Lou Holtz, legendary Notre Dame coach, dead at 89

Lou Holtz, the legendary Notre Dame coach who led the Fighting Irish to the 1988 national championship, has died at 89, the school announced Wednesday.

A cause of death was not disclosed. He was surrounded by family in Orlando, Fla., the school said.

Holtz won 100 games at Notre Dame, where he coached from 1986-96.

He was born in West Virginia in 1937.

“I was born during the Depression, my dad had a third grade education,” Holtz told Joe Buck in a 2018 interview. “We had one bedroom for my sister, myself and my parents. We had a kitchen, a half bath. The half bath did not have a tub, a shower or a sink. There’s no welfare, there’s no food stamps, there’s no safety net.

“The reason I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth, I was born in this country and I was taught that if I made good choices — whatever happened in your life — if I made good choices, got an education, worked hard, didn’t blame other people, I could have very positive things happen to me.”

He played linebacker at Kent State and served as an assistant at five schools, including under Woody Hayes at Ohio State, where the Buckeyes won the 1968 national title.

His first head coaching job came at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, where he was at the helm for three seasons and led the team to an appearance in the 1970 Tangerine Bowl.

He moved on to NC State, where he went 33-12-3 in four seasons before making a surprise move to the NFL to coach the Jets.

The NFL move was a disaster. In Joe Namath’s final season with the Jets, the team started 0-4 en route to a 3-11 finish. Holtz, who wrote a fight song for the team, wasn’t around for the finale, having resigned after 13 games.

“God did not put Lou Holtz on this earth to coach in the pros,” he said.

Holtz went to Arkansas, where he made an immediate impact. The 1977 squad went 11-1 and shocked the college football world with a 31-6 victory in the Orange Bowl over Oklahoma after Holtz suspended three of his top players for the game.

In addition to being a successful coach, Holtz was also popular thanks to his sense of humor.

When Arkansas fans threw oranges after the team clinched its Orange Bowl berth, Holtz quipped, “I’m glad we’re not going to the Gator Bowl.”

After a 43-7 loss early in his career, Holtz commented, “We had too many Marys and not enough Williams.”

And there was his prediction of the Jets offense: “I’m convinced we’re going to move the ball. I hope to God it’s forward.”

He coached the Razorbacks for seven seasons, then the Minnesota Gophers for two before landing at Notre Dame.

The Fighting Irish were coming off a 5-6 season which ended with an embarrassing 58-7 loss to the Miami Hurricanes.

In three short years, Holtz put Notre Dame back on top with a 12-0 season in 1988, including an iconic 31-30 win over Miami in a matchup known as Catholics vs. Convicts.

Notre Dame won the title with a 34-21 victory over West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl.

His Fighting Irish teams finished in the top five in three of the next five seasons, though another championship eluded them.

Holtz stepped down after the 1996 season but had one turnaround left in him when he went to South Carolina.

The Gamecocks went 0-11 in 1999, but put together an 8-4 season in 2000. He retired from the South Carolina job, and coaching for good, in 2004.

He later worked as a studio analyst for ESPN, most notably on “College Football Scoreboard” and “College Football Final” with Mark May.

In 2020, Holtz was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Trump.

Last October, he attended Arkansas’ matchup with Notre Dame in Fayetteville.

He was married to Beth Barcus from 1961 until her death in 2020. They had four children.