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Lou Holtz spent some time with his son Skip over the weekend, and it was then when he broke the news everyone expected.
He would be entering the College Football Hall of Fame, celebrating a career of motivating players and becoming one of the most well-known figures in the college game.
“It’s awesome because this game has meant so much to him and has meant so much to his entire life,” Skip Holtz, the East Carolina coach, said in a phone interview Thursday. “Him being inducted in is a great honor.”
Holtz was one of 13 players and two coaches selected to be enshrined as the 2008 class in the College Football Hall of Fame. Holtz, who compiled a 249-132-7 record at William & Mary, North Carolina State, Arkansas, Minnesota, Notre Dame and South Carolina, becomes the sixth Fighting Irish coach to be inducted. He also spent a season as head coach of the New York Jets.
Holtz is best known as the coach of the Irish. He won the 1988 national championship and 100 games with Notre Dame.
“I hope that my induction will some day serve as an example of how you persevere,” Holtz said. “I’ve been fired and ridiculed and downgraded, that’s all part of life, and you continue to move on.”
Motivation had always been one of Holtz’s most well-known qualities. His motivational tactics are now seen each week on ESPN, where he’s a college football analyst known for giving imaginary pep talks to teams.
“Living legend, at the end of the day,” former Notre Dame offensive lineman Lindsay Knapp said. “He’s a guy that brought Notre Dame back from tough times and was able to win a national championship after diminishing from that echelon back in the 1970s.
“He was the guy that came in, turned everything around.”
mrothstein@jg.net
