Suffering Produces Perseverance
Lou Holtz and Tom Hager
In Partnership with Athletes For God
On September 20, 2001, I witnessed one of the greatest speeches I've ever heard in my life.
I was the head coach at South Carolina, and our team was on the road to play Mississippi State University. It was a significant moment for both teams, because we were playing in the first major college football game following the September 11 attacks.
Our game was on a Thursday night, on national television, and before the game started the players from both teams held this American flag that covered the width of the football field. It was an incredibly powerful moment.
But even more powerful was what happened during our team chapel.
Adrian Despres, our team chaplain, stood in front of our players and put things in perspective for us.
Nine days ago, when the twin towers were burning, several brave policeman and fireman ran into a burning building to save people's lives. A lot of people are saved because of them. Can you imagine if you saved somebody's life, to go into a burning building? Think how great a feeling it would be to save somebody else.
Then he finished it with a powerful comparison.
You save a life for a couple of years, but you save a soul for eternity.
That speech was over 17 years ago, and I still haven't forgotten it. I've tried to show players what being a Christian is all about. In our playbook I would include little Bible phrases, like "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," or "If God be for us, who can be against us?"
I hope they served as little reminders to my players to have courage and strength, which we all needed when I got to South Carolina.
You see, the year before I arrived in Columbia in 1999, the Gamecocks had gone 1-10. And in my first year we somehow managed to take a step farther back, as we went 0-11. Even for a program that had only won a single bowl game in its history before I got there, this was still unacceptable.
But during those tough times we learned a lot about ourselves, and what God calls us to do in times of adversity. We had about 98 or 99 percent attendance during our team chapels, and even though we didn't know it, we were about to engineer the greatest turnaround in NCAA history.
I didn't need to step on the sidelines at Williams-Brice Stadium to learn about perseverance. That had been ingrained into the Holtz family since Day 1.
I was born in the aftermath of the Great Depression, in 1937, in Follansbee, West Virginia. Times were tough for everyone, but they might have even been tougher for the people in the Mountain State. In fact, it's almost always been that way for the people of West Virginia.
Life was tough for a lot of people in Appalachia, and my family was no exception. My dad only had a third-grade education, and our entire family lived in a one bedroom cellar. We didn’t have a tub or shower, but my parents gave me something greater than money could ever buy. They introduced me to God. And I can safely say that God is the reason for every good thing that has happened to me.
Not only did it open the door for eternity with Jesus, but it also gave me a great outlook on my trials in life. Romans 5: 3-5 says "We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance builds character; and through character, hope."
Believing in God doesn't take away your adversities; He just allows you to tackle them in a positive way.
I took that attitude with me when I found out my wife had throat cancer in 1997. She was given a 10 percent chance of living, and instead of turning our backs on God, we turned that suffering into hope. Her faith is strong today, and even after our house burned down two years ago, she decided to build the new home around her prayer room. She still prays for me to this day, and even though she now has to occasionally eat out of a feeding tube, our faith is stronger than ever.
My wife was one of the people who thought it would be good for me to get back into coaching. I retired as the head coach of Notre Dame in 1996, and so for two years I had been away from the sidelines. At first look the South Carolina job might have looked daunting, because they were coming off such a bad season, but I wanted to come in and help turn the program around. After all, South Carolina was the program who took a chance on a 29-year-old Lou Holtz. They saw something in me before I ever won a National Title with Notre Dame.
Unfortunately, back when I was an assistant coach with the Gamecocks in 1966, our team only won 1 game. And when I came back, it appeared like we were starting from the same spot. Not only was the program coming off a 1-10 season, but we only had three healthy offensive linemen on scholarship. And we only had one healthy quarterback on scholarship.
The key, however, was that we became a united group. And when your players believe in themselves and each other, anything is possible.
This wasn't the first time I had taken over a college program in need of help. I've had six situations in my life where I inherited a team with a losing program and took them to a bowl game by the second season at the latest. The key to each was the same...I had to get our players to change their self image. To view themselves as winners, and to encourage their teammates to do the same.
That matters as much as any blocking or tackling technique.
The other key was to not play the victim card. When you believe that your failures are caused by someone else, rather than your own choices, it's easy to place the blame on others. In our case, our poor play started with each individual, including myself.
