Lou Holtz died Wednesday in Orlando, Fla., surrounded by his family, the Holtz family announced. He was 89 years old.
A native of Follansbee, W. Va., Holtz played linebacker at Kent State in the late 1950s and entered coaching at Iowa in 1960. He assisted at William & Mary, Connecticut, South Carolina and Ohio State before landing his first head coaching job at William & Mary in 1969. Further stops took Holtz to NC State, the New York Jets, Arkansas, Minnesota, Notre Dame and South Carolina.
Holtz stands as the most successful Notre Dame head coach of the past 40 years, going 100-30-2. His 1988 Fighting Irish squad won Notre Dame's most recent national championship, defeating No. 1 Miami in the legendary Catholics vs. Convicts game, winning at No. 2 USC to close the regular season, and then holding off No. 3 West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl. Notre Dame's 1993 win over No. 1 Florida State, with the Irish ranked No. 2 at the time, was one of the most influential games of the 1990s -- a game so big it inspired a pregame show known as College GameDay to travel on the road for the first time, where they previewed an eventual 31-24 Irish victory. Notre Dame lost to Boston College the following week, and Florida State would go on to win the consensus national title with Notre Dame finishing No. 2 in both polls.
Holtz's Notre Dame teams would have been fixtures in the 4- or 12-team College Football Playoff in the late '80s and early '90s.
He spent two years out of coaching before returning at South Carolina, where in 2000 and '01 his Gamecocks finished in the AP top-20 and closed both seasons with wins over Ohio State in the Outback Bowl.
Overall, Holtz went 249-132-7 as a college head coach and entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008. In addition to the 1988 national title, Holtz won SoCon, Southwest Conference and ACC championships, nine national Coach of the Year awards, and Coach of the Year honors in three separate conferences. He was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Donald Trump in 2020.
After South Carolina, Holtz assumed an influential role as a studio analyst at ESPN from 2005-15. In the pre-social media era, Holtz and Mark May's analysis set the tone for national discussion in an era where poll performance largely formed the BCS standings. "On television," Holtz once said, "you talk until you think of something to say."
From the family of Lou Holtz pic.twitter.com/aYWiXYVnLq
— The Fighting Irish (@FightingIrish) March 4, 2026
My father passed away today resting peacefully at home. I appreciate everyone’s thoughts and prayers over the last couple months! He was successful, but more important he was Significant. pic.twitter.com/DD76EMLphH
— Skip Holtz (@CoachSHoltz) March 4, 2026
Holtz was preceded in death by his wife of 59 years, Beth, in 2020, and the Holtz family announced he entered end-of-life hospice care on Jan. 30. Lou and Beth Holtz had four children, including former East Carolina, South Florida, Louisiana Tech and 2-time USFL champion son Louis Leo "Skip" Holtz, Jr., and active college coach Louis Leo "Trey" Holtz III.