a home, you know, you just sit there
03:55and just, he takes it.
03:57You know?
03:57You got it.
03:58You know?
03:59They're not here to see me at that point.
04:01They want to hear you.
04:03And when he'd walk into school, it was like the seas parted, you know?
04:08It was unbelievable how, you know, you hear the little whispers and everything when he's walking down the hall.
04:14That was pretty cool and stuff.
04:17And, you know, like, I was on radio this morning and they were asking me about, you know, how did
04:22he, you know, he always won big games.
04:25You know, how did he get teams ready for big games?
04:30And, you know, I was telling the story and I thought about, you know, like when we played Miami in
04:3594, when we were, or 94, 88, when we won national championship, the Catholics convicts game.
04:43I remember on, we played Pitt Saturday night, beat one at Pitt Saturday night, Sunday morning, we have a staff
04:49meeting.
04:51And he looks at everybody in the staff and he says, guys, he said, I watched my, he'd been watching
04:56Miami for three weeks.
04:57Anyhow.
04:57So he says, I don't, it's Sunday.
05:01I don't know how we're going to beat him.
05:03Wow.
05:04You know, I don't know how we're going to beat him, but by the end of the week, we'll find
05:09a way.
05:10And then he says, let me just tell you guys this, this week, positive week.
05:15I don't want anybody saying a negative word to a player.
05:18You build them up.
05:19We got to build them up.
05:20We got to build these guys up all week long to make them think by the end of the week,
05:25they're unbeatable.
05:26And that's kind of, you know, how he was, I mean, he was master motivator.
05:32I got one more good story that you would, you would like this one.
05:35I think Rob probably knows this one.
05:37Reggie Ho, our kicker, you know, the little one who do sideways.
05:42Reggie's out at, Reggie's out at practice and, you know, he's doing his kick and drill.
05:49And I, and I worked with the kicker, so I was standing out there too.
05:52So Lou comes out and standing there right next to him while he's watching him kick, try to put pressure
05:57on him when he's kicking.
05:58So Reggie looks up at him and says, coach, can't kick with you watching like that.
06:03And Lou goes, uh, Reggie, I do plan on being at every game.
06:10That's a great line.
06:12I mean, you'll know it better than most, but he was good for the, no matter if you were playing
06:16the most inferior opponent and you're going to win.
06:18Great special teams.
06:19They got a great kicker.
06:20They got a great kick return.
06:22He always had something about another team.
06:24Yeah.
06:24And then another one, like what I would do is like on Monday nights, I would give Lou the evaluate.
06:33I would do an evaluation of their top starters on offense and defense.
06:37We were playing Air Force, who was ranking the top 10 at the time.
06:41So he comes walking down the hall.
06:43I hand him the report.
06:44He says, what do you think?
06:45I said, coach, they don't have a guy that could play for us.
06:47He throws a report at my face.
06:49He says, what are you talking about?
06:51They're ranked eighth in the country.
06:53I said, coach, I'm just telling you, they don't have a guy who can play for us.
06:57I think we beat them by 30.
07:00A similar story to that.
07:01When you were at, you told me a story when you first got to Notre Dame, you went to Alabama.
07:06Oh, yeah.
07:07And Lou Holtz's idea was, we're going to coach all these guys up.
07:10We're going to coach these guys up.
07:11We'll all coach everybody.
07:13He changed his mind after the Alabama game.
07:14Tell us that story.
07:15Oh, we played down in, uh.
07:17Um, Legion Field down in Birmingham.
07:20We were in Birmingham playing Alabama.
07:22Cornelius Bennett and all that.
07:23You remember the poster of Bennett with Burlein making that sack?
07:27That was the game.
07:29And we got pummeled.
07:32David Palmer, I think, ran a punt back for a time.
07:35And it was packed.
07:36And I was sitting on a bus.
07:38Lou comes sitting next to me.
07:39And he said, we're going to get players like everybody else.
07:44We can't out-coach these folks.
