Lou Holtz, a 2008 NFF College Football Hall of Fame inductee who coached Notre Dame to the 1988 national title and headed six programs from 1969 to 2004 while winning 249 games, passed away March 4. He was 89.
The only coach in NCAA history to lead six different programs to bowl games, Coach Lou Holtz was a fixture in the college football coaching landscape for more than three decades. He coached at William & Mary (1969-71), North Carolina State (197275), Arkansas (1977-83), Minnesota (1984-85), Notre Dame (1986-96) and South Carolina (1999-2004), amassing an overall record of 249132-7 for a 65.1 winning percentage.
Best known for his tenure at Notre Dame, Holtz led the Fighting Irish to the 1988 national championship and 100 wins. The 1988 national championship season included a perfect 12-0 record and a victory over West Virginia in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl. The season began a 649-1 (.871) run for Holtz that included a 23-game win streak and back-to-back 12-win seasons for the first time in school history. He posted a program record nine consecutive bowl game appearances. The famous “Play Like A Champion” sign was first displayed during his tenure, and he removed the names of the players from their jerseys to emphasize the team over individual accolades.
He won conference championships at William & Mary, North Carolina State and Arkansas and is the only coach to guide four different programs to final Top 20 rankings.
He won 33 games in four years at NC State, including the 1973 ACC Championship, producing the best four-year win-loss record (33-123) in Wolfpack history.
He left Raleigh after the 1975 season, spending one season in the NFL with the New York Jets in 1976 before heading to Fayetteville.
His first season at Arkansas culminated with a 31-6 upset victory over No. 3 Oklahoma in the 1978 Orange Bowl. Holtz would finish his run at Arkansas 60-21-2, leading the Razorbacks to six straight bowl games and four Top Ten finishes.
He moved to Minnesota in 1984, winning 10 games in two years with the Gophers before accepting the head job at Notre Dame for the 1986 season.
Following the 1996 season at Notre Dame, Holtz retired, joining CBS Sports as a game commentator. However, after two seasons in the broadcast booth, he returned to the sidelines in 1999, taking the head job at South Carolina. He rebuilt the Gamecock program, finishing 0-11 in his first season, then 8-5 in year two, which included an upset of Ohio State in the Outback Bowl. The eight-game turnaround earned him national coach of the year honors. Holtz would eventually win 33 games in six years at South Carolina, which included backto- back Outback Bowl wins in 2000 and 2001.
Holtz received Man of the Year laurels from the Walter Camp Foundation in 1997 and twice earned the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Academic Achievement Award, which annually honors the school with the highest graduation rate among members of its football team.
He coached NFF College Football Hall of Fame inductees Tim Brown (the 1987 Heisman winner), Raghib Ismail, Michael Stonebreaker, Aaron Taylor and Chris Zorich at Notre Dame, Ted Brown at North Carolina State, and Dan Hampton and Billy Ray Smith Jr. at Arkansas.
After coaching, he became a high-profile studio analyst for college football on ESPN while also traveling the country as a motivational speaker. The Follansbee, W.V., native was born Jan. 6, 1937. He is survived by his four children, Luanne, Lou ‘Skip’ Junior, Kevin and Elizabeth.
