Jerome Bettis appreciates what Lou Holtz did for him at Notre Dame but disagrees politically

Jerome Bettis prefers to think about how Lou Holtz had a positive impact on his life versus anything Holtz says today.

Jerome Bettis was lucky to make it out of the streets of Detroit by his own admission. Bettis and his brother were doing anything they could to put food on the table and got caught up selling drugs on the street.

Bettis made a right turn with some help and made it all the way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The first stop was the University of Notre Dame with head coach Lou Holtz who has been in the news lately, admonished by some of his former players for his stance on political issues.

Holtz spoke at the Republican National Convention and accused Joe Biden of being a Catholic “in name only.” Notre Dame has distanced itself from Holtz’s comments as have some of the players Holtz recruited. Former wide receiver Bobby Brown was emotional on his “Ball Hog Sports Talk” show. “We feel as though the hero we loved and adored, that we would run through a brick wall for, died in front of our eyes on Wednesday night,” Brown said.

Bettis, on the other hand, is doing his best to not focus on anything Holtz says politically,  but rather think back to the young kid Holtz helped get to college, the NFL and beyond.

“That (Holtz’s comments) doesn’t change what he has done for me, how he impacted my life, the trajectory of my life and where it was,” Bettis told Da Windy City podcast. “Had it not been for him we would not be having this conversation today. For that, I do owe him a lot of latitude.”

That doesn’t mean that Bettis agreed with Holtz’s comments. Only that he is doing his best to separate the politics from the man- an admitted challenge for many.

“When you are on the other side of the issues, then it’s going to disappoint,” Bettis acknowledged. “You’ve got a lot of players that maybe agreed with him. As an African-American player that played for Coach Holtz, I love him, and I don’t agree with his political views. It doesn’t change the person that he is and what he did for me. It’s a difficult situation. He has his beliefs, I’m not going to change them.”

Bettis played three years for Holtz (1990-1992) at Notre Dame capped by the 92′ season when the Irish finished 10-1-1 capped off with a 28-3 demolishing of Texas A&M at the Cotton Bowl. Bettis was then selected 10th overall by the Los Angeles Rams.

Today Bettis is working with Modelo and Draft Kings in the “Beat Bettis Challenge .” Bettis is ready to dominate each week on the fantasy football gridiron.

To listen to the entire Bettis interview where he discusses Holtz, the upcoming Pittsburgh Steelers season, Colin Kaepernick coming back to the NFL, click on Da Windy City podcast.