1. Louis Leo Holtz was born on January 6,1937 and is an American former college football coach and television analyst.
44 Facts About Lou Holtz
1. 2.
Lou Holtz is the only college football coach to lead six different programs to bowl games and the only coach to guide four different programs to the final top 15 rankings.
3.
On May 1,2008, Lou Holtz was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
4.
Lou Holtz was born in Follansbee, West Virginia, the son of Anne Marie and Andrew Lou Holtz, a bus driver.
5.
Lou Holtz's father was of German and Irish descent, while his maternal grandparents were emigrants from Chernobyl, Ukraine.
6.
Lou Holtz grew up in East Liverpool, Ohio, where he was raised as a Catholic.
7.
Lou Holtz was a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity, and graduated in 1959 with a degree in history.
8.
Lou Holtz trained under Kent State's Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps and earned a commission as a Field Artillery Officer in the United States Army Reserve at the time of his graduation from college.
9.
Lou Holtz began his coaching career as a graduate assistant in 1960, at Iowa, where he received his master's degree.
10.
Lou Holtz was selected over Johnny Majors, Darryl Rogers, and Marv Levy.
11.
In one of his last practices, All-American guard, Leotis Harris suffered a season-ending injury, and only a couple of days later Lou Holtz suspended both starting running backs, Ben Cowins and Michael Forrest, and top receiver, Donny Bobo, for disciplinary reasons.
12.
Lou Holtz was widely considered to be the leading candidate to replace Woody Hayes at Ohio State in 1979, but Lou Holtz did not pursue the job because he did not want to follow Hayes.
13.
At the time, athletic director Frank Broyles stated that Lou Holtz had resigned because he was "tired and burned out", and was not fired.
14.
Lou Holtz confirmed that he had been fired, but that Broyles never gave him a reason, although reports cited his political involvement as a major reason: controversy arose over his having taped two television advertisements from his coach's office endorsing the re-election of Jesse Helms as Senator from North Carolina at a time when Helms was leading the effort to block Martin Luther King Jr.
15.
Lou Holtz accepted the head coaching job at the University of Minnesota before the 1984 season.
16.
The Golden Gophers had only won one game vs Rice in 1983, but under Lou Holtz won four games including 3 in the Big Ten.
17.
Lou Holtz did not coach the Gophers in that bowl game, as he had already accepted the head coaching position at Notre Dame.
18.
In 1986, Lou Holtz left Minnesota to take over the then-struggling Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program.
19.
Lou Holtz took the Irish to bowl games for nine consecutive seasons, still a Notre Dame record.
20.
On September 13,2008, Lou Holtz was invited back to the campus where a statue of the former coach was unveiled.
21.
However, Lou Holtz denied these rumors each of those two seasons.
22.
Lou Holtz remained at Notre Dame; the Vikings, meanwhile, hired Dennis Green to replace the retired Jerry Burns.
23.
On November 18,2004, Lou Holtz announced that he would retire at the end of the season.
24.
At his last press conference as South Carolina's coach, Lou Holtz said it was ironic that he and former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes both would be remembered for "getting into a fight at the Clemson game".
25.
Lou Holtz alluded to his assistance in recruiting his successor, Steve Spurrier.
26.
Lou Holtz has worked for CBS Sports as a college football analyst and in the same capacity for the cable network ESPN.
27.
Lou Holtz worked on the secondary studio team, located in Bristol as opposed to the game site.
28.
Lou Holtz typically appeared on pregame, halftime, and postgame shows of college football games.
29.
Lou Holtz typically partnered with Rece Davis and Mark May Holtz came under scrutiny after referencing Adolf Hitler in an on-air comment while appearing on College Football Live in 2008.
30.
Lou Holtz was married to Beth Barcus from July 22,1961, until her death from cancer on June 30,2020.
31.
Lou Holtz is on the Catholic Advisory Board of the Ave Maria Mutual Funds, and gives motivational speeches.
32.
Lou Holtz has long been active in Republican Party politics, including his support for Helms, hosting former Vice President Dan Quayle in a 1999 fundraising tour, speaking at a 2007 House Republicans strategy meeting and considering entering the Republican primary for a Congressional seat in Florida in 2009.
33.
In 2020, Lou Holtz voiced his support for Amy Coney Barrett's nomination the United States Supreme Court.
34.
Lou Holtz often appears on Hannity on the Fox News Channel.
35.
Lou Holtz has been vocal about his disapproval of Colin Kaepernick taking a knee before NFL games and NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, allowing players to do so.
36.
Lou Holtz told Scoop B Radio's Brandon Scoop B Robinson that players should go to inner city neighborhoods and be influential in their community rather than kneeling.
37.
Lou Holtz appeared as himself in a Discover Card commercial in November 2011.
38.
In 1990, Lou Holtz received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.
39.
Lou Holtz was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Notre Dame on May 22,2011.
40.
Lou Holtz was awarded an honorary Doctor of Education from the University of South Carolina on December 17,2012.
41.
Lou Holtz was awarded an honorary Doctor in Public Service from Trine University and elected to the board of trustees in 2011.
42.
Lou Holtz was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Communications from Franciscan University of Steubenville on May 9,2015, and delivered a commencement address.
43.
Lou Holtz was elected to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1983, and the Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame in 1998.
44.
On December 3,2020, Lou Holtz was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump.