If you don't like the score, either recruit harder or coach better

In his autobiograby "Wins, Losses, and Lessons," Lou Holtz recalls a terrific exchange between he and Bobby Bowden while Coach Holtz was at William & Mary and Coach Bowden was at West Virginia.

The coaches were friends, but you wouldn't have known it when their teams played each other.

"That afternoon, Bobby kept in his two star running backs long after the game had been decided. The score was lopsided (43-7), but the West Virginia starters stayed in the game until the bitter end.

Afterward I said, 'Bobby, why did you do that? We're friends?'

He looked me straight in the eye and said, 'It's your job to keep the score down, not mine. If you don't like the score, either recruit harder or coach better. I've got to coach my team, and you've got to coach yours. You can coach only one team.'

That stung, in part because I knew he was right. If I wanted to keep from being embarrassed, I needed to do a better job recruiting, a better job preparing, and a better job coaching."