But when Mirer first laid hands on it, the sign had only been hanging for three years at the direction of football head coach Lou Holtz, who was hired in late 1985. The sign was in place for the 1986 season, representing Holtz's ambition of restoring the luster of a legendary program that had fallen into mediocrity. The idea, he said, came from a book on Notre Dame history he had checked out from the university library over the winter break in hopes of learning as much as he could about the school's proud tradition. He saw a photo featuring the sign, which was no longer hanging in the stadium.
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