SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Players surround the head coach, lending both deference and space.
Kickoff rests some 20 minutes out, but Lou Holtz is in a commanding position inside the Trematerra Family Suite overlooking Notre Dame Stadium from the ninth floor of the venerable ‘House that Rockne Built’ – the venue a mere seven years older than the 87-year-old Holtz.
No. 16 Notre Dame is preparing to host unbeaten, No. 15 Louisville in an inflection-point game for third-year Irish coach Marcus Freeman, who routinely visits with Holtz and seeks counsel from the leader responsible for the last of Notre Dame’s 11 national titles – 36 years ago.
The College Football Hall of Famer Holtz is joined in the box by several members of that iconic ’88 squad, including quarterback Tony Rice. He leans admiringly into conversation with his old coach, jokingly telling folks later in the evening that Holtz still intimidates him.
They all are there, players from decades ago and less than a year ago, because Peter Trematerra so staunchly believes in the burgeoning LAND initiative: Life After Notre Dame, a venture seeking to assist student-athletes as they journey into their post-athletics careers.
He wants former athletes, not just football players, to feel a warm embrace on any return for a football weekend; his weekly donation of 35 to 40 seats in his suite bear witness.
"As the parent of a former student-athlete, I understand the challenges athletes face when transitioning to life after sports,” Trematerra tells FootballScoop and Irish Illustrated. “That’s why we’ve partnered with LAND -- to show future student-athletes that Notre Dame isn’t just a four-year commitment, it’s a lifetime family.
“Hosting the box is our way of giving back to the University we love while supporting a mission that ensures Notre Dame athletes will always have a place to call home long after their playing days are over."
Two decades since his full retirement from college sidelines, Holtz remains a coach. He is nonplused when, six seconds after kickoff, Notre Dame’s Devyn Ford fumbles away the game’s opening possession and when five minutes after kickoff, at 3:37 p.m., Notre Dame trails 7-0.
The deficit is brief; Riley Leonard guides the Irish on perhaps their most imposing drive of the season: a dozen plays, 75 yards and more than seven minutes of possession culminating in Jeremiyah Love’s 6-yard scamper into the end zone – the slanting lines on the synthetic turf, 18 in number and all at 42-degree angles reflecting the university’s 1842 origin.
Louisville is pinned inside its own 10-yard line, gets a long gainer from quarterback Tyler Shough but sees freshman corner Leonard Moore, an emergency starter, chasing down Shough 46 yards downfield to force a fumble that Irish linebacker Jaiden Ausberry recovers.
Four snaps later, Leonard dials up Jaden Greathouse on a post and it’s a 34-yard touchdown.
No one knows at the time, but Notre Dame does not trail the remainder of the game’s 50 minutes.
The next possession for the Cardinals nearly ushers in a blowout, their punt-snap soaring over the head of Brady Hodges with pressure from Notre Dame’s Jordan Faison and an eventual recovery from rookie teammate Kennedy Urlacher – son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher.
Former Irish defensive linemen Brandon Tiassum is on his feet, and Holtz is telling Rice and anyone else in the vicinity what happens on the play, seeing Notre Dame’s shifts and speed along with a persistent drizzle quickly leaving Louisville in a 21-7 hole with Leonard’s score closing the home team’s three-touchdown, four-minute, 42-second scoring barrage.
The posh space, adjacent to the suite of Freeman’s family, is decorated with the 1992 Sugar Bowl trophy and the ’88 Fiesta Bowl hardware – the latter representing that last national title.
The luminous video board atop the stadium’s south end zone pays tribute to Holtz; he’s in a cartoon race across the bucolic campus against Notre Dame’s other iconic coaches – Knute Rockne, Ara Parseghian among them – in a digital win that yields a real-life ovation.
Holtz tips his cap to the delight of a roaring crowd as the cameras pan to his spot in the box, and he laces a barb at himself.
“That’s the only way I could win a race,” he quips.
Holtz’s intensity never wanes; his stamina, however, isn’t quite that of the man known for walking miles along a sideline on any given Saturday.
He breaks down the first half, which the Irish lead 24-14 after Mitch Jeter’s 48-yard field goal and the defense’s pivotal fourth-down stop in the moments before intermission.
“I think we’re a really talented team, got the right coach,” he says. “That’s four turnovers in the first half. Notre Dame’s too good of a team to give us four turnovers.
“I predict if we stop them on the opening possession of the second half, the game’s over.”
Notre Dame gets that stop to open the third frame, but this game is far from over.
The Irish offense continues its best Tetris facsimile; alluring pieces, often not fitting together. The home team doesn’t score a touchdown across 38 minutes of game clock.
Fans are restless, Cardinal red rings the stadium’s southern bowl and momentum rests with the guests.
Notre Dame, however, more often than not answers its skeptics under Freeman; see Texas A&M to open this season, as well as top-10 USC a year ago and then-top 5 Clemson in 2022.
The Irish hang on; final, 31-24 and two weeks before Stanford visits with the Legends Trophy rivalry hardware at stake.
“Obviously, wasn't perfect as everybody saw, we saw, our players saw,” Freeman says to open his postgame comments. “When you find a way to get it done when it matters most … defense had to go out there and prevent them from scoring that last drive.
“A lot of confidence. I know the game gets close, but we have a lot of confidence in our defense. It's why I'm so aggressive as a coach on fourth down. You got a lot of confidence in your defense.”
Current players need confidence and rest; they own two wins in the season’s first month against ranked foes and a galling, bile-inducing home loss as a 28-point favorite to Northern Illinois.
Those former players leaving the game after the win? Well, the hope is that this embrace helps them still feel part of the Notre Dame fabric.
“(First-year Notre Dame Athletics Director) Pete (Bevacqua) has made our ‘4 for Forever’ promise a top priority for the athletic department this year,” says Hunter Bivin, a former Irish football player now serving as his alma mater’s assistant athletics director for alumni relations. “We do pretty well with the ‘4’ part of that promise, but he’s challenged us to find ways to improve on defining what ‘Forever’ truly means.
“The Trematerra box has been a phenomenal tool at our disposal to welcome our former student-athletes back to campus and build the connections necessary to allow this notion to flourish.”
Holtz is settled back home in Orlando, his pipe not far away and more football to watch on television.
His impact remains, those former players still embellishing tales well into the night as past meets present.