This past March 4th (2026), the world of college football lost a great head coach like Lou Holtz, who passed away while living in a hospice care home (in Orlando, FL) at age 89.
Lou Holtz is a deserving selection as a head coach in the College Football Hall of Fame (Class of 2008). He has been a head coach at six different schools, in which he coached all of those schools into having a bowl berth. Lou has been a Coach of the Year award winner in three different conferences for schools such as N.C State (1973 ACC), Arkansas (1979 SWC), and South Carolina (2000 SEC). He coached schools like William & Mary (1970 Southern Conference), N.C State (1973 ACC), and Arkansas (shared 1979 SWC title with Houston) to conference titles. After being a head coach (for the New York Jets) in the NFL didn’t work out (because of a 3-10 mark in the 1976 season), former Arkansas Head Coach-turned Athletic Director Frank Broyles decided to offer his job to Lou Holtz as the new Arkansas head coach rather than promote his then-Defensive Coordinator Jimmy Johnson to head coach of the Razorbacks. Lou said it best “God did not put Lou Holtz on this Earth to coach in the pros.”
One thing that some people who know about college football learned what Lou did after he was hired for the Minnesota head coaching job from 1984-85 was negotiate an escape clause in his contract. That clause would indicate if the Notre Dame head coaching job was vacant, Lou would be free to pursue it. Recently, I read an article (via ESPN.com) relating to his passing that Lou had to coach the Golden Gophers into playing in a bowl game before he could pursue that prestigious job if it was open. Minnesota had a 6-5 mark before Lou would resign and leave that job for his dream job. The Golden Gophers would have a win over Clemson in the Independence Bowl to end that 1985 season with a 7-5 mark. I do wonder IF Notre Dame never needed Lou Holtz for that position, how far would Minnesota have gone with Holtz roaming the sidelines in Minneapolis. Since then, a lot of head coaches who negotiate their contracts demand an escape clause (called the Notre Dame clause) be written and typed in their contract if another head coaching job interests them, they are free to pursue it. Then sooner than you think, schools would put in a buyout clause to be added to a contract in which if the head coach leaves their current job for the same position at another school while under contract, that school who lost their head coach would be heavily compensated financially. Past Notre Dame assistant coaches for Holtz such as Barry Alvarez (defensive coordinator from 1988-89) and Urban Meyer (WR coach in 1996) would have that Notre Dame clause put in their contract but never ended up pursuing the Notre Dame head coaching job when it was vacant.
Lou is obviously on the Mount Rushmore of great head coaches in Notre Dame football history. Like Ara Parseghian (1966) and Dan Devine (1977), he coached the Fighting Irish to the national championship in his third season which was an undefeated season (12-0) in 1988. Also not everybody realizes this- each of those years listed are last two similar numbers after 19-just take a look at the previous sentence in this paragraph. Lou’s successor, Bob Davie, who was his defensive coordinator before beig promoted, had a chance but obviolsy fell short with coaching Notre Dame to a 5-7 mark in 1999. The Irish had a chance to repeat as national champions (in the 1989 season) but a road loss against eventual National Champions Miami eventually cost them that chance and ended their 23-game winning streak, which is a school record. Notre Dame did have one last chance to repeat as national champions but the Hurricanes, who were ranked #2 in the nation, did what they had to do, which was beat SEC Champions Alabama (in the Sugar Bowl) to win their second national championship in three seasons whereas the Irish beat undefeated Big Eight Champions Colorado, who was ranked #1 in the nation, 21-6 in the Orange Bowl. Other great things Lou did (as the Notre Dame head coach from 1986-96) were phenomenal. Under his watch, the Irish were 3-0 in games in which Notre Dame was a participant in #1 would face #2 (as ranked by the AP Sportswritters’ Poll), including two games in which the Irish were ranked #1. Notre Dame NEVER lost to in-state rival Purdue. His only loss to Michigan State was his first season (1986) but after that, the Irish never lost to the MSU Spartans under his watch. In his last season of 1996, Lou suffered his only loss against a service academy (Air Force) and (at) rival USC, which were losses in overtime. Lou coached Notre Dame to a 5-4 mark in bowl games, including three wins over an undefeated team with a perfect record, such as a 34-21 win over West Virginia (in the Fiesta Bowl) to win the 1988 national championship.He ended his tenure as the second-winningest winnngest head coach in Notre Dame history with a 100-30-2 mark. Lou should’ve coached one more season to surpass Kneute Rockne (105 wins) as the all-time winningest head coach in school history.
Like Bob Stoops (Oklahoma won in 2000), Jimmy Johnson (Miami won in 1987) and more to name, Holtz is one of those great head coaches who should’ve won more than one national championship, which he did in 1988, as a collge football head coach. If the 1989 national title didn’t slip by his fingers, the 1993 national title definitely did. A week after #2 Notre Dame’s home win over eventual National Champions Florida State, the then-undefeated Fighting Irish, who were ranked #1 in the nation, suffered a 41-39 upset home-finale loss against Boston College on a last play FG. After that game, the FSU Seminoles moved back up to #1 in the AP Sportswriters’ Poll before the bowl pairings were officially finalized. The Irish would eventually be shut out of playing for the 1993 national title in the postseason. Notre Dame would defeat three-time defending SWC Champions Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl while ACC Champions Florida State hung on to defeat undefeated three-time defending Big Eight Champions Nebraska, who were ranked #2 in the AP Sportswritters’ Poll, 18-16 in the Orange Bowl to win their first-ever national title after the Cornhuskers missed a FG attempt on the last play of that game. A lot of us wish the Irish could’ve at least won the Coaches’ Poll version of the 1993 national championship. That 1993 season proved that we needed a playoff system to crown an undisputed national champion.
