How Lou Holtz's approach helps Notre Dame lacrosse prepare for John Hopkins

Yahoo Sports1h ago14 min readOriginal source →

TL;DR

Notre Dame lacrosse coach Kevin Corrigan is using Lou Holtz's coaching methods to prepare for their quarterfinal match against Johns Hopkins. The approach involves a progressive buildup throughout the week leading to peak performance on game day.

Key points

Kevin Corrigan uses Lou Holtz's coaching methods
Preparation involves a weekly performance buildup
Notre Dame faces Johns Hopkins in a quarterfinal matchup
Corrigan has been coaching for 38 seasons

Mentioned in this story

Lou HoltzKevin Corrigan

Notre Dame lacrosseJohns Hopkins

How Lou Holtz's approach helps Notre Dame lacrosse prepare for John Hopkins

SOUTH BEND —Heading into this weekend's quarterfinal matchup with Johns Hopkins, Notre Dame lacrosse coach Kevin Corrigan will once again borrow from his well-worn book of coaching preparation.

In part, that means using the time-tested buildup process perfected by the late Lou Holtz.

“I came here when Lou Holtz was here, and I adopted some of his ways,” Corrigan, in his 38th season at Notre Dame, said after practice on Wednesday, May 13. “One of which is on Monday we suck, on Tuesday we’re not much better, on Wednesday we’re starting to get better, on Thursday we’re pretty good, and on Friday they can’t beat us. Rinse and repeat.”

Corrigan, with 381 career coaching wins and two national championships among his 29 NCAA Tournament appearances, knows by now what works and what doesn’t.

“There’s truth to it, too,” he said. “As you do prepare and start going against another team’s actions and things are different than they were the week before, you struggle with them early and you do try to figure them out. And hopefully by the time you get to the end of the week, you’re through that whole cycle.”

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'No quit' in resurgent Johns Hopkins

The Irish, seeded second, blasted Jacksonville 18-5 on Mother’s Day to avoid the sort of first-round disaster that sent home three seeded teams before the quarterfinals: No. 4 Richmond, No. 5 Virginia and No. 7 Cornell.

The latter fell 9-8 in overtime at home to Johns Hopkins, a traditional power with nine NCAA titles that has fallen largely dormant since its last Final Four appearance in 2015. That includes a 12-9 loss to the Irish in the 2023 NCAA quarterfinals and a 16-9 loss in South Bend to open the 2019 NCAA Tournament.