(Photo: Joseph Weiser)
When Lou Holtz was growing up in East Liverpool, Ohio, he was taught by the Sisters of Notre Dame. Each day as the students in his school went to recess the good nuns , required they do so to the tune of the Notre Dame Victory March.
While a kid, Lou would read newspaper accounts of games and listen into the action on the radio at a time when Frank Leahy’s Irish almost never lost.
It is safe to say, Lou grew up loving Notre Dame.
After high school Lou attended Kent State where he was an undersized linebacker, who reportedly played with a lot of heart. At Kent, he majored in History.
Always a student of the game, after graduation in 1959 he started coaching and rapidly moved up the ranks. He made stops at Iowa as a GA where he earned his master’s degree in History, and then William and Mary, Connecticut, South Carolina and Ohio State. At Ohio State he learned from the legendary Woody Hayes who happened to share Lou’s love for history. As an assistant there in 1968 Ohio State won the National Championship.
Holtz then moved on to his first head coaching job in 1969 at William & Mary. Success there was followed by more of the same at North Carolina State, Arkansas, and Minnesota. He also had one not so successful season at the head of the New York Jets in 1976.
After two seasons at Minnesota he took advantage of a Notre Dame “out” clause in his contract and succeeded Gerry Faust at ND in 1986. Holtz quickly changed the culture at Notre Dame and progress was immediate. During that first season, Notre Dame suffered close losses to good teams including a 1-point loss to #3 Michigan in his first game at the helm. The Irish then had a breakthrough victory in the final game of that season with a last second win at USC.
In 1987 the Irish were legit. Led by Tim Brown, who won the Heisman Trophy, the Irish reached as high as #4 in the nation and played in the Cotton Bowl.
1988 was a dream season as the Irish, led by players like Tony Rice, Chris Zorich, Mike Stonebreaker, and Ricky Watters, played stifling defense, employed a diverse running game and passed enough to keep defenses honest. On January 2, 1989 the Irish defeated West Virginia to finish 12-0 and to claim the National Championship.
The ‘88 title season began a 64-9-1 (.871) run for Holtz at Notre Dame that included a 23-game win streak, and back-to-back 12-win seasons for the first time in school history. His teams came within eyelashes of winning national titles in 1989 and 1993.
Lou coached in South Bend a total of 11 years, and retired after the 1997 season. He led his Notre Dame teams to a total of 9 bowls in his 11 seasons and finished with a Notre Dame record of 100-30 and 2.
Lou Holtz, another Fighting Irish Preview All-Time Irish Hero.