Lou Holtz, iconic Notre Dame football coach, dies. He was one-of-a-kind
Legendary Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz dies at 89
Most Powerful Speech: The 3 Rules to a Less Complicated Life | Lou Holtz | Goalcast
Knute Kenneth Rockne (/(kə)ˈnuːt ˈrɒkni/; Born: March 4, 1888 – March 31, 1931) was an American football player and coach at the University of Notre Dame. Leading Notre Dame for 13 seasons, Rockne accumulated over 100 wins and three national championships.
Rockne is regarded as one of the greatest coaches in college football history.[5] His biography at the College Football Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 1951, identifies him as “without question, American football’s most-renowned coach”. Rockne helped to popularize the forward pass and made the Notre Dame Fighting Irish a major factor in college football. In 1931, at the age of 43, Rockne died in a plane crash.
Lou Holtz, the College Football Hall of Fame coach who led Notre Dame to its last national title in 1988, died on Wednesday, March 4. He was 89. Holtz was born in Follansbee, West Virginia, the son of Anne Marie (Tychonievich) and Andrew Holtz, a bus driver.[4] His father was of German and Irish descent, while his maternal grandparents were emigrants from Chernobyl, Ukraine.[5][6] He was raised as a Catholic.
Holtz grew up in East Liverpool, Ohio, and graduated from East Liverpool High School in 1954.[7] He then attended Kent State University, where he was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity and was a walk-on for the Kent State football team.[7] He worked part-time at the East Liverpool Review to afford attending college.[7]
Holtz also trained under Kent State’s U.S. Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and earned a commission as a Field Artillery Officer in the United States Army Reserve.[2] Holtz graduated in 1959 with a bachelor’s degree in history.[2] He then received a master’s degree in arts and education from the University of Iowa in 1961.[8]
Holtz spent parts of five decades as a college football head coach, leading four programs to Top 25 finishes and six schools to bowl games, an NCAA record. While he didn’t last a full season in his lone stint in the NFL with the New York Jets in 1976 and he was dogged by controversy at times, Holtz’s 11-year run at Notre Dame cemented his status as one of the game’s great coaches.Hayes: Lou Holtz was more teacher than coach, spreading his gospel everywhereRemembering Lou Holtz: Highlights of 35-year coaching career
“Notre Dame mourns the loss of Lou Holtz, a legendary football coach, a beloved member of the Notre Dame family and devoted husband, father and grandfather,” Notre Dame President Rev. Robert A. Dowd said in a news release.Full History Of Lou Holtz In Timeline From 1937 – Popular Timelines
Over the course of a 33-year head coaching career, Lou Holtz left an indelible impression upon college football history.
A third of those seasons took place at Notre Dame football, where the fiery coach, who died Wednesday, March 4, at age 89, led the Irish to their most recent national championship in 1988.
Here’s a timeline of some of the pivotal moments from Holtz’s epic run on the sidelines.
Lou Holtz’s best football moments
1960: Holtz, a 165-pound walk-on linebacker for two seasons at Kent State, is hired as a graduate assistant at Iowa.
1961-63: Holtz spends three seasons as the backfield coach at William & Mary.
1964-65: After losing out to California’s Marv Levy for the top job at William & Mary, Holtz spent two seasons as an assistant at Connecticut under his former Kent State position coach, Rick Forzano.
1966-67: Holtz spent two seasons on Paul Dietzel’s coaching staff at South Carolina. Holtz coaches the scout team, scouts the opposition and serves as an academic liaison in 1966, then moves up to defensive backs coach in his second season.ormer Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz dies. Look back at his career
1968: As a defensive backs coach under the legendary Woody Hayes, Holtz helps Ohio State win the national championship. The Buckeyes complete an undefeated season (10-0) with a 27-16 Rose Bowl win over USC and O.J. Simpson.
1969: At 32, Holtz becomes a head coach for the first time, returning to William & Mary during the summer when Levy is hired as special teams coach with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles.
1972-75: Despite three straight losing seasons (13-20) in Williamsburg, Va., Holtz is hired at North Carolina State. Over the next four seasons, the Wolfpack goes 33-12-3 and makes bowl appearances each year.
1976: In a move he would quickly regret, Holtz jumps to the NFL’s New York Jets to coach a fading Joe Namath and Co. Holtz writes the lyrics to a poorly received fight song, “New York Jets Go Rolling Along,” and demands the team sing it after each win. Saddled with a 3-10 record, Holtz walks away from a five-year contract and resigns with one game left in the regular season.
