Dan Le Batard attended the University of Miami in the late 1980s, right in the prime of the “Catholics vs. Convicts” rivalry between the Hurricanes and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
As such, he had a little fun at the expense of then-Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz, though it doesn’t sound like too many other people found it very funny at the time.
Le Batard discussed Holtz, who passed away at the age of 89, on Thursday’s edition of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, and recalled the story of his very first controversy in the media world.
@lebatardshowDan has ALWAYS stood on shenanigans
“Lou Holtz represents the first controversy of my career,” said Le Batard. “The first controversy I ever had writing anything was in the school paper at the University of Miami, The Hurricane. Before they played the University of Miami in a game that was plenty fiery without my help, I printed Lou Holtz’s phone number in the college newspaper and told University of Miami students to call that number.”
Le Batard clarified that he’d printed Holtz’s office number, not his home number, which was of little consideration to the Notre Dame coach’s support staff.
“It was his office number. It was not his home number,” said Le Batard. “I don’t think his administrative assistant was very happy with me. Neither was Jimmy Johnson, for that matter. That’s the first time Jimmy Johnson got mad at me when I did that.”
As for what he told Miami students to do when they called Holtz, Le Batard said he’d asked them to offer nothing but positivity.
“I said, shower him with praise. Compliment him on being a Notre Dame, spiritual, lovely, uh…”
We’re sure all of those Canes fans who did call took Dan up on those sentiments.
To be fair to Le Batard, someone at Notre Dame apparently did the same thing to Miami head coach Jimmy Johnson in 1988. Johnson also received a lot of hate mail from Irish fans in the lead-up to their game. What goes around comes around.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.