This program is a production of Channel 2.

Think back over all the years you've ever been involved in foo all the way back to when you wer What is the single moment in foo that gives you the best feeling you've ever had?

Well, there have been so many It might be difficult to do, but what gave me the worst feeling.

The worst feeling was I was in the fifth grade and I w with the eighth grade football t and we were playing a game and I turned down a tackle compl in front of some friends and fam And I mean, I just now turned into a coward.

And I'll never forget the humili and the embarrassment and the ridicule that I experien for the next week after that from my teammates, so to speak, because the first time I had a c to be a football player and I turned it down, but it made a very strong impact because I think that sometimes i we've got to do things that we don't genuinely like to But if we benefit from a bad experience and analyz it can turn out to be the most p thing that's ever happened.

There you have an American ethic expressed by one of the most suc college football coaches in the This is a program about the values of people trying to change a big time coll football team from a loser into It's not about kickoffs and tack or passes and fumbles.

It's about people, them and you I'm Gary Gilson.

In April, the University of Minn football staff let us record for the entire month spring prac and the people involved in it.

I think you will get to know som very well.

Let's start with a definition of football.

It comes from the coach of Alcor Mississippi, a man named Marino He puts it this way college football in the East.

It's a cultural exercise on the West Coast, a tourist attraction.

In the sou It's a religion.

And in the Midwest, in the Midwe college football is cannibalism.

Cannibalism.

Well, if you consider that a hundred members of the same te Minnesota, divide into two squad each spring, meet on the field of combat and try to devour each other.

Cannibalism comes pretty close.

Minnesota Hats off to the.

That's the way the song goes.

But for many years now, it's been anything but Hats off to the Gopher football The old tradition of winning Big Ten and national championshi crumbled into consistent, sometimes overwhelming losses.

First kickoff return records, ki return record.

This is the dramatic close to 20 days of grueling practice designed to mold the te for the Big Ten season.

Two squads of Gopher varsity pla are meeting in the annual spring while almost then, two years ago they couldn't even field two tea But football at Minnesota is cha and this program will look benea those changes, introduce you to the young men who are so anonymous under those Introduce you to their coaches and their boosters.

You'll find out why they love fo what they sacrifice to succeed a what they want in their lives, why they think football has a lo with their getting it.

This is a program about what it takes to win.

It is a mirror of America.

Let's look into it.

The flame of tradition at Minnesota was kindled by Bierman and Nagur Nomellini and Smith, Wilkinson a Warmath and Gill, Stevens and Be The last keeper of the flame was quarterback who became head coac Joe Salem, a member of the last national ch team against Nebraska in 1983.

The flame went out and Salem wen It was time for a new keeper, on who could supply his own flame.

Who better to conduct the Minnes Orchestra for its symphony ball kickoff than a football coach, e a super salesman like Lou Holtz?

The truth is, there probably is no one like Lou Holt The question is, will he do at the University of what he has done everywhere else he has coached?

he'll be able to run the game, make that nine yards a throw.

Right.

Good.

That sector enough.

And you can go in there, not hur but your receiver.

Here is the Holtz record at the College of William and Ma Three years one bowl game at North Carolina Four years four bowl games and then Arkansas seven years, six B You don't win by accident.

You win because you believe you know how I'm going to guarantee you right with anybody in the country if we play intelligent, hard nosed football.

And the closer they get here, you get fanatical to produce results like those he He has to recruit players who ca with the best in the Big Ten.

No one knows yet how the higher academic standard that will apply starting next year will affect recruiting But big time programs face troublesome challenges.

More on that later.

Let's look at the challenge of football first.

Let's get a punch now.

Let's go play Push.

Good job.

Let's do it.

Yeah.

I never did.

You knocked his hands off.

Yeah, he worked because he right You never knock them off.

Lets go.

Nice job.

Yeah, big time.

They go low Move the ball, guys.

Move the ball.

Let's go in there center.

Get it guys.

When we got it, boom, boom, boom I wanna hear one, one, one, one, one one.

Oh, pick it up.

Played it.

Since day one, right here.

I bet they put it in you.

Always you and don't lose about Why don't you know that to be a great football player?

You do that at the beginning.

You're not used to that.

And jee I'm getting yelled at and I'm getting embarrassed in front of these guys.

But after a while you get very accustomed to it an that's I mean, that's what they because what they're trying to d is make you better.

I mean, that's all for you, the yellings for you.

The problem is if they don't yel I mean, if if provide I mean, unless you're like an all-Americ or something that don't make a m You know, if they don't spend a lot of time with you, they probably something wrong.

But if they yell at you, they're concerned about you.

They know that you can do the jo and you know that you can do it because that correction right there is so much more valuable than the next day on the film, because by the time you see him next day, he's maybe had a date.

