Lou Holtz, the legendary college football coach who led the University of Notre Dame to the 1988 National Championship, has passed away at the age of 89.
One of the most affable coaches of his generation, Holtz won 249 games as a collegiate head coach with 100 of those victories earned at Notre Dame from 1986 through 1996. He led the Irish to the 1988 National Championship with a 12-0 record capped by a victory over West Virginia in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl. The ‘88 title season began a 64-9-1 (.871) run for Holtz at Notre Dame that included a 23-game win streak, back-to-back 12-win seasons for the first time in school history and a program record nine consecutive bowl game appearances.
“Notre Dame mourns the loss of Lou Holtz, a legendary football coach, a beloved member of the Notre Dame family and devoted husband, father and grandfather,” said University of Notre Dame President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C.
I’d say his lone misstep was coaching the Gamecocks, but he was a respectable Gamecocks coach which is a damn sight more than I can so for others who’ve assumed the title of Head Cock in Columbia east.
Holtz was a great motivational speaker and a decent person, in general. I had a chance to hear him speak once and he goes down as one of the few speakers that I genuinely enjoyed listening to.
I used to think some of his ESPN segments were a touch cornballed, but given what ESPN has devolved into nowadays, especially College Gameday, it seems like journalistic gold by comparison.
RIP.
At any rate, I respected Coach Holtz. Even can say I liked him. That’s rare for a coach of the enemy, and I can’t say there have been many others out there that I can say I liked short of Sam Pittman and Fran Brown, though they aren’t “enemies” by the SEC rival standard order. I don’t really care for Dan Lanning but I also don’t have any reason to hate him, either, even though he’s from the Kirby tree. Don’t likewise care much for Beamer. I could respect MARK Stoops, though, to be fair, he rarely beat Kirby.
On the flip side, I detested Fulmer, Spurrier (at any location), Irvin Meyer, even Boom when he was at Florida and South Carolina. Didn’t much care for a lot of rival coaches. I can say I respected Saban, even if I didn’t care for his results against us.
So that warrants the question today…who was a rival or SEC coach that you genuinely respected or liked? Why?
Have at it in the comments.
Hmmmm. This is a good one. Pepper Rogers…lol? This is hard. I try to think of coaches that maybe I would have liked them if they were Georgia’s coach and that isn’t even working. I didn’t even like Lou Holtz, but that comes from my days at Colorado and he was at Notre Dame.
Funny thing is Spurrier might come the closest because I liked how he jabbed at Tennessee and FSU, but he doesn’t make the cut either since he likely hated Georgia more than anyone of his rivals. Not Pat Dye, not Danny Ford, or Bill Curry or O’Leary. Can’t be Dopey Dan, Tubbs, nor Buster Brown. I don’t know if this is possible with SEC coaches…lol.
Only one I can think of is Tom Osborne at Nebraska as a Colorado fan.
Always liked Bobby Bowden
I second this.
Me too
I gained a new found respect for him after reading about how he opened up his WVU program to help Marshall rebuild after the crash.
I never had a problem with Holtz. Neither did D.J. Stokely. Anyhoo, RIP.
Ha! This is awesome. I got pissed at Holtz and wrote him a letter about this. I reminded him of a few of his shortcomings. He actually wrote me back – to my surprise- and turns out we were cordial (see: no cussin’) and he eloquently jabbed back as well. Signed it and everything. I think I still have the letter. I also learned, courtesy of his personalized stationary, that he was a one time NY Jets coach. Who knew..?
Yeah, left NC State gig for the Jets, but resigned part way into his first season I think in the early ’70’s. Went on to success at Arkansas after that.
Saban, always won or loss with class.
Suffering Succotash….Coach Holtz is gone. Hate to hear it. I agree that his time on ESPN looks pretty darn good compared to what we have now.
Sorry to hear of his passing
It seems from what I’ve read and heard, a life well lived. The guy truly loved college football. May he rest in peace.
He was a good man and coach. He’ll be missed by many.
Saban was the one I respected the most. Fulmer without question is the coach I disrespected the most.
There was a time Coach Muschamp was on that bad list until he became agent Boom and worked his magic. It makes me sad he’s gone rogue again. Hopefully he leaves the Texas program in a smoking crater of disappointment and grief. I really don’t care for Texas.