Dec. 11, 1976: Holtz returns to the college game at Arkansas as Hall of Fame coach Frank Broyles’ hand-picked replacement. Holtz’s first group finishes 11-1 with a 31-6 upset of second-ranked Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. The Razorbacks, 24-point underdogs, played the game short-handed after Holtz suspended three offensive starters following an off-field incident.
Legacy lived: Lou Holtz, legendary Notre Dame football coach, analyst, died at 89
Dec. 18, 1983: Despite going 60-21-2 with four top-11 finishes in the national rankings, Holtz technically resigns amid controversy after seven seasons in Fayetteville. A pair of endorsement commercials for Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), both filmed in Holtz’s university office, had caused backlash days earlier. Holtz later writes that parting was “one of the great unsolved mysteries of my life.”
1984: Holtz moves on to Minnesota, where the Gophers are coming off a 1-10 disaster. By his second year, despite losing four of five games to close the regular season, Holtz converts a 6-5 record into an Independence Bowl bid.
“If you want to do something bad enough, you’ll find a way.
If you don’t want to do it bad enough, you’ll find an excuse.”
Nov. 28, 1985: Holtz activates the “Notre Dame Clause” in his contract, which allows him to leave the Gophers if they qualify for a bowl game and the Irish come calling. Holtz is hired as Gerry Faust’s replacement.
Oct. 15, 1988: Fourth-ranked Notre Dame upsets top-ranked Miami, 31-30, in the famed “Catholics vs. Convicts” battle at Notre Dame Stadium. Before the Irish stop a 16-game winning streak for coach Jimmy Johnson’s defending national champions, Holtz gives a stirring locker-room talk in which he tells his players to “Save Jimmy Johnson’s a—for me.”
Jan. 2, 1989: Top-ranked Notre Dame defeats third-ranked West Virginia, 34-21, in the Fiesta Bowl to complete a 12-0 season and clinch the first national championship for Irish football since 1977.
Nov. 13, 1993: Notre Dame upsets top-ranked Florida State, 31-24, in the “Game of the Century. One week later, the top-ranked Irish fall 41-39 at home to No. 17 Boston College, re-opening the door for the Seminoles to claim their first national title.
Jan. 1, 1994: Notre Dame completes its third straight season of 10 or more wins with its second straight Cotton Bowl win over Texas A&M, 24-21. That will stand as Notre Dame’s last New Year’s Six bowl win for 31 years.
Nov. 19, 1996: With two games left in the regular season, Holtz, 59, announces his resignation, effective at season’s end. “I do not feel good about this at all,” he says during a 75-minute news conference. “But I do feel it’s the right thing to do.”
Noie: How Lou Holtz rekindled the magic of Notre Dame football
Nov. 23, 1996: Tenth-ranked Notre Dame destroys Rutgers, 62-0, for the 100th and final victory of Holtz’s run in South Bend. His Irish teams suffered just 32 losses and two ties while compiling a .765 winning percentage, his best at any of his seven head coaching stops.
Nov. 30, 1996: Holtz completes his Irish coaching career with a 27-20 loss at unranked USC. That marks the only loss Notre Dame suffers against its archrival during Holtz’s tenure (9-1-1).
1999: After a two-year hiatus that includes a studio gig with CBS Sports, Holtz returns to coaching at hapless South Carolina. The Gamecocks finish 0-11 in his first season, the only winless season of Holtz’s career.
2000-01: In a remarkable turnaround, Holtz leads South Carolina to a combined 17-7 mark and back-to-back wins in the Outback Bowl.
Nov. 20, 2004: Holtz coaches his final game, a 29-7 loss at Clemson that ends in a brawl. He falls one win shy of an even 250 for his college career (249-132-7) but still goes out with a winning season at 6-5.
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Lou Holtz best moments as college football coach, Notre Dame championship
A tearful Lou Holtz leaves the press conference following ;his last home game as head football coach at Notre Dame. 11/23/1996 – Search Videos © South Bend Tribune File Photo
“Among his many accomplishments, we will remember him above all as a teacher, leader and mentor who brought out the very best in his players, on and off the field, earning their respect and admiration for a lifetime… Whenever Notre Dame called to ask for his help, Lou answered with his characteristic generosity, and he will be sorely missed.”
Coming off years of mediocrity, Notre Dame hired Holtz before the 1986 season and by 1988 he had built the Fighting Irish back into a title-contending team. Led by quarterback Tony Rice, running backs Mark Green and Ricky Watters along with receiver/kick returner Raghib Ismail, the Fighting Irish beat four ranked teams and finished 12-0.
“Everyone told me why we couldn’t win,” Holtz wrote. “The academic standards, the tough schedule, the no-redshirting policy, the lack of an athletic dormitory — all those were reasons people gave me why Notre Dame would never be great again.”
