(Catching Up will be a regular feature at Inside the Irish. Feel free to send along suggestions or nominees for future weeks.)
Kory Minor is a fascinating person. A five-star recruit before there were five-star recruits, Minor was USA Today’s national player of the year coming out of high school in Inglewood, California. Minor signed with coach Lou Holtz and the Irish and spent four years as a starter playing under both coach Holtz and head coach Bob Davie.
If you had to find a person that embodies what Notre Dame wants in its student-athletes, Kory Minor is that person. His unbridled love and passion for Notre Dame and what it stands for was clear from the start of our hour-long conversation that ran until almost midnight last night.
He spoke candidly about his time at Notre Dame, what it was like during the transition between Lou Holtz and Bob Davie, his four years in the NFL, and what he’s doing with his life after football.
On the transition from Lou Holtz to Bob Davie:
No one has ever asked me about that… I’m not going to lie, for me, it was tough. I was a Lou Holtz guy. Besides academics and football, he was the main reason I went there. When he left, I actually thought about transferring for a little bit, then I realized that the institution where I was at, that was the right place for me to be.
Lou leaving just caught all of us off guard. I remember being in the office when he was clearing it out. I remember talking it through, shedding a few tears with him and saying goodbye. We had Davie as a coordinator, but he was nothing like Lou Holtz. I’m sure the guys at Penn State or Florida State they understand, there aren’t any coaches like Joe Paterno or Bobby Bowden. And there certainly aren’t any coaches like Lou Holtz.
On recruiting, and the changes between then and now:
It’s tough to say because I’m so far removed from it, but I’m getting back to following all of it. It’s so weird. I keep reading stuff, about Top 10 classes, Top 5 classes, but I don’t see it on the field yet. I’m not sure if it’s development, or what’s going on. We have our standards, we have our criteria, I know that. But you’re telling me we can’t find great athletes who are great students, too? When I was coming in, we had 8 or 9 guys in our class highly ranked, and that included Randy Moss, who didn’t end up coming. We were all great players and we were all smart.
I just don’t know enough on it from the recruiting side of the business, but I do know that we’ve got some great guys coming in and some great young guys on the roster, and I’m really excited to see the maturation going on, and seeing Notre Dame being up to speed and seeing what it’s all about. I’m in the middle of SC country, and I hate it. I want to see the guys that are coming turn out to be the guys that they’re built up to be. We can get guys that are great athletes and that can live up to great academic standards.
On the Ty Willingham situation:
I don’t think he got his just due. He had a great inaugural season. He didn’t have the second season that he wanted. But I don’t think he got his just due. We talked on the phone quite a bit, and any time I can meet a person and the guy can look me eye to eye and say to me ‘It’s not just my roll to win football games, but to make these players better men and people,’ that’s what Notre Dame stands for.
I was a little upset when he left, but I wish him the best, and I would’ve liked to see him have more time there, only because he embodied what Notre Dame was all about. All the principles that he stood for, you don’t get many men that say that. Those were the same principles that Coach Holtz stood for.
Do I think race was a factor? I can’t say that it was or it wasn’t. I think his time was short, but maybe they just wanted to go in another direction, and they totally had that right.
One (okay, maybe a couple) quintessential Lou Holtz story:
You don’t find many coaches that say they have an open door policy and actually mean it. It didn’t matter what it was — a school problem, family, girlfriend, it didn’t matter, his door was open. I remember a time when a player would say, ‘I’m going to talk to Coach Holtz,’ and he’d have someone else in with him, and he’d kick him out.
When a coach comes to your house and he tells your mother that he’s going to take care of your son, and tells me all about life at Notre Dame, I got to the campus and it was the same thing.
On the field, Lou used to drive a golf cart when he watched practice. If he’d see something wrong, he’d jump off the cart and just start yelling at someone, but the cart would just keep going. Man, it was hilarious. He’s a small guy, but his voice, his persona, it was commanding. He’d be yelling at someone and that cart was still running, and you’d be dodging that cart because it was coming and going to hit you.
He is a guy that I truly love and care for. He really loved and cared for me. Everything he came out and told my mom, it was 100 percent true and then some. It was everything he said it was going to be and more.
On his four years in the NFL, and the transition to life after football:
The transition from high school to college is enormous. The transition from college to the NFL, it there’s a word that’s way bigger than enormous, that’s what it would be. The speed, the size, you’re playing against veterans, against real pros. It’s tough not to be shell-shocked.
The NFL was one of the best experiences I ever had. I played a total of four years in the NFL, and played in some great games. Won some, lost some, but it was a great game. I always told myself that if it ever got to be a job that it was time to go. I had done a lot of things in the community, had gotten some internships that really got entrepreneurship running through my blood. And the game started to feel like work. I had a chance to keep playing with the Cleveland Browns but I knew it was time to go.
On his life as a Domino’s Pizza franchisee and pitchman:
I’ve been a franchisee for two years now, and worked my way through the business. We have a rally every year for Domino’s people, and people know I’m an outspoken guy, so they asked me to come down and say a few words. I said ‘Okay, no big deal,’ got up there, said a few words, and they didn’t think anything of it. A couple days later, I get a call and they say they want to put me in a commercial. ‘Oh, you do? Okay, sweet.’ They shot it downtown Los Angeles, it was a lot of fun, but a long day — 180 takes because I talk so fast. But I tell you what, I wouldn’t mind getting paid like that on a regular basis.
His advice for Manti Te’o:
He’s just got to come in and not worry about it. Come in, play well,
and don’t believe the hype. Good or bad, just come in, be you, and let
the talent take care of itself.
His expectations for this season’s Irish:
This is the first time that we’ve got a schedule that can help get the program in the right direction. I believe that we need to get the team developed and get some wins. A ‘W’ is a ‘W,’ I don’t care who we play. This is the first year since I’ve been following ND that we’ve played a schedule that is easier. And other schools do it every year. This is the first time that we’re almost there, and that we’ve got a schedule where we can do it. I think we’re at a place that we can win 9 or 10 games.
