Editor’s Notes: Legendary coach and broadcaster Lou Holtz delivers the 2015 undergraduate commencement address at Franciscan University of Steubenville. Drawing on a life that took him from a humble childhood in West Virginia and Ohio to the pinnacle of college football at Notre Dame, Holtz shares lessons he’s lived, not just read about. In this speech, he lays out a simple but powerful roadmap for life—centered on faith, personal responsibility, and the three rules he says can lead to both success and significance. Whether you’re a new graduate or years into your career, his stories and humor offer a reminder that you don’t have to complicate life to make it meaningful.
TRANSCRIPT:
LOU HOLTZ: Thank you. I am indeed humbled and honored to be awarded a doctorate’s degree from such an outstanding university. I say that from the bottom of my heart. I was born in Follansbee, West Virginia, raised in East Liverpool, Ohio, so I was very familiar with Steubenville. 1950, a friend of mine from Follansbee named Gino Petrocchi played basketball, and that’s when I first started following this fine university.
I’m humbled by receiving this degree. Obviously, you didn’t check my high school rank before you decided to do it. I did a lower third of my high school class. If it was not for people like me, there couldn’t have been no upper half of the class. Now, if you happen to be in that audience, you showed up to listen to Lou Holtz, you made a mistake.
A Message to the Graduates
I want to talk to the young men and women here. I’m not going to preach to you. I’m not going to lecture to you. I’m going to talk about things I believe and the experiences I shared. I’m not going to talk about something I read about or heard about. These are things I believe. And understand this, I’ve been 21. You’ve never been 78. Ten percent of you — I say ten percent of you won’t remember ten percent of what I said ten minutes after I said it. But for the next seventeen minutes, I just want to share things with you.
Faith in God
You know how fortunate you are to be at a great Catholic university, to be able to share your faith in God. Don’t ever lose that. There will be a tendency to get away from it. We all have a tendency to think we can do things on our own.
If you want to make God laugh, you tell him what your plans are, I want to tell you. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I prayed when Michigan had the ball on our four yard line. “Oh God, you stop it. I’m going to change my life.”
It’s like the guy that was going to an important meeting and he couldn’t find a parking place. He kept searching and finally in panic, he looked up at heaven and he said, “God, if you find me a parking place, I’ll go to church every day, every Sunday the rest of my life. I will not drink any alcohol the rest of my life.” And just then, miraculously, a parking spot opened up. He looked up at heaven and he said, “Forget it God, I found one on my own.”
We have that. I have a strong faith in God and I don’t know how people live without it.
I remember we played Miami, Florida, that was a great game where it was titled “The Catholics versus the Convicts.” I really didn’t like it. I thought that was totally unfair because not all our team was Catholic. But we have this big lunch and 3,000 people. I go in and the father gets up and he says, “Before I give invocation, Coach Holtz, I want you to know I’m a Catholic priest. I’m the team chaplain of Miami football team. We came up here to beat you, and I want you to know God doesn’t care who wins this game.”
When it came my turn to talk, I got up and said, “I agree with you, Father. God doesn’t care who wins the game, but I want to promise you his mother does.”
So, you see, life doesn’t have to be complicated. We complicate life.
Five Assumptions About You
I’m going to make five assumptions about the people in this audience. I’m going to assume you want to be successful professionally. I’m going to assume you want to have a good personal life. I’m going to assume that you want to feel needed. And I’m going to assume you want to feel secure about your future. The fifth assumption I’m going to make is you want to go to heaven.
A Simple Plan for Life
And I’m going to give you a simple plan how to do all five, because, see, you don’t have to sacrifice your religious life, your personal life in order to advance professionally. They all work together. And don’t complicate it. I try to keep life simple.
Do you realize there are only seven colors of the rainbow? Only seven. Look what Michelangelo did with those seven colors. There’s only seven musical notes. Look what Beethoven did with those seven notes. There’s only ten numbers. Look what Bernie Madoff did with those ten numbers. The point I make is it doesn’t have to be complicated.
Four Things Everyone Needs
See, you need four things in your life. If you don’t have any of these four things in your life, you’re going to have a tremendous void. See, everybody needs something to do. Number two, everybody needs someone to love. Number three, everybody needs someone to believe in. In my case, it’s Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. But the fourth thing you need in your life is you need something to hope for. What do you want to do? Having hopes and dreams and ambitions.
See, I think that is absolutely critical.
The One Thing I Regret
Don’t make the mistake I made. I’ve done a lot of dumb things, but let me tell you the one thing I regret. We went to the University of Notre Dame. We took a program on the bottom. We took it to the very top. And for nine straight years, we went to a January One Bowl. The Sugar, the Cotton, the Orange, and the Fiesta. Nobody’s done it before. Nobody’s done it since. We put it on top, and we maintained it. That’s the thing I regret the most.
