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MOTIVATION FOR THE COACH
By Scott Fowler
Published by The Charlotte Observer
(and thanks to The Observer folks for letting me reprint it)
Aug.29, 2007
All rights reserved
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- To understand the friendship between Drew Steele, Skip Holtz and Mike Steele -- three men whose relationship will make you remember that basic decency is still alive in the sports world -- it's best to start at the beginning.
It was March 2005. Holtz had been hired three months before as football coach at East Carolina, a program that had managed only three total wins in the previous two years. All he wanted to do was work.
But in a weak moment shortly after he arrived, he said "yes" to playing in a charity golf tournament to benefit Special Olympics. "So the day came," Holtz said. "It was rainy. Nasty. I was like, `I do not want to do this.' I went out there with the worst attitude."
Paired with Holtz for nine holes that would eventually make Greenville a better place: Mike Steele and his son, Drew.
Mike Steele could have had reasons for not wanting to go out to that tournament himself. Some people wondered why he stuck around Greenville, period.
Steele was once a hot young coach himself. He was hired in 1987 to coach ECU's basketball team.
He lasted four years before getting fired under difficult circumstances and watching his own coaching career spiral down the drain.
Instead of moving, Steele and his wife stayed in Greenville and became community fixtures. Steele began a new career in insurance. And he and his wife Sandy raised two sons: Derek, who just began dental school at North Carolina, and Drew.
Drew is 22 and has Down syndrome, a genetic disorder caused by the presence of an extra chromosome. His health is fine, but he has special needs because of his lack of cognitive ability.
Holtz will tell you now that Drew is more recognized in Greenville than the football coach at ECU, but he didn't know that in 2005. He just knew he suddenly started having a wonderful time at the golf course because of Drew.
"Drew would putt the ball and literally hit it off the green," Holtz said. "And then he would pretend to ride a horse and smack high fives with everyone like he'd just won the Masters."
Holtz started thinking about his own life: a loving wife, three healthy children, a dream job and a close family that includes his famous father, former coach Lou Holtz. He began getting disgusted with himself for the pity party he had had earlier in the day.
"Drew has so many reasons to complain, and he never does," Holtz said. "He doesn't focus on what he doesn't have. Here I am, with so many things to be grateful for, and Drew Steele is the one teaching me all about positive attitude."
At a dinner after the tournament, Holtz spoke and suddenly decided to ask Drew to address the ECU football team before a game.
The crowd hushed. In front of several hundred people, Drew considered the offer.
"Skip," he said, "I work at Chick-Fil-A. I'm going to have to check my schedule."
"Drew," Holtz laughed, "have your people get with my people. Maybe we can get this thing done."
`The best Gatorade pourer'
They've done far more than that one speaking engagement.The Drew Steele-Skip Holtz Golf Classic has become an annual event each June in Greenville. It has raised close to $500,000 to start renovating an old gym in Greenville and eventually turn it into The Drew Steele Center.
The center will sparkle with computers, classrooms and sports equipment while serving able-bodied and special-needs children.
The tournament has also raised enough money to ensure all the public parks in the Greenville area are wheelchair-accessible.
Drew still works at Chick-Fil-A three days a week, but Holtz got him a part-time job in the East Carolina equipment room, too.
"I fold the towels, sweep the floor and everything," he said proudly.
Holtz also keeps Drew on the sideline at every game, home and away. Drew travels with the team and will be there Saturday when East Carolina opens its 2007 season at Virginia Tech.
"Drew's job on game day is to pour the Gatorade cups," Holtz said, "and he's the best Gatorade pourer in the entire country."
Whenever the Pirates win, Drew gives Holtz his own personal Gatorade shower -- usually just one cup's worth.
Drew likes to say Holtz is "my best friend and my boss." Drew has Holtz in the No. 1 position on his speed-dial. The two meet for a few minutes every weekday to discuss what Drew has done that day and what Holtz ate the previous night for supper (this is invariably Drew's first question of the coach).
Drew might also critique the latest movie he's seen. He has a rating scale with only two grades -- "10" for any movie with a lot of action and "zero" for any movie with a lot of kissing.
Those few minutes are one of the highlights of Holtz's day.
Said Holtz: "Every time Drew walks through that door, it's like we haven't seen each other in five years and we were in each other's wedding."
`Time heals all wounds'
Mike Steele, Drew's father and the former ECU basketball coach, is the other piece of this puzzle. Now a successful insurance man and an ECU booster, Steele drives Drew around and travels with his son on the road. Without him, there would be no opportunity for Holtz and Drew to bond.
Holtz, 43, has become close friends with the elder Steele, too. Steele, 53, knows a lot of folks in town after spending 20 years in Greenville, and the two can tell lots of coaching stories.
They know each other well enough to tease constantly.
"Like I told Mike," Holtz said, laughing, "he wasn't fired here because he was a bad person. He was just a bad coach. So when he's got advice, it's like, `Hey, look. You had your shot at this. It didn't work out for you. Don't ruin mine, all right?' "
Steele grew up in Illinois, went to college at Purdue, became an assistant coach at Butler and was head coach at Division III DePauw University in Indiana by age 26. After six successful years there, he took the job at East Carolina, hoping to turn around the Pirates program and eventually leap to a larger school.
Instead, he failed.
In four years at ECU, Steele's teams went 48-68. During his fourth season, in late 1990, he was arrested near his home for driving while impaired, an action the university's chancellor at the time called "reprehensible."
"I made a mistake," Steele said. "And when you have a losing season, that's not a good time to have anything off the court happen."
Steele was fired in early 1991. ECU still owed him for one more season, and he took that time to decide whether he wanted to stay in coaching or stay in Greenville.
He picked Greenville, where the shadow of the school that terminated his career looms very large. Does he feel bitterness?
"Time heals all wounds," he said softly.
So now ECU is one of the most important things in his son's life. A batboy in high school for two state championship teams at Greenville Rose, Drew needed something else when he graduated. East Carolina -- and Holtz -- have provided it.
Drew now has a prediction for Holtz's third team at ECU.
"We'll go 12-0," he said.
Drew says that every year.
After all, he believes in miracles.
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