The family of legendary football coach Lou Holtz announced he passed away on Wednesday at the age of 89.
“Holtz is remembered for his enduring values of faith, family, service, and an unwavering belief in the potential of others,” the family said in a statement, according to WCMH-TV. “His influence extended far beyond the football field through the Holtz Charitable Foundation.”
Holtz was the last coach at the University of Notre Dame to win a National Championship in football, going undefeated during the 1988-1989 season.
He came close to another title in 1993 when the team finished No. 2 with an 11-1 record.
Holtz was a towering figure within the Fighting Irish community.
Despite coaching at schools like South Carolina, Minnesota, Arkansas, Ohio State, and briefly with the NFL’s New York Jets, he is most remembered for his time at Notre Dame.
Holtz, a vocal supporter of President Trump, called him a “champion” of the Catholic faith only months before the 2020 presidential election in an opinion piece for Townhall.
He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008 and started many Notre Dame traditions that are still employed today.
The team’s “Play Like A Champion” sign in the football locker room, which players continue to honor before every home game, was first displayed during his era. Holtz also removed names from the back of the jerseys to emphasize a team dynamic, rather than the individual.
Remembering the life and legacy of Lou Holtz pic.twitter.com/8WiEtVr6fT
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) March 4, 2026
He became a college football commentator later in life and would always root for the Irish, especially in primetime televised matchups.
Holtz was a lifelong devout Roman Catholic and said he felt he could freely express his faith at Notre Dame without interference.
“I was raised in a very strong Catholic household. Both grandparents were Catholic. My family was Catholic. We went to church every Sunday. And my grandmother, she went to church every single day of the year, and I mean that is not an exaggeration,” he said back in 2021.
“I was blessed because not what we had but because of what I was taught,” Holtz continued. “And I was taught to have a strong faith in God and make good choices as you go along.”
He added, “You’re always gonna have challenges and obstacles and that’s life. It’s how well you handle them.”
“What I loved about being at the University of Notre Dame: I could express my Catholic faith, I could express the faith I had in Jesus Christ and I didn’t have to worry about the Civil Liberties Union calling me and complaining,” Holtz concluded.
Holtz’s wife, Beth, passed in 2020, but he is survived by his four children, three of whom are Notre Dame graduates, and one of whom is Coach Skip Holtz, who has coached in college and in the UFL.
One of Holtz’s most famous speeches was his pregame address to his team during their 1988 matchup against the University of Miami.
It’s entitled “You Gotta Believe” and it summed up what his life — and his time at Notre Dame — was really all about.
“Ya gotta believe. This school was founded on faith and on belief,” he said. “I told you last week how when Notre Dame burnt down Father Sorin said the mistake we made was we didn’t build it big enough. Everything here at Notre Dame has been done on faith and a commitment to excellence, a commitment to each other.
“At the luncheon yesterday I was asked what Notre Dame meant to me: one it means religion; two it means family, where people care about you, not just because you win or because things go well, but they genuinely care; and the other thing it means to me is a set of standards, a commitment,” Holtz continued.
“In 1986 people were saying that Notre Dame would never win again,” he added. “We had a group of guys who wanted to win but didn’t know how. Then we progressed to a point where we had a group of guys that wanted to win, knew how to win. Then we progressed to a point where we have a group of guys that know how to win, but sometimes we don’t always exhibit it. That’s a thing of the past.”
Holtz added, “We’re not going out and defending anything; we’re going out to fight for it, to compete for it. Nobody gives you anything in this world; people can give you money, they can give you wealth, they can give you fame, but one thing nobody in this world can give you, men, is respect, the self-respect you have for yourself the way you play the game, and the way you believe, the way you do things. This is a game of respect.
“You are Notre Dame. You are special. You represent Notre Dame. You represent everyone that came before you, and everybody that’ll come after you,” he concluded. “At Notre Dame there’s a spirit. The spirit is something that’s within you. You gotta listen to that spirit, ya gotta fight for it, and ya gotta believe!”
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