See, there’s a rule of life that says you’re either growing or you’re dying. The tree’s either growing or it’s dying. So’s grass. So’s a marriage. So’s a business. So’s a person. Doesn’t have a thing to do with age. My birthday candles cost more than a cake. But it has everything to do with, am I trying to get better? Am I trying to improve? We got on top and say, you know, this is pretty good. Let’s maintain it. Let’s not take any risk. We finished second in the country at Notre Dame. Everybody called me an idiot. Guy finishes last in medical school, they call him doctor. That doesn’t seem fair.
When I left Notre Dame, I never thought I’d coach again. Where do you go from Notre Dame? According to my mother, you go directly to heaven, you sit by the Pope. You don’t coach anymore. And then I went to live in a town where the average age was deceased. And what I found out, I wasn’t tired of coaching. You have to have something to hope for, something to dream. And even though you’ve done great things so far, what’s going to happen now?
Three Rules to Live By
I want to give you a simple plan, so maybe you’ll follow those five assumptions. This is not something I talk about, it’s something I believe, and it works. And I wish that I’d learned it when I was 21. There’s only three rules you have to follow. You know, we have all kinds of laws. Federal laws, county laws, state laws, corporate laws, bylaws, and in-laws and outlaws. We only need three laws.
Law number one, do what’s right. Do what’s right and avoid what’s wrong. If you have any doubt, get out the Bible. I do not think it’s right to find a teammate’s wallet before he lost it. See, that’s called stealing, son. I found it, but he hadn’t lost it yet at all. I understand. Just do what’s right. There’s never a right time to do the wrong thing. And there’s never a wrong time to do the right thing. Just do what’s right.
I think it’s right to be honest, to be on time. I think it’s wrong to practice sexism, racism, and spousal abuse. I think it’s wrong to be bitter. We’ve all had injustices done, by society, by a spouse, by a professor, due respect professors. I’m referring to my own. But you know what?
LOU HOLTZ: Don’t go through life where you’re being bitter, where you pass away, your spouse has to hire six pallbearers because you don’t have friends. Just do the right thing, and I think it’s also right to have an excellent, positive attitude. See, ladies and gentlemen, enjoy life, have fun. You’re going to have problems, you’re going to have difficulties, that’s part of life. Because you graduate doesn’t mean you aren’t going to have problems. And don’t tell people about your problems. Do you know that 90% of people don’t care? And the other 10% are glad you got them, so you’re better off keeping it to yourself.
Have Fun With What You’re Doing
You’re going to have problems. But have fun with what you’re doing. People say, did you have fun doing the ESPN? Not really. I was up there in Bristol, Connecticut, which was 15 minutes from Hartford by telephone. And I’m on there with a guy named Mark May. I love Mark May, beautiful guy. But we have a difference of opinion. He was a player, I was a coach. He made suggestions, I made decisions. He showered after work, I showered before work. He signed a paycheck on the back, I signed it on the front. You know, just difference of opinion.
But you know what? When they turned the red light on, I was going to have fun. If you have fun doing something, people have fun being around. Every day I walked out on the football field, first thing I said, “Boy, what a great day to work.” And I meant it. Because if you have fun being there, people have fun being around. Doesn’t mean I don’t do dumb things. And sometimes I wasn’t real honest. One time Mark May said something about my golf game, I said, “I want you to know I’m the best golfer at Lake Nona.” Well, Lake Nona, we have about 15 pros, Graeme McDowell, Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter, and just around. Well, I go back, everybody’s on me. “You lied on TV.” I said, “Let me tell you something. Three hundred members know I lied. Three hundred million people think I’m a hell of a golfer.” So, I like that percentage.
Don’t Let People Tear You Down
But just do what’s right. And don’t let people tear you down. Many years ago, I took my family down to Orlando, Florida. We have four children. They’re all girls but two. And I’m real proud of that fact. We’re getting ready to play Florida in the Sugar Bowl. So, we go to Orlando, where we had a home. And we go out to dinner. The waiter came up and he recognized me. He said, “You’re the new head coach at Notre Dame, aren’t you?” And I said, “Yes, sir.” And I got out my pen thinking he wanted an autograph.
He said, “Let me ask you a question. What’s the difference between Notre Dame and Cheerios?” I said, “I don’t have a clue.” He said, “Cheerios belong in a bowl. Notre Dame doesn’t.” Now, these are absolutely true. It made me mad. It got me in a bad mood. And my wife said, “You’re going to let somebody you never met before, you’re never going to see again, doesn’t care a thing about you — you’re going to let them ruin the evening because of something stupid he said?” And she’s right. Don’t let other people control your attitude. That’s you.
I felt so good a little bit later, I called the waiter back over and I said, “Son, let me ask you a question. What’s the difference between a Notre Dame football coach and a golf pro?” He said, “I don’t have a clue.” I said, “A golf pro gives tips,” which he found out when the meal was over.