He's had a test that he studied Hes had two other three other c his mom and dad called, said they were coming up And that one little move is the furthest thing from his m And, you know, but intensity, I what separates him from a lot of coaches.

You're backed up inside out thirty No bodys going in.

Thats a war All right.

I want it flat out wa And that's why you push and what and that's why you work with the so that they can enjoy success.

I will never have a young man sit in our locker room ever agai because he failed to execute som during the course of the game, which was in the long run, my fa because we didn't adequately pre Well, hey, man, let's over here.

You know, you just do what I asked you to Don't coach.

The heart rate for an individual is going to perfor in front of 62,500 people at hom And if we have any dreams and ho and aspirations of being one of the better football teams in the country, and that young man's going to kn what pressure is all about.

When we get there, we will put a lot of pressure on our athletes during the course of practice so that when they get in the gam they're completely immune to pre I've had athletes said to me, “W I get nervous when you're around And I just calmly say to him was, “Son, I plan on being at al the games, so you're going to have to get u You're still restricted.

I mean, that's what you do is you play football.

But the benefits I think you get out of it are ar you know, are just super.

I mean, you know, like I said, the camaraderie and the business you meet and just the satisfacti you get out of playing it, you know, is much more than havi playing football and, you know, doing something else.

I'd rather have this.

It's a good challenge, really.

Test y I just kind of wish sometimes that a lot of college students could go through spring practice with the pressures of the feel, the classroom, the emotional rollercoaster that because you had a good practice or you had a poor practice, wherever it may be, would be truly a great learning for a lot of a lot of people.

But it's obvious that they have a terrific price, terrific price I don't think there's any questi they go out and they work every and the kids have great work eth and they have to put a lot into What what they're asked to do is to be a physical person.

Every single time a football sna they have to be a physical perso get those toes pointed at the fi do it again, just give you the next group up just to settle it.

Yeah.

Turn those ankles out.

Get up on thos Listen right now.

And right now you'll love it.

And how you love it.

Here is the drag.

See how it goes down on your hee Up on your toes.

That's the way to do the varsity Hotter than hot.

Newer than new.

Meaner than mean Bluer than blue.

Yes, just like waving the flag You can pass many a class Whether you're dumb or wise, you all answer the call.

When your professor cries.

Everybody down on the heals, up Stay at after school.

Learn how Everybody do the varsity drag here is the drag race.

And see how it goes down on your heels, up on your toes.

That's the way to do the Varsity Hotter than hot.

New than new.

Meaner than mean.

It gets as much applause as wavi You can pass many a class Whether youre dumb or wise.

If you all answer to the call, Down on your heels Up on your toes Stay after school, learn how it Every everybody Step right up and do the varsity The price is a lot of time.

Your body.

I heard quite a bit from.

You know, the practices take a t and then pre-fall.

We lived in aspirin just about e I mean, we take a couple of aspi before practice because our head would ring so h you know, constantly hitting som But after a while, you get, you as I say, you learn that and be and it's not bad.

And that's what I that's what I love about the gam And I just can't wait to get out and, you know, wait for that running back to co That's fun.

That's fun.

When I was a sophomore, I was pl and and I took a hit to the ches and I had my lung collapse on me And at that time I was in the ho with this tube stuck in me.

I said, there's no way I'm ever going to play again.

But then you start thinking, Boy I kind of, you know, something's You know, this time I was in hospital was three week and then time it took to recover that, which was another three mo just kind of missed it.

You just you learned it.

Boy, it's not that bad.

It's a lot of work, but you get away from it.

You really think it's not that b I do love football.

It's it's a good sport.

And and if it doesn't teach you anything else, teaches you how t you know, disciplined with yours I heard spring practice was tough with t I didn't really believe it, but it was we was that there for I know each day and everybody just, you know, wo harder and harder every day and no doubt to be in there to continue on in to the fall, which would make us a better tea How does that affect the energy you have for the other things you have to do in your life?

It's a big effect on you because at the practice only then we go to eat at traini and then you really don't feel like studying.

And I guess you would take a nap in between and then build up a little injur to study the rest of the night.

I'm trying to be a doctor and and the course that I take is really demanding.

So I, I put a lot of hours here.

I'm here from, you know, I get here at 1:00 and you know, to dinner and after di that's 7:30.

So we're talking six and a half a day, sometimes seven plus.

That's not including.

Sometimes at night.

We have meet or in the morning before, in between class we have meetings.

Then after that, you know, I hav and sometimes I'm up to 3:00 at study.

That's what it's going to take t or to get to a Rose Bowl.

I think, you know, as all that t it gets a little overwhelming, you know, while, you know, day after day after da of going to practice and, you kn it never seems like you have any you know, you cherish an hour of and our office is a gift.

But but, you know, like they say, if we ever get to go to a game o