From Holtz to Davie, Heat Is Still On

Bob Davie gets up early one morning each week to answer his mail.

“People send you things,” Davie says.

Things?

“Prayers,” he says. “I get prayers from all over the country.”

The obvious line is that Davie’s going to need them.

Davie, 42, was named the 26th coach at Notre Dame last November after Lou Holtz’s unexpected resignation.

Unlike Holtz, or predecessor Gerry Faust, Davie will not be entitled to a grace period. Faust and Holtz both went 5-6 their first seasons in South Bend.

We strongly suggest Davie not go that route.

His mission is simple: Take Notre Dame football, which had become a bit staid in Holtz’ last years, and lead it into the new millennium, get the Irish back into $8-million Alliance bowl games, get some speed at wide receiver and win a national championship.

Is he up to it?

“I think only time will tell,” Davie says. “I don’t have a crystal ball. No question, I learned two years ago, when Lou had his neck surgery, that it’s a high pace when you step into the head coaching spot.”

Davie, for three years previous an Irish defensive coach, took over for Holtz for one game in 1995 and led the team to a 41-0 victory over Vanderbilt. Players carried him off the field afterward.

But that was one game.

Davie christens a new era at Notre Dame on Sept. 6, when the Irish open against Georgia Tech at Notre Dame Stadium, which been renovated and expanded from 59,075 seats to 80,225.

When Davie took over, he also remodeled the administrative football offices.

“I’ve benefited from that, honestly,” he says. “Any time there’s change, there’s oxygen pumped into things.”

Davie needs to pump some air into a team that last year stumbled to 8-3 and went bowl-less.

While the moorings are sturdy, it is obvious Notre Dame was due an infusion of talent and fresh ideas.

The Irish have produced only one first-round draft choice since 1994--defensive lineman Renaldo Wynn, the 21st pick by Jacksonville last April--and have long lacked a speedy game breaker.

Davie noted with some concern that national champion Florida last year had 231 runs of 10 yards or more or passes of more than 15. Notre Dame had 130.

Davie saw the same national title game between Florida and Florida State everyone else saw.

“That was a track meet down there,” he says of the Sugar Bowl. “The first inclination is, ‘Boy, we need to go do that.’ I don’t know that that’s realistic here. We don’t have to to be like someone else, we’ve got a lot of strengths, but certainly, generating big plays on offense is something we’ve got to do.”

No. 1, Notre Dame has to become less predictable. The Irish averaged 37 points and 463 yards a game last season, but those statistics were skewed by blowout victories over patsy Pittsburgh, Rutgers and scandal-plagued Boston College.

In the game that mattered--a Sept. 28, 29-16 home loss to Ohio State--Notre Dame was held to 3.8 yards per play. Talented teams threw nine- and 10-man fronts at Notre Dame and dared an outdated passing game to beat them.

This year, the Irish have switched to a pro-style passing game.

“No one is good enough to line up and run the football and win every game,” Davie says.

Davie seems to have made a smooth transition into the hottest seat in college football. Of course, he hasn’t played a game yet.

But he says he won’t be overwhelmed when he runs onto Notre Dame Stadium on Sept. 6 before a sellout crowd.

“I came in with eyes wide open,” he says. “I’ve been asked that question so many time, ‘When did it hit you?’ I knew when I sat in [University President Rev. Edward A.] ‘Monk’ Malloy’s office, when I received the job, I knew exactly what I was getting into, exactly what it was going to be. I’ve been here three years, I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to blindside me.”