Another great thing Lou did for college football was becoming a studio analyst for CBS (1997-98) and ESPN (2005-15). Between being the head coach at Notre Dame and South Carolina (1999-2004), he worked at CBS. I still remember his last studio broadcast, some of the production crew members wore South Carolina Gamecocks paraphernalia to celebrate their collegue being named the new South Carolina head coach. After stepping down from the South Carolina head coach (1999-2004), Lou retired from coaching football for good and got to become a studio analyst for ESPN from 2005-15. I loved that segment he did with host Reese Davis and fellow studio analyst Mark May (former Pittsburgh OT who won the 1980 Outland Trophy) called Final Verdict. As host of that show called College Football Final, Davis got to wear a black robe acting like a courtroom judge to preside and hear what Lou and Mark would argue about something going on in college football. Because he was a great head coach and studio analyst, I am glad Lou would eventually win the Contributions to College Football Award in 2021.
Lou has a son named Skip (formally born as Lou Holtz Jr) who also got to be a good head coach. Lou Jr got to play WR for Lou Sr during his 1986 senior season, which was Coach Holtz’ first season of his dream job (coached Notre Dame to 5-6 mark that year). Skip got to be a college football head coach in NCAA Division I-AA (now known as NCAA Division I FCS) as he coached Conneticut to a 10-3 mark, including a 52-30 loss against Georiga Southern in the NCAA second round/quarterfinals, in 1998. After that 1998 season, the Skipper followed his father to South Carolina as his assistant head coach and offensive coordinator from 1999-2004 until he was named the new East Carolina head coach (2005-09). Skip also got to be the head coach at South Florida (2010-12) and La Tech (2013-21) before coaching in the pros. Skip is no longer a head coach after he was dismissed (via some public protest) as the head coach of the Birmingham Stallions, whom he coached to three straight world titles, including two USFL titles (2022-23) before the USFL and the XFL merged to form the UFL.
Today, Notre Dame Head Coach Marcus Freeman keeps that winning tradition going that coaches set before him such as Holtz, Kneute Rockne, Frank Leahy, and Ara Parseghian set (and reset) long before him to make Notre Dame among the elite college football teams in the nation. Freeman is doing a great job of picking up where his predesssor Brian Kelly left off after Kelly left his job for same position at LSU. In 2024, the Fighting Irish got to be apart of the new 12-team college football playoff but lost to Ohio State in the finals. Freeman will look to coach Notre Dame to something better than a 10-2 mark from last season and make it to the playoffs after the CFB playoff commitee voted the Irish out last season.
Lou Holtz is a great head coach who achieved as much as he could in college football and should’ve had more than he got, such as 249 overall wins, including 12 wins in a bowl game, as a head coach and one national championship, as a head coach.
OTHER THINGS ABOUT COACH HOLTZ:
-The 1968 season is Lou’s only season on staff for the Ohio State Buckeyes football team who won the national title with a 10-0 record, including a 27-16 win over then-#2 USC (led by Heisman Trophy-winning RB O.J Simpson) in the Rose Bowl.
-After that 1981 home-finale loss against eventual crowned SWC Champions SMU, Holtz and the Razorbacks got even with the Mustangs, who were ranked #2 in the nation, by ruining their perfect season with a 17-all road tie.
-Holtz had a cameo role in The Blind Side (2009) reprising his job as the South Carolina head coach attempting to recruit OT Michael Oher to play football for the Gamecocks.
-Lou was interviewed for ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries such as The Pony Excess and Catholics vs Convicts. Lou was interviewed for that Pony Excess episode because he was the Arkansas head coach from 1977-83 and discussed somethings happening in the SWC (Southwest Conference) regarding on and off-field competitions among the schools from the SWC and coaching then-#1 Notre Dame to a decisive 1989 home win over SMU after the Mustangs resumed playing college football after serving the death penalty for two straight seasons (1987-88). He was interviewed for the Catholic vs Convicts episode because that episode discussed some commonalities he had with Miami Head Coach Jimmy Johnson, his hiring as their new Notre Dame head coach in late-1985, the classic 1988 game of Notre Dame defeating Miami, and why that annual series between the Fighting Irish vs the Hurricanes ended.
GAMES IN WHICH HOLTZ COACHED NOTRE DAME IN A #1 vs #2 MATCHUP:
SAT, November 26, 1988 (ABC)- #1 Notre Dame defeated (at) #2 USC (Pac-Ten Champions), 27-10 (The L.A Memorial Coliseum in Los Angles, CA)
SAT, September 16, 1989 (ABC)- #1 Notre Dame defeated (at) #2 Michigan (defending and eventual Big Ten Champions), 24-19 (Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, MI)
SAT, November 13, 1993 (NBC)- #2 Notre Dame defeated #2 Florida State (defending and eventual ACC Champions),