We started the 2000 season with a win over New Mexico State, and then upset No. 10 Georgia the following week. After a win over Eastern Michigan we were suddenly 3-0 as we played Mississippi State. We were trailing 19-10 in the fourth quarter of that game, but kicked a field goal to pull within 19-13. Then after stopping the Bulldogs, we drove all the way down to the MSU 25-yard line. Things looked like they were going alright until our offense stalled on the first two downs, and then on 3rd and 10 our star quarterback Phil Petty was injured.
We brought in our walk-on quarterback, Erik Kimrey, to throw a fade pass down the left sideline, and his throw was perfect. Jermale Kelly caught it and ran the final few yards for the game-winning touchdown, and when the rankings came out the next week, South Carolina was ranked for the first time in seven years.
We lost the following week to Alabama, only to rebound with wins over Kentucky, Arkansas, and Vanderbilt. It was only October 21 and we had already won 7 more games than the previous season - tied for the most by any team in NCAA history.
We would eventually beat Ohio State in the Outback Bowl to break the NCAA record, but the season still left something to be desired. We lost our final three games of the regular season against Tennessee, Florida, and Clemson, and if we were going to be better the next season, we needed to come closer as a unit.
One of the biggest lessons in the Bible is to not judge one another. It's a story that makes sense not just because we have all messed up in our lives, but also because we have never walked a day in somebody else's shoes.
I remember as good as that 2000 team was at South Carolina, we had a few players that seemed like they didn't fit in with everybody. In fact, with one player who kept making mistakes, people were wondering why he was still on the team.
I had our players get up in front of each other and tell their life story. The events and people that made them who they are. I can still remember that player telling his teammates that he grew up without a mother, and instead grew up with a younger brother, father, and grandfather. Well, when he gets up in front of our team, he says that one day his dad was killed in an auto accident, and when his grandfather was told of what happened, he died of a heart attack shortly after. In the same day, this man lost his father and grandfather, and he said he had just become bitter towards life.
That explained a lot, and we learned the same level of compassion with another player. This young man held a much bigger role on our team, so people were hoping he would take a vocal leadership position on our team. Instead, this player preferred to be alone, and hadn't developed a lot of close bonds with his teammates. Until that day.
This player explained how his dad was the one who taught him how to throw a football, shoot a basketball, hit a baseball, and how to hunt and fish. When this young man was 12 years old, his dad came in and gave him a kiss and said "I love you." Then he proceeded to go into the other room and commit suicide. I still feel the void in my life, the player told his teammates, and I've never wanted to be close to anybody again.
That changed everything with our team. Now they understood.
With a new bond between our players, we raced off to a blistering start. We began the next season 5-0, and all of a sudden we were ranked No. 9 in the country when we went to play Arkansas. They played that game in Little Rock as opposed to their on-campus stadium in Fayetteville, and that place was so loud that we couldn't hear each other talk.
The fans disrupted our offense the whole day, but on our final drive, we drove down to the Arkansas 15-yard line, with a chance to kick the tying field goal. Our kicker, Daniel Weaver, lined up to send the game into overtime, only to have the kick blocked. Our perfect season was over.
But by this point, our program was unified, and nobody got down on Daniel. We rallied to beat Vanderbilt, Wofford, and our rival Clemson as we finished the regular season 8-3. Our record in 2000 was 8-4, and if we could beat Ohio State in the Outback Bowl for a second straight year, we could secure the second-greatest season in USC history.
We got off to a 28-0 start against the Buckeyes, only to give up 28 straight points to Ohio State. And yet, because of everything we had been through, we weren't going to give up on each other now. Suffering produces perseverance. Perseverance builds character. And through character arises hope.
Well in the last moments we drove all the way down the field, and with the game on the line we called on none other than Daniel. With seven seconds left, Daniel lined up for a 42-yard kick. Ohio State called a timeout to try and ice him, but it didn't matter. Daniel drilled the kick down the middle...the only question was if it had the distance. And with about two feet to spare, the ball sailed over the crossbar for the 31-28 win. We had done it. A 9-3 record on the season, and although our record wasn't perfect, the ending certainly was.
I think it’s the same for our walk with the Lord. It doesn’t matter how many mistakes you’ve made over the course of your lifetime. In my 81 years on this planet I’ve made plenty. But what counts is that you continue to battle, and to make the newest day your best.