Bob Davie ducked out a side entrance of Notre Dame Stadium, a bag in one hand, a pair of game videotapes in the other. Yellow-jacketed security guards escorted him to his white Buick and off he went, to celebrate quietly his first victory as a head coach.
There would be a dinner and a family waiting at home for him. His 75-year-old dad, Bob Sr., along with his mom, June, had made the six-hour drive from Pittsburgh. Usually Davie’s dad doesn’t go any farther than the corner Piggly Wiggly, but this was different. This was history, though you wouldn’t have known it by the 17-13 score.
As Notre Dame coaching debuts go, it beats the one made by Lou Holtz in 1986. Holtz lost his first game. Then again, Gerry Faust won his, so don’t read too much into first impressions.
Davie didn’t–at least not in full view of NBC’s cameras. There was no Gatorade shower, no postgame ride to midfield on the shoulders of Irish players. Instead, there was only a smile, a high-five with cornerback Ivory Covington and a quick handshake with Georgia Tech coach George O’Leary, whose team didn’t play anything like a 20-point underdog.
But inside the privacy of Notre Dame’s locker room, where nobody could see the smiles of relief, the mood was decidedly different. Shortly after Davie began to address the team, assistant head coach Kirk Doll interrupted the speech and then presented his boss with a game ball. Nobody disagreed with the choice.
“I’m just so happy for him,” quarterback Ron Powlus said. “I’m happy for him just as a guy, not a player, but just as a person.”
This figures. Davie and Powlus have a relationship that Holtz and Powlus never had . . . couldn’t have. Holtz thought the forward pass an evil thing, to be used as few times as possible. That explains his 30-70 run-to-pass ratio. Fine. It was good enough to win 100 games for Holtz, but it wouldn’t have been good enough to keep Powlus for a fifth season.
Saturday against the Yellow Jackets, Davie kept his part of the deal. Powlus attempted 29 passes, one short of what Davie had said was a possible target number. Powlus noticed. So did the whole team.
Whether anyone will admit it or not, Davie was on display. Not just to the 80,225 fans who filled the expanded stadium, but to the Irish staff and players. How would he react to pressure? How would he handle his first big decision? How would he respond as every Notre Dame yahoo with a pompon and an opinion second-guessed his every move?
The answers came as early as the pregame meeting, when Davie warned the Irish to expect some heaping portions of adversity. And when it arrived, Davie told them to act like champions.
“He didn’t flinch,” defensive back Benny Guilbeaux said. “And when things did go bad, he never lost faith in us.”
If you’re looking for defining moments, go no further than midway through the third quarter. The score was 10-10–not exactly what Notre Dame had in mind. The ball was on Georgia Tech’s 4-yard line. First down.
The Irish tried a run up the middle. Another run up the middle. A run off right tackle. Fourth down. Davie can send his iffy field-goal unit out for a short kick and a 13-10 lead . . . or he can make a statement and go for the touchdown.
Davie went for the touchdown. Problem was, tailback Clement Stokes didn’t. No problem. Georgia Tech was offside, so Davie had another decision to make.
Again, Davie kept his kicker on the sideline and then watched as fullback Ken Barry couldn’t pinch an inch from the Georgia Tech defense.
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“I’d do the same thing again,” Davie said afterward.
That doesn’t make it right, but it does make Davie different. In fact, you got the feeling that Davie would have said the same thing even if Notre Dame had somehow lost the game.
So Davie got a victory and a game ball. Earlier in the week, Davie also got an unexpected phone call. It was from Holtz.
The call didn’t last long, but it was the thought that counted. Holtz, who hadn’t spoken to the new coach since his retirement, wished Davie good luck. A nice touch.
As it turned out, Davie would need a little luck. Georgia Tech missed two field goals, failed to take advantage of Notre Dame turnovers and generally botched a chance to ruin Davie’s day.
“I’m sure he’s relieved,” Georgia Tech’s O’Leary said. “I think the first oyne for a head coach is a tough one.”
When it came time to leave the stadium, Davie emerged from the locker room and started for the huge gate where fans still waited. An aide was already moving toward a back entrance.
“What do I do now?” Davie said. “Where do we go?”
Home. For dinner and two late-night videotapes.