August 29. 2011
Skip Holtz Tries to Make History
By Jim Lefebvre, Editor, Forever Irish
When Skip Holtz brings his University of South Florida Bulls into Notre Dame Stadium for Saturday’s season opener, he’ll be trying to become the first ND alum to defeat his alma mater as head coach in a game at Notre Dame in more than seven decades.
Skip Holtz earned an ND monogram as a senior wide receiver on his dad Lou’s first Irish team 
in 1986. After brief stints as an assistant at Florida State and Colorado State, he was back in South Bend serving on his dad’s staff from 1991-93, including two seasons as offensive coordinator.
The last ND alum to defeat the Irish at ND Stadium was Dr. Eddie Anderson, an All-American end for the Irish who went on to a superlative coaching career, during which he also practices medicine. Anderson was a first-tem end for the first four years that Knute Rockne was head coach (1918-21), playing alongside George Gipp his first three seasons.
Anderson, from Mason City, Iowa, captained the 1921 Irish to a 10-1 season, the only loss coming, ironically, to the Iowa Hawkeyes, in a bitterly-contested 10-7 affair at Iowa City.
After graduating from Notre Dame, Anderson undertook medical studies while serving as head coach at Columbia College in Iowa (now Loras). From there, he moved to DePaul in Chicago and Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., before taking over as Iowa head coach in 1939.
In the seventh game of the 1939 season, a week after an odd 4-0 victory at Purdue, the Hawks hosted Coach Elmer Layden’s No. 4-ranked Irish, who were 6-0 after a 14-0 win against Army. The Hawkeyes squeaked out a 7-6 victory and finished the season 6-1-1.
Anderson’s second year at Iowa wasn’t as successful, as the Hawks suffered a stretch in which they scored 6 points in each of four straight games, all losses, before heading to South Bend on November 16, 1940, with a 2-4 overall mark.
Layden again had the Irish rolling, with a 6-0 record and No. 7 ranking, and coming off back-to-back wins over Army at Yankee Stadium and Navy at Baltimore. The Iowa contest would be the only home game among the final six of the year, with trips to Northwestern and USC awaiting the Irish.
It was a pitched, scoreless battle for 55 minutes before the Hawkeyes broke loose for a score and held on for a 7-0 victory – the last time an ND alum coach beat the Irish.
Interestingly, the period of 1939-49 was an 11-year stretch in which three different ND alums guided Iowa. Anderson coached them from 1939-42, and was succeeded by Slip Madigan for two wars years (1943-44). Clem Crowe stepped in for 1945 only, then Anderson had a second stint as head coach the next four seasons (1946-49).
By that time, of course, Frank Leahy’s post-war juggernaut was rolling, and the Irish battered the Hawks four straight years by a combined score of 117-25.
Anderson, though, went on to more coaching success with a second long stint at Holy Cross (1950-64). He compiled a lifetime record of 201-128-15 and was inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1971..
Two other Rockne protéges had their day in the sunshine coaching against their alma mater.
Harry Stuhldreher, diminutive quarterback of The Four Horsemen (1922-24), parlayed coaching success at Villanova into the top job at Wisconsin from 1936 through 1948.
His first team in ’36 lost to ND 27-0, but another chance came six years later, on Sept. 26, 1942, at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison. It was the opener for Leahy and his Irish, but the Badgers had one game in hand, a 7-0 victory over one of the strong military units, Camp Grant.
Irish quarterback and future Heisman Trophy winner Angelo Bertelli nearly missed the game when he was separated from the team in Chicago’s Union Station. He took a later train to Madison and barely arrived in time for kickoff. In the third quarter of a scoreless game, Wisconsin star Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch went on one of his trademark jaunts, eluding tacklers for 35 yards en route to the end zone.
The Irish countered with a TD, but despite outgaining the Badgers, 292-152, had to settle for the 7-7 tie. Wisconsin would lost only to Iowa that season en route to a final mark of 8-1-1. The Irish went 7-2-2.
Stuhldreher had two more chances to take on his old school, but the Irish beat Wisconsin decisively the next two seasons, 50-0 in 1943 and 28-13 in 1944.
Stuhldreher's teammate on the 1924 national champions, "Seven Mules" right tackle Edgar "Rip" Miller, had a three-year stint as head coach of Navy (1931-33). The Middies lost to the Irish 20-0 in 1931 and 12-0 in 1932, before scoring a 7-0 upset of ND on November 4, 1933, in Baltimore. It was Navy's first victory over the Irish in seven tries overall.
More recently, former Irish lineman Gerry DiNardo faced ND three times during his four-year stint as head coach at LSU from 1995-98. The Bayou Bengals fell to the Irish 24-6 in 1997 at Baton Rouge, but six weeks later won a rematch in the Independence Bowl, 27-9. DiNardo then brought LSU into Notre Dame Stadium on November 21, 1998, and dropped a 39-36 shootout to Bob Davie’s 8-1, 10th-ranked squad in DiNardo’s next to last game as Tigers coach.
| Sept. 3 | S. FLORIDA | L, 20-23 |
| Sept. 10 | @Michigan | L, 31-35 |
| Sept. 17 | MICH. ST. | W, 31-13 |
| Sept. 24 | @Pittsburgh | W, 15-12 |
| Oct. 1 | @Purdue | W, 38-10 |
| Oct. 8 | AIR FORCE | W, 59-33 |
| Oct. 15 | -- | -- |
| Oct. 22 | USC | L, 17-31 |
| Oct. 29 | NAVY | W, 56-14 |
| Nov. 5 | @Wake Forest | W, 24-17 |
| Nov. 12 | Maryland (FedEx) | W, 45-21 |
| Nov. 19 | BOSTON C. | W, 16-14 |
| Nov. 26 | @Stanford | L, 14-28 |
| Dec. 29 | Florida St. (Champs Sports Bowl) | L, 14-18 |
(All times Eastern)
| Sept. 4 | Purdue | W, 23-12 |
| Sept. 11 | Michigan | L, 24-28 |
| Sept. 18 | @MSU | L, 31-34 |
| Sept. 25 | Stanford | L, 14-37 |
| Oct. 2 | @BC | W, 31-13 |
| Oct. 9 | Pittsburgh | W, 23-17 |
| Oct. 16 | W.Mich. | W, 44-20 |
| Oct. 23 | Navy (M'lands) |
L, 17-35 |
| Oct. 30 | Tulsa | L, 27-28 |
| Nov. 13 | Utah | W, 28-3 |
| Nov. 20 | Army (NYC) | W, 27-3 |
| Nov. 27 | at USC | W, 20-16 |
| Dec. 31 | Miami (Sun Bowl) | W, 33-17 |