The biggest test that season came on Oct. 15, 1988, when Notre Dame faced Miami, which was ranked No. 1 and coached by Jimmy Johnson at the time. Billed as “Catholics vs. Convicts,” Notre Dame won 31-30 to end the Hurricanes’ 36-game regular-season winning streak.
Notre Dame finished atop the AP and coaches poll after a 34-21 victory against the third-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers at the Fiesta Bowl. Holtz coached Notre Dame to one-loss seasons in 1989 and 1993, finishing second in the polls each season.
He stepped down in 1996 after compiling a 100-30-2 record at the school.
After two years working for CBS Sports, Holtz returned to the sideline with South Carolina. He was selected as the 2000 SEC Coach of the Year and led the Gamecocks to consecutive postseason bowls for the first time in school history. But his six-season tenure ended after The Clemson–South Carolina football brawl occurred on November 20, 2004, during a college football game at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina.
This incident led to a 10-minute brawl involving players from both teams, which resulted in both schools forgoing bowl bids. The brawl was marked by chaos and violence, with players from both teams involved in shoving and punching. As a consequence, the SEC suspended six South Carolina players for one game, and the ACC did the same for six Clemson players, leading to significant repercussions for both teams.
Big wins? There were plenty of them for Notre Dame football under Lou Holtz.
Lou Holtz was more teacher than coach, spreading his gospel everywhere.
Lou Holtz, iconic Notre Dame football coach dies. He was one-of-a-kind.
Remembering Lou Holtz: Highlights of 35-year coaching career.
How Lou Holtz rekindled the magic of Notre Dame football.
His final career record was 249-132-7.
South Carolina was put on probation after Holtz’s departure, the third such Holtz-led program to be sanctioned by the NCAA.
Holtz returned to television, this time for ESPN where he spent a decade as a college football analyst.
A staunch Republican, Holtz drew heavy criticism a few times in his 31 years as a head college football coach and afterward. He backed Republican Jesse Helms, a longtime opponent to civil rights legislation, in a reelection bid while Holtz was a coach at Arkansas in the early 1980s.
Holtz endorsed businessman Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign and his comments on immigration cost him speaking engagements. He called the immigrants coming to the U.S. an “invasion” and criticized immigrants for not assimilating.
“I don’t want to become you,” Holtz said at a Republican pro-life luncheon in July 2016. “I don’t want to speak your language. I don’t want to celebrate your holidays. I sure as hell don’t want to cheer for your soccer team.”
Holtz flirted with the idea of running for Congress in 2009, although he decided not to enter the race for a Florida seat.
Lou Holtz coaching career record
- 1969: William & Mary, 3-7
- 1970: William & Mary, 5-7
- 1971: William & Mary, 5-6
- 1972: NC State, 8-3-1
- 1973: NC State, 9-3
- 1974: NC State, 9-2-1
- 1975: NC State, 7-4-1
- 1977: Arkansas, 11-1
- 1978: Arkansas, 9-2-1
- 1979: Arkansas, 10-2
- 1980: Arkansas, 7-5
- 1981: Arkansas, 8-4
- 1982: Arkansas: 9-2-1
- 1983: Arkansas, 6-5
- 1984: Minnesota, 4-7
- 1985: Minnesota, 6-5
- 1986: Notre Dame, 5-6
- 1987: Notre Dame, 8-4
- 1988: Notre Dame, 12-0
- 1989: Notre Dame, 12-1
- 1990: Notre Dame, 9-3
- 1991: Notre Dame, 10-3
- 1992: Notre Dame: 10-1-1
- 1993: Notre Dame, 11-1
- 1994: Notre Dame: 6-5-1
- 1995: Notre Dame, 9-3
- 1996: Notre Dame, 8-3
- 1999: South Carolina, 0-11
- 2000: South Carolina, 8-4
- 2001: South Carolina, 9-3
- 2002: South Carolina, 5-7
- 2003: South Carolina, 5-7
- 2004: South Carolina, 6-5
- TOTAL: 33 seasons, 249-132-7 (.651)
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Holtz On Freeman: ‘He Loves and Understands Notre Dame’
Lou Holtz Advice to Marcus Freeman – Search
In this video, we explore the wisdom of Lou Holtz, the legendary American football coach, as he shares his three rules for success. With a remarkable career spanning over four decades, Holtz has inspired countless athletes and teams to achieve greatness both on and off the field.
Join us to learn about the guiding principles that have shaped his illustrious coaching journey and how they can be applied to your own life for personal growth and triumph.
WATCH: Lou Holtz Gives Heartfelt Speech While Receiving Presidential Medal Of Freedom