Most of you aren’t likely to agree, but I came to respect Spurrier. He was both a great coach and an equal opportunity ass: “You can’t spell citrus with ‘UT’.” Until the late 90s, I hated him with a white-hot incandescence but eventually realized my disdain was actually based more on my continuing disappointment with Georgia than him.
I never had any respect for Fulmer, the mouth-breathing hillbilly goon. He’s still why a key part of my ultimate dream season remains UT finishing 0-12.
But among all coaches, I loathe Corch the most. In a profession chock full of questionable characters he stood out as a stone cold psychopath and straight up dickhead.
Lou’s stint with the Lamecocks was enticed solely by Hootie Johnson offering up a membership in the Augusta National. Spurrier thought he would try that route, but Billy Payne had NO part of that…
I wouldn’t say I liked him, but I always respected Bill Curry. I thought he was very good later on as a tv analyst too.
I liked Bill Curry. He was a class act..as was Bobby Dodd.
But I hated and continue to hate GT.
I liked Granny Holtz…Sunbelt Billy and McElwain (sp.. but who cares) at UF because they were nice guys but poor coaches. Pat Dye at AU was so-so…Bowden at FSU was on the like list…lots really…Coach O at LSU….Cutcliffe at various stops…
Top of the “don’t care for list” is Fulmer.. Pepper Rogers…Cryin’ Ryan Day…Fish fry.
On track to be a major villian..Lane Kiffen.
Add Fishfry to the detested list, please.
Houston Nutt was okay, particularly when he had that freak McFadden.
Mumme, Leach and Bielema get points for trying to compete and making things interesting.
And the sharkhumper deserves a dishonorable mention. I give McElwain points for triggering plenty of hilarious posts on Brother Bluto’s blog.
RIP
St Joseph pray for us!
my favorite ND coach… everyone since douchebaggery + infiniti
Marcus Freeman wasn’t until he was this past year.
Saban and Spurrier. Both were so good the entire league had to adapt to compete with them.
I actually grew to appreciate Spurrier’s wit, and I think it has been a big missed opportunity not to have him as a mainstay on College Gameday or some other national college football broadcast especially considering the cognitive struggles Lee Corso had for his last decade on Gameday.
Always interested that despite his success, Holtz was also well-traveled, coaching in the Big-10, SWC, SEC, ACC and of course Notre Dame. He was a hoot in the “Catholics vs. Convicts” 30 for 30. From a respect standpoint I was a bit of a fan from afar for Bobby Bowden in his prime.
Bowden in his prime was close to the top of the best in my opinion. He built FSU from nothing by taking his guys on the road anytime anywhere. If he had a FG kicker, he would have had a number of additional national titles.
Curt Cignetti could learn a lesson.
Ed Orgeron was entertaining in interviews. That sloppy cajun accent is funny.
Lou Holtz RIP. For all the living rest of them…FTMF#
I was at the UGA v. NC State game many years ago and was impressed with their preparation by Coach Holtz and play. Takes someone my age or older to remember Coach Shug Jordan, a former UGA coach who went the dark side at AU. Remembered for his half time talk when his team was down to the Bulldogs. Yea though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I shall not be afraid for I am the meanest SOB in the Valley. Sullivan and Beasley put on a show in the second half.
I will say that with family from the SE Ohio area (including E Liverpool) and knowing about the “organized” activities that are still entrenched in the stretch from Youngstown down to Steubenville, I have never believed that Holtz was as squeaky clean as he portrayed himself.
Nevertheless, I met Bill Curry several times (one of the GT Athletic Dept secretaries lived across the street from me growing up), I think he is one of the few that lives in the values he espouses.
“Booch” for being such a target for the blog.
Orgeron since I’m half coon-ass and a pragmatist myself.
Spurrier is a dick but I appreciated the wit.
Saban.
Charlie McClendon. Geaux Tigers.
In the like list most of the LSU coaches from Charlie Mac up until Brian Kelly.
On the dislike list every coach past present and future at auburn minus Joel Eaves with the extra special sauce for buster brown terry bowden and Gus Malzan.
Bear