College Football Legend Lou Holtz Dies at 89

Lou Holtz, the College Football Hall of Fame coach who led Notre Dame to the 1988 national championship and won 249 games over 33 seasons at six schools, has died. He was 89.​​

Notre Dame announced on Wednesday that Holtz died in Orlando, Florida, surrounded by his family. Spokeswoman Katy Lonergan said a cause of death was not provided by the family.​​

Holtz became the first and so far only coach to lead six different teams to bowl games during a career in which he compiled a record of 249-132-7. He still ranks 10th all-time in career victories by a Football Bowl Subdivision coach, eighth all-time with 388 games coached.​​

At Notre Dame, he went 100-30-2 in 11 seasons producing both the third-highest win total in school history and the second-highest loss total.​​

Holtz’s 1988 Notre Dame team went 12-0 and defeated West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl to claim the national championship.

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Holtz won at every stop — except for a brief stint in the NFL.​​

He didn’t just win games, either. The diminutive coach captivated fans with his occasionally fiery sideline demeanor, his self-deprecating wit and folksy phrases all while demanding excellence, on and off the field, from his much larger players.​​

Holtz became such a popular personality that after coaching his last game, in 2004 with South Carolina, he parlayed that into a broadcasting career and motivational speaking.​

​Holtz was born in Follansbee, West Virginia, in January 1937, and grew up in East Liverpool, Ohio. After graduating from Kent State in 1959, he began his college coaching career as an assistant at Iowa in 1960. He also served as an assistant coach at William & Mary, Connecticut, South Carolina and Ohio State.

His first head coaching job was at William & Mary in 1969. He later had head coaching stints at N.C. State, Arkansas, the New York Jets and Minnesota before joining Notre Dame in 1986.