After the wrapping was torn off, it took just a moment to realize what had reached the cluttered desk.

It was an uncorrected proof, not for sale, copy of a books titled Wins, Losses and Lessons.

It was the autobiography of Lou Holtz.

Much of the early part of the book reads very much like the book yours truly did with Holtz 25 years ago.

A book that was not published because he changed his mind, and here’s a shock, he managed to beat the publishing company (now out of business ) in court despite a signed contract.

That book, titled Lou Holtz in Hog Heaven, was a typical easy read about Holtz’s career to that point.

Of course, no one knew at the time the best was to come for the guy who would go on to win a national championship at Notre Dame.

This latest book is about him, his career and him.

It will be out in August of this year and will sell for $ 25. 95.

While it is not exactly a page turner, if you are a die-hard Lou Holtz fan — not necessarily a fan of the places he coached, but of him personally — then it might be worth the price.

Understand, typical of Holtz, he manages to brag throughout the book and make it sound like he’s regretful to pass on such praise that others have bestowed upon him.

Holtz, of course, is a complicated man, but that is not evident in his personal tale of his life.

Of the 336 pages, only about 30 actually deal with him coaching at the University of Arkansas, and those are made up of how successful he was, the dorm incident that benched three players before the Orange Bowl and how successful he was.

He does speak very highly of Bill Clinton, Reverend H. D. McCarty and even Frank Broyles.

The big revelation in the book was that after all these years he still doesn’t know why he was fired.

Well, guess what, that’s the first time anyone associated with the UA at the time has admitted he was fired.

We were initially told he was resigning because of burnout. Of course, a week later everyone’s suspicions were confirmed when Holtz became the head football coach at Minnesota.

Here are a few sentences from the same paragraph of the book: “I bet Frank and I never had a dozen cross words between us during my tenure. Sure, I was disappointed when he wasn’t more supportive during the Orange Bowl scandal, but that was long forgotten.”

So long forgotten that it made it into his autobiography.

Near the end of that paragraph he writes: “To this day, I have no idea what precipitated my firing from the University of Arkansas.”

OK, give him credit, in the next graph he admits he thinks shooting a campaign commercial for North Carolina senatorial candidate Jesse Helms might have hurt.

Helms was pretty much considered a guy who was less than fair with minorities.

Holtz said he managed to get the commercial killed and it never ran.

Yet, he never explains why he would endorse such a man, which was most likely what Broyles was concerned about.

Holtz wrote: “Even today, the reason for my firing is one of the great unsolved mysteries of my life.”

Obviously he just never saw what was wrong with campaigning for a guy whose thinking most people considered to be stuck in era before Rosa Parks became a heroine.

In case this wasn’t made clear earlier, the book is a decent read if you are a Lou Holtz fan, not particularly of any of the fine institutions where he coached.

Is it as good as John Daly’s book ? Not even close.

Daly’s book has reached as high as No. 5 on the bestseller list.

Holtz’s book won’t do that, but it will sell.

Make no mistake, he has fans around this great country and they will buy the book and it will make Lou Holtz some money.

Something that has always been near and dear to his heart.