07:46He went from out-coaching them to, you know, the X's and O's mean nothing without the Henry's
07:50and Joe's.
07:51Listen, Vinny, as we come up to the end of the segment, if you could see, and I've always,
07:55when I lost somebody close to me, I always think of, what would I tell them if I saw them
07:59today?
07:59If you saw Lou Holtz right now, what would you tell them?
08:04I, you know, like, I kind of got the chance, you know, when we were there for the Hall
08:09of Fame, or not the Hall of Fame, when we were there for our reunion, um, not that many
08:18years ago, we were there for the reunion.
08:20And me and Becky got a chance to spend time with Lou because he was, he was going to be
08:26in my wedding and he came up and to both of us.
08:30And he said, listen, I just want to apologize.
08:32I said, you don't have, he says, no, I want to apologize because I was out of the country.
08:38I couldn't make it.
08:39I wanted to be there, but I just, you know, wanted to thank you guys for inviting me and
08:43everything else.
08:44You know, I mean, it was just a guy that if you needed him, he was always there.
08:51Like if Charlie, like I remember calling him a couple of different times, like coach, can
08:57you talk to Charlie?
08:58Can you motivate him a little bit?
08:59Sure.
08:59Give me his number.
09:00Boom.
09:00You know, like the Penn state hockey coach, he, he called, he said, Hey, you know, give me
09:05some, uh, I was reading some of these Lou Holtz quotes, you know, what, what would Lou say?
09:10I said, here, let me call him and I'll have him call you.
09:13And he talked to him for an hour, you know, and he, he called, um, Mike Pence for Vincent
09:19when he was trying to get into Naval Academy and got him his nomination, you know, so he
09:25was only a phone call away.
09:27If you needed anything.
09:29I remember when we were on a visit to Notre Dame for Charlie, you know, when, uh, Brian
09:34Kelly, like wouldn't let me on the field.
09:36I called coach.
09:37I said, coach, I'm at Notre Dame with Charlie's visit.
09:39Hey, if anything you need, let me know.
09:42And I said, coach, they won't let me on the field.
09:44What?
09:47Well, Brian Kelly would, no one would tell these stories about Brian Kelly.
09:50No.
09:50How about, I got, I got one more about Brian Kelly is we're there for the reunion and going
09:58over, we're all going to the pep rally.
10:00I said, coach, you come to the pep rally?
10:02You know, I figured when they're playing Michigan, you know, are, you know, you speaking?
10:06He said, no, he wouldn't let me speak.
10:09You know?
10:10I said, why wouldn't?
10:12Because he's Brian Kelly.
10:13Yeah.
10:13Because he's Brian Kelly.
10:15Because Lou would, Lou would, you know, take the shine off of him.
10:18I'm not scheduling Brian Kelly's death by any stretch of the imagination.
10:22But when it happens, there's no one sitting on a microphone talking about him like he just
10:26talked about Lou Holtz.
10:27I might say that.
10:27Because that cool dance he did with the recruits when he's spinning around in a certain video.
10:31And let me just say this too.
10:32Like I was tight with his wife, Beth, you know, Skip, Kevin, Liz, you know, so I was
10:40tight.
10:40The older daughter, I didn't know her, but all the other ones were always around.
10:45Skip played at Notre Dame and then, you know, Skip coached and everything.
10:48And Beth, Beth, she was, you know, she was the fighter, man.
10:54Like people quietly, like when Bob Davey was screwed.
10:57Went over Lou Holtz, you know, and, and I called him out.
11:01I called Beth and Beth says, what'd you do?
11:04I said, here's what I did, blah, blah, blah.
11:05You know, I told Bob Kelly, I said, or, you know, Bob Davey, I know you're going up the
11:11back stairs behind Lou's back.
11:12She said, you told me that?
11:13I said, yeah.
11:14She said, good.
11:16He's a piece of work too.
11:18I'm sure Vinny will have a lot more stories on Vinny and Haney, man.
11:21Thanks a lot for your time, Vinny.
11:22My pleasure, guys.
11:23All right.
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