December Card & Memorabilia Auction Dec 9 - 18/19
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/18/2022
Offered is a 1999 "The Carolinian Creed" plaque presented to Lou Holtz as the new head football coach at the University of South Carolina. The black and brown wood plaque features two black metal plates engraved in gold. The plate at the left bears the legend "THIS COPY OF THE CAROLINA CREED IS PRESENTED TO Coach Lou Holtz BY THE USC STUDENT GOVERNMENT ON BEHALF OF THE STUDENT BODY IN RECOGNITION OF YOUR NEW POSITION AS THE HEAD FOOTBALL COACH OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA". At the right is a plate with the full text of "The Carolinian Creed" engraved in gold on black, with the USC school seal engraved at the top. Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina, where he had been an assistant in the 1960s. The year before Holtz arrived, the Gamecocks went 1–10, and the team subsequently went 0–11 during Holtz's first season. In his second season, South Carolina went 8–4, winning the Outback Bowl over the heavily favored Ohio State Buckeyes. The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000 and the third best single-season turnaround in NCAA history. It also earned National Coach of the Year honors for Holtz from Football News and American Football Coaches Quarterly. In his third season, Holtz's success continued, leading the Gamecocks to a 9–3 record and another Outback Bowl victory over Ohio State. The nine wins for the season were the second highest total in the history of the program. Under Holtz's leadership, the Gamecocks posted their best two-year mark in school history from 2000 to 2001, going 17–7 overall and 10–6 in SEC play. This item comes with a LOA from Lou Holtz, and 100% of the net proceeds from the sale of this item will benefit the Holtz Charitable Foundation, Inc.