He was a little off the chain near the end,but a decent and affable guy. Always great with a comeback and knew how to motivate kids.
After leaving Notre Dame he went to South Carolina which had not won a game. He was asked how much South Carolina was getting paid to play a powerhouse. He quipped "not enough to cover our hospital bills".

quote:

He was a little off the chain near the end

Care to explain?

A true loss.
He was a great person.
Friends, who are gamecocks alumni, children have personalized memorabilia from him. He always had time for the young fans.

I used some of his motivational speaking material when I was teaching leadership courses in the Navy. Some of it stickes with me 20 years later.

Always seemed like a class act. We could use more Men like him today.
Godspeed Lou.

He always seemed to be a decent man.
I still think of Arkansas first when I hear his name.

I always liked him as a coach and motivational speaker

Cool story about Coach Holtz.

About 20 years ago (+/-) when he had starting coaching at South Carolina (he had been coaching there about three years when this happened) I was traveling back from a week long trip for my company and we, because of where I lived, always connected through Atlanta. I am sitting in Concourse D (at that time this was the concourse used by Delta for their smaller turbo-prop jets traveling to smaller airports) so many times it was no super crowded.

While waiting on our connecting flight home, I looked up and saw a small framed man sitting in an empty gate area by himself reading. I tell the person I am flying with that this person sure looks like Coach Lou Holtz. They said no way so I decide to walk over closer to see if it was him. It is Coach Holtz so I spoke and he raised his head and said “Hello young man how are you doing today?” Needless to say I was speechless for a second and said “Great Coach”.

He asks if we have ever met and I said no but wanted to speak to him because I thought it was great that he was coaching at South Carolina and that my boss was a HUGE Gamecock fan and had been for 30+ years. I went on to tell Coach Holtz that my boss was a season ticket holder and went to every home game and sat behind the team usually up about 10-20 rows and that he was so excited when he took the Head Coaching job there. He asked me my bosses name and I told him. Now what happened next was pretty amazing.

Coach Holtz reached over to his shoulder bag and pulled out a note pad, opened it, turned to an empty page, and proceeded to write my boss a personal message. The note said how he met me and how I told the coach of my bosses love for the Gamecocks and football and how much he appreciated my boss and his wife still attending every game even though their win/loss record was not great. He went on to say in his note that he was hoping to improve their teams performance and make coming to a Gamecock football game exciting again for the fans. He signed and dated the note, tore it out of his notebook folder and handed it to me and asked that I give it to my boss. I thanked him and said good-bye.

I took the note home, had it professionally framed, and gave it to my boss. Excited does not describe my bosses reaction. He thanked me the next time I went into my bosses office, he had that framed note hanging on his office wall and told me it was something he would always cherish.

In my book Coach Holtz was a pretty amazing guy.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: sigarmsp226,

^^^

Great story

MDS

I was working at a small non-profit lobbyist in DC back in 2000-2001 and Coach Holtz came to speak to us at a dinner we had after a big fundraiser. We were all worn out but excited to hear him speak. What a class act.

Lou was in a role with a company I recently worked for and was a delight just chatting or in front of a group. Had him sit in on an evaluation with me once which was remarkable. I still have the letter he wrote afterward.

Miss him and MayDay going at it with Rece as judge!

Rest in peace.

Great story sugarmsp226! Thanks for sharing that.

He spoke at a meeting I attended many years ago. I am not a big sports fan, but he gave a very good speech.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
Lou was in a role with a company I recently worked for and was a delight just chatting or in front of a group.

He seemed like a down to earth guy.

quote:

Care to explain?

Made some inappropriate remarks near the end of his life which I assumed was a result of advanced age. I don't care to repeat them.
I remember the day he was showing the return guy how to catch a punt and broke his finger. He took it in stride.

He almost ran over me at the Rose Bowl In Pasadena in 2010. We thought it was funny because he could barely see over the steering wheel.

Keith Olbermann doesn't seem to like Coach Holtz.

FOX NEWS

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
Keith Olbermann doesn't seem to like Coach Holtz.

FOX NEWS

who give a FF what that pos thinks about anything. . Why you felt it necessary to post that in this thread is beyond me.

Not posted to denigrate Coach Holtz. Just to piss on Olbermann for dishonoring a legend in the world of coaching and humanity.

Sorry if anyone was offended, it was not my intention. I guess my dislike of someone like Olbermann clouded my sensitivity.

I never liked Holtz because he was coaching at Notre Dame while I was attending Michigan State, and I despise ND football. But looking back at the overall scope of his life and career now, I think he was probably a pretty good guy.

Bo Schembechler, on the other hand, can rot in hell!

Digging around the internet, I had forgotten that Lou Holtz received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from president Trump in his first term.