Legendary Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz dies

Lou Holtz, who took Notre Dame to a national title, has died.

He was 89 years old.

The university announced Holtz’s death on Wednesday, saying he died in Orlando, Florida, but did not provide a cause of death, The Associated Press reported.

It was reported on Jan. 29 that he had been in hospice care, the South Bend Tribune reported.

Holtz’s son, Skip Holtz, said on social media that his father died while “resting peacefully at home.”

As a head coach not only at Notre Dame, but also at William and Mary, NC State, Arkansas, Minnesota and South Carolina, he went 249-132-7 over 33 seasons, ESPN reported. He also coached the New York Jets in 1976.

But it was with the Fighting Irish where he won his only national championship when, in 1988, his team beat West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl. That year, the team went 12-0.

They also went No. 2 twice: 1989 and 1993, ESPN reported.

It was Holtz’s childhood dream to work with Notre Dame. He grew up listening to Fighting Irish games on the radio. He attended Sisters of Notre Dame at St. Aloysius Grade School in East Liverpool, Ohio. He would march to Notre Dame’s victory song at noon, recess and dismissal, he said and had a “Notre Dame clause” in his Minnesota contract, allowing him to leave for his dream job if he took Minnesota to a bowl game, ESPN reported. He did that in 1985.

“The clause,” Holtz shared in hisautobiography, according to the South Bend Tribune, “was short and direct: If Minnesota accepted a bowl bid during my tenure, and I was contacted and offered the job as head coach at the University of Notre Dame, I was free to terminate my contract with Minnesota.”

The other part of the clause was that he would not “initiate contact with Notre Dame even if the job became vacant. Notre Dame had to contact me. I could not pursue it.”

Eventually, he was able to use the clause and lead the team that he wanted to for so long.

“I could not possibly turn down the opportunity to come to Notre Dame,” Holtz said when he was introduced as the Fighting Irish coach. “I just felt this was the dream of a lifetime.” 

The AP said that “none stood bigger than Holtz. He was only 5-foot-10, but commanded the sideline like someone much bigger.”

He motivated those around him with his “homespun brand of folkiness” with sayings that were made to inspire. Some examples from the AP:

“Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.”

“When all is said and done, more is said than done.”

“You’re never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you’re never as bad as they say when you lose.”

Holtz moved from the sidelines to the broadcast booth after retiring from coaching, including working at ESPN for more than 10 years.

He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008. President Donald Trump presented Holtz with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2020.

Holtz’s final public appearance was at the Orlando Touchdown Club in November, where he took the stage with ESPN’s former commentator and his friend Lee Corso. Holtz spoke about his health, saying that he couldn’t walk and did not know how long he would still be around, but he shared stories with Corso for the capacity crowd for nearly an hour, ESPN reported.

Holtz was born in Follansbee, West Virginia, in 1937, but was raised in East Liverpool. He was a linebacker at Kent State for two seasons before becoming a coach as a graduate assistant at Iowa in 1960, the South Bend Tribune reported. He was on the staff when Hall of Fame coach Woody Hayes took Ohio State to the national championship title in 1968. Holtz was the defensive backs coach, the South Bend Tribune reported.

Holtz left behind his four children.

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