Lou Holtz wrote many memorable chapters at Arkansas before winning a national championship at Notre Dame.
Lou Holtz, a giant in college football coaching who had a great run at Arkansas in the late 1970s and early 1980s, died on Tuesday at the age of 89.
Mark Carter of Arkansas Money and Politics offered an appreciation. Here's an excerpt:
"The ’78 Orange Bowl win remains one of Arkansas’ biggest wins, and it came in Holtz’ first season as head Hog. The Hogs were 10-1 in the regular season that season, a 13-9 loss in Fayetteville to Earl Campbell and No. 1