Former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz spent about a half hour talking with the media Saturday morning before the Blue-Gold game and after running a tryout for this summer's Japan Bowl. Holtz, the second-winningest coach in Notre Dame history behind Knute Rockne, touched on a variety of topics in the chat -- which Insights has broken up into multiple parts.

The first discusses this summer's Japan Bowl and his feelings about Notre Dame more than a decade after he left. Some of it, especially when he talks about the Japan Bowl, is classic Holtz discussing opponents.

Question: How do you evaluate this talent (trying out for the Japan Bowl)?

Lou Holtz: "I mentioned to the staff that there was about five things we want to do. We ran them through a battery of tests today and things you do in the normal winter program, you have pro timing day in Indianapolis, also, who is in condition, also the experience they've had, were they a starter, backup, etc. Then the attitude they have toward their teammates, the working out, etc., the chemistry they exude when they do different things. Those were some of the things.

"I don't know who the punter is, but I feel good about that. When I looked at our quarterback situation, I immediately looked to our punter and he's impressive."

Question: When you decide to do this, for you is it a representation thing or that you wanted to coach one more game?

Lou Holtz: "No, no, no. I'm at home. The phone rings and it's Charlie Weis. Charlie tells me they are going to have this game and Notre Dame is supporting it and encouraging it and he asked me if I would coach in it. I said 'Does Notre Dame want me to do that?' He said 'Yes.' So when Notre Dame asks you to do something, you do it. If they ask you to come to junior parents' weekend, you go. Whatever they ask, you do. That's just the way I feel about this school. The players out there have the same attitude. If Notre Dame asks you to do something, you go do it. I didn't volunteer this. I didn't need to prove anything. Fortunately, they are going to have the Hall of Fame induction before the game so they aren't going to rescind the invitation. But it's Notre Dame.

"I've been to Japan. We went over there in February and we had 90 people, 90 different members of the media represented over there at the press conference. I go in there and it's a huge room and I thought 'How do they fill this sucker up?' They've been playing football there for 75 years and I've looked at film on them. People don't understand, this is a good football team we're playing. They played a Division I-AA all-star team last year. USA won in overtime and USA kicked a field goal from the 25 in overtime and Japan missed a field goal from the 5 in overtime and that was the difference. But Japan outgained them throughout the course of the game. There are 220 colleges that play football and there are 64 semi-pro teams. The average age of the team from Japan is 27, 28. They've been playing football 75 years, (Gen. Douglas) MacArthur really brought it to them. The press conference they announced that next year, touch football will be taught in all PE classes in Japan because of the value of football and the teamwork and the togetherness and the unselfishness of football teaches ya, Japan felt they needed to teach that to their younger people. Japan announced this in their press conference. I don't know, the economy is hurting in Japan so I don't know how many people will be there but it's going to be televised nationally. It's a big thing.

"They had a cocktail party with the Japan coaches. I have a picture, a guy brought it to me, he played quarterback in 1949, ran the T-formation, showed him and his hero was Johnny Lujack. The guy is probably 85, my age, maybe not quite that old, but being over there. We'll practice at what they call Phoenix University, which is really Tokyo University, and their practice fields are as good as this one out here and there are sleds and dummies. The practice facilities we'll have out there are a lot better than what we had when I was here."

Question: You've talked when you were coaching here a lot about the Notre Dame spirit and what that meant to you, just what did you mean by that and how you still feel?

LH: "Notre Dame is just special. People ask me to describe it. I say if you've been here, no explanation is necessary. If you haven't been, no explanation will suffice. But it's just a bond that pulls you together here. The unsung heroes of Notre Dame's specialness are the dorm rectors. I did a video for the Notre Dame MBA program (Friday) and you can't really explain it. But the first thing we'll do is everybody will get up, once the team's decided at our first practice, and talk about their life, what years they were at Notre Dame, where they're from, married, family, what they do now. What's in a name? Tony Rice isn't a name. Tony Rice is a life. And that's what we try to do here and that's just what Notre Dame does. It's not a name, not a person. And the best thing I see about this already is that the spirit will span generations. You have players out there who are 22, 23 and you have Tony Rice, who's probably 40 and they are bound by one thing, and that's Notre Dame. Your obligation as a coach, it's not just the X's and the O's, it's to bring them together as a team, to give them a cause, to teach them how to be successful. Whether it be an all-star game or be coaching here, I'll probably approach it the exact same way. I'll approach it with great intensity, we already have a playbook together, they'll be given that playbook tomorrow. But this isn't about me or something to prove. It's just Notre Dame and let's make it a marvelous experience for these people."

Question: Does your understanding of what Notre Dame means grow over time or is it something you understand more now than you did 23 years ago?

LH: "I told the players on so many occasions that you learn to appreciate Notre Dame when you get out, when you understand the impact and the networking and the family and the friendships and values, you really learn to appreciate it. It's really special this week that we're having the 60th anniversary of the black athlete at Notre Dame because so many of them have come back. Some of them want to play, some of them can't play. But they all appreciate now what Notre Dame means and what it is and also understand why Notre Dame's special now. Whether you played 25 years ago or you played five years ago, that feeling is still there. But the longer you're out, the more you appreciate it. My children, I had three graduate from here, our cemetery plots are here because this is the one place my three children will always come back to. They won't always go to Arkansas, they won't always go to Minnesota and they won't always go to Florida where I live. But they will always go back to Notre Dame."