Coach Holtz

Lou Holtz Biography

Lou Holtz has established himself as one of the most successful college football coaches of all time.

Born Louis Leo Holtz on January 6, 1937, Holtz grew up in East Liverpool, Ohio, just up the Ohio River

from his Follansbee, West Virginia birthplace. He graduated from East Liverpool High School, earned a

Bachelor of Science degree in history from Kent State in 1959 and a Master’s degree from Iowa in arts

and education in 1961. He played linebacker at Kent State for two seasons before an injury ended his

career. He has received numerous honorary doctorate degrees.

COACH

Holtz is the only coach in the history of college football to: 1) Take 6 different teams to a bowl game.

2) Win 5 bowl games with different teams. 3) To have 4 different college teams ranked in the final Top

20 poll.

Despite never inheriting a winning team, he compiled a 243-127-7 career record that ranked him third in

victories among active coaches and eighth in winning percentage. His 12 career postseason bowl

victories ranked him fifth on the all-time list. Holtz was recently selected for the College Football Hall of

Fame, class of 2008, which places him in an elite group of just over 800 individuals in the history of

football who have earned this distinction. Approximate 1 in 5,000 people who played college football or

coached it make it into the Hall of Fame.

The Follansbee, West Virginia, native became the 25th head coach of Notre Dame following two seasons

at Minnesota (1984 to 85), seven at Arkansas (1977 to 83), four at North Carolina State (1972 to 75) and

three at William & Mary (1969 to 71). He spent the 1976 season as head coach of the New York Jets of

the National Football League. Twenty- one of the 26 collegiate teams under his direction have earned

post-season bowl invitations - and 14 have finished in the final AP top 20, eight in the top 10 (not

including the 1995 finish in that category).

Holtz’s head-coaching career began in 1969 at William & Mary at age 32. His second team in 1970 won

the Southern Conference title and advanced to play 15-ranked Toledo in the Tangerine Bowl in the only

postseason appearance in the history of the school. Holtz’s stab at professional football - between his

tenures at North Carolina State and Arkansas produced a 3-10 record. He resigned the week of the Jets’

final regular season game.

Before becoming head coach at William & Mary in 1969, Holtz served as an assistant coach at Iowa

(freshmen, 1960), William & Mary (offensive backs, 1961 to 63), Connecticut (defensive backs, 1964 to

65), South Carolina (defensive backs, 1966 to 67) and Ohio State (defensive backs, 1968). The Buckeyes

won the national championship in 1968 in his one season on the Ohio State staff. He worked under such

respected coaches as Forest Evashevski at Iowa, at South Carolina and Woody Hayes at Ohio State.

NOTRE DAME

When Holtz took over as Notre Dame’s 25th head football coach back in November of 1985, he brought

with him a well-proven reputation as a fixer of football programs following a series of spectacular repair

jobs at William & Mary, North Carolina State, Arkansas and Minnesota.

Twenty-six seasons as a collegiate head coach earned Holtz a sterling reputation for turning pretenders

into contenders - for taking football programs and elevating them a level or two on their way to the top

20. But nowhere has he done this as impressively than at Notre Dame.

He enhanced that track record quickly, needing only two years to put the Fighting Irish back into a major

post-season bowl game for the first time in seven seasons. Holtz proved he could take the Irish back to

the ranks of college football’s elite and keep them there on a consistent basis.

He also has developed a well-earned reputation as an expert when it comes to knocking off highly ranked

opponents. That ability has been particularly well displayed in bowl games, with his team recording wins

on January 1 in five of the last seven seasons against teams with a combined record of 74-4-1, all of them

ranked seventh or higher in the Associated Press poll.

In his 11 seasons at Notre Dame, Holtz chalked up more victories than the number accumulated by

Parseghian, Rockne or Leahy in their first 11 years on the job. Including the consensus national

championship in 1988, a record 23-game winning streak that ranks as the longest in Notre Dame history.

An overall 100-30-2 mark during those eleven years - his accomplishments nonetheless have positioned

him alongside those Fighting Irish coaching legends. When the Fighting Irish met Florida in the 1996

Orange Bowl, it was the ninth straight year Holtz had taken Notre Dame to the traditional January post-

season bowls (Cotton Bowl following 1987, 1992 and 1993 campaigns, Fiesta in 1988 and 1994, Orange

in 1989, 1990 and 1995, Sugar in 1991). This is something that no other coach in the country has

matched. Holtz is the 2008 recipient of the Notre Dame Monogram Club’s highest honor, the Moose

Krause Distinguished Service Award.

After his departure from Notre Dame following the 1996 season, he joined CBS Sports’ College Football

Today for two seasons as a sports analyst and worked with United States Filter (a global provider of

water treatment) as a customer relations spokesman. From there he went on to be head coach at the

University of South Carolina for six seasons from 1999- 2004 where he led the Gamecocks to back-to-

back January 1 bowl games for the first time in the history of the school and defeated Ohio State in

consecutive bowl appearances. In 2008, Holtz was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, and

Notre Dame dedicated a statue of Lou.

SPORTS ANALYST

Until 2014, Holtz was a college football studio analyst on ESPN. He appeared on ESPNews, ESPN College

GameDay programs, SportsCenter, and served as an on-site analyst for college football games.

Coach Holtz is currently in his second year with SiriusXM Radio as a Co-Host for two sports programs;

a golf show broadcast throughout the year entitled, “Holtz In One,” two weekly college football

shows during season. His newest show is “The Crowd’s Line College Football Show with Lou Holtz and

Mark May”.

SPEAKER

For many years, Lou Holtz has been considered among the greatest speaking legends in America today.

He speaks on overcoming seemingly impossible challenges by setting your own goals and working to

achieve them.

He has built a reputation as a motivator, a demanding disciplinarian, and someone who relishes

challenges and hard work.

AUTHOR & MORE

Holtz has authored three New York Times best-selling books including The Fighting Spirit that chronicled

Notre Dame's 1988 championship season; Winning Everyday: A Game Plan for Success (August 1998),

which has been published in several languages; and Wins, Losses and Lessons: An Autobiography. His

most recent book, A Lifetime of Love: A Game Plan for Marriage and Family Life, was released in

February 2022.

Coach Holtz has also produced four highly acclaimed motivational videos: Do Right, Do Right II, If Enough

People Care, and Do Right 20 Years Later.

The Walter Camp Football Foundation, an award that is presented annually to an individual who has

attained a measure of success and been a leader in his chosen profession, named Lou Holtz 1998’s Man

of the Year. This is the second-time Coach Holtz has been saluted by the organization named for the

legendary Father of American Football. In 1977, while in Arkansas, he was named Coach of the Year.

Additionally, Holtz has been honored with numerous awards for his philanthropy and coaching success.

When mills and potteries began closing in Lou and Beth’s hometown, more than half of the town was out

of work. In 1996, the Holtz Charitable Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization, was formed. The

Foundation seeks to provide scholarships to trade schools for those impacted by the closings.

In July 1998, the Lou Holtz Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame opened in East Liverpool, Ohio. The Hall was

established to recognize accomplishments and contributions of men and women in all fields of endeavor

in the Upper Ohio Valley.

PERSONAL

Holtz served as an officer in the U.S. Army. He was married to Beth Barcus of East Liverpool on July 22,

1961. Holtz is the father of four children, grandfather to nine, and currently resides in Orlando, Florida.