Rule Number Two: Do Everything to the Best of Your Ability
Just do what’s right. Rule number two. Do everything to the best of your ability with the time allotted. You know, ladies and gentlemen, not all of us can be All-American. Not everybody can be first team. But everybody can be the best you’re capable of being. And I want to tell you, if you want to fail, you have the right to fail. That’s what’s great about this country.
LOU HOLTZ: You do not have the right to cause other people to fail because you don’t do everything to the best of your ability. When you join a spouse, you bring a child in the world. You join a business, you join a team. You have obligation responsibilities and you owe it to other people to do the maximum you can at each and everything you do. It’s not complicated.
Born With a Silver Spoon
Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to know this. I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I know. I was born in Fallasby, West Virginia. And I went by where I was born last night about 10:30. I was born in a cellar at home, delivered by Dr. McGraw. We had one bedroom for my sister, myself, and my parents. We had a half bath and a kitchen. Seven and a half years we lived in that place. There was no welfare. There was no food stamps. There was no safety net. But I always had plenty to eat. Because every time I asked for seconds, my dad would say, “No, you had plenty.”
But the reason I was born with a silver spoon — my dad had only gone to the third grade. That’s all the education he had. But why was I born with a silver spoon in my mouth? Because I was taught by my parents that life’s a matter of making choices. Wherever you are, good or bad, it’s because of the choices you make. Don’t blame anybody else, but if you get an education, you’re willing to work and overcome problems and difficulties. In this great country, you can amount to something. That’s why I was born with a silver spoon. I was in this country and I was taught personal responsibility for choices you make. When we talk about a commitment to excellence, that’s a choice you make.
Show People You Care
And the last rule is show people you care. When you walk into a room, your attitude is, “Hey, here I am. Look at me.” I thought, no. Your attitude should be, “There you are. How can I help you?”
See, my wife, God bless her, my wife is a stage four cancer survivor. Her weight went from 129 to 89. They gave her a 10 percent chance to live. I’m happy to report my wife’s doing well now. I don’t even pray for her anymore. I pray to her. I mean, she’s the same. But we’re opposites night and day. She said opposites attract and then attack, but she also — she left me — we’re opposites. She doesn’t have a sense of humor, but she left me a note a couple of months ago that said, “Lou, I can’t please everybody in the world, so I’m going to stop trying. I’m going to focus on pleasing one person a day, and today’s not your day, and tomorrow doesn’t look real promising either.”
But she is my best friend. We’ve been married 54 years. I was on a golf course, and I said, “Yeah, I buried my best friend.” The guy said, “Your wife’s not your best friend.” I said, “Yes, she is.” He said, “Your dog is.” I said, “No, you’re wrong.” He said, “You’re wrong. Try this, then. Lock your wife and your dog in the trunk of the car, come back in two hours and see which one’s happy to see you.”
But my wife never does interviews. She’s done one interview in her life because I asked her, “What did you learn from having cancer?” She said, “I learned how much my family loved me.” Now, we didn’t love her anymore. We showed it. Why does somebody have to go through something like that before we realize how important we are?
Ladies and gentlemen, I received this honorary doctorate degree not because of what I did, because of what other people did. It’s the same thing. Whenever you receive recognition, pass the credit. It’s not complicated. But just genuinely caring about people, because everybody you’re going to meet for the rest of your life needs a smile, needs a kind word, needs an encouragement.
Trust, Commitment, and Love
LOU HOLTZ: Because, see, when you do the right thing, people are always going to be able to trust you. My wife and I have been married because we can trust each other. I’d never lose the trust. It’s the only way people are ever going to trust you if you do the right thing. That’s all God wants us to do, do the right thing.
The second thing is do everything to the best of your ability, because then people will know you’re committed to excellence. You want to be special, not to say, “Hey, here I am,” but help other people and caring about people.
See, a lot of you are going to be successful. You’re going to go make a lot of money, and when you die, it ends. But hopefully, everybody in this graduating class is going to be significant. The significance is when you help other people be successful, and that lasts maybe a lifetime after that.
A Legacy of Significance
I congratulate you again. People say, “Would you like to be 21 again?” I wish they knew those three rules when I was 21. I’ve used them for the last 40 years. There’s a statue of me at Notre Dame. I guess they need a place for the pigeons to land, but if you go look at it, just don’t look at three words on the pedestal. Trust, commitment, love, because those are the three rules I had for my children, my team.
My greatest accomplishment is not coaching, not TV, not speaking. The greatest accomplishment is my family, and I’m very proud of it. You can’t take your money to heaven, but I’ll tell you something. You can sure take your children to heaven with you.
The Secret to a Happy Lifetime
I leave you with this very last thought. Very last thought. Want to be happy for an hour? Eat a steak. Want to be happy for a day? Play golf. Want to be happy for a week? Go on a cruise. Want to be happy for a month? Play golf. Want to be happy for a month? Buy a new car. Want to be happy for a year? Win a lottery. Want to be happy for a lifetime? Put your faith in Jesus Christ. Thank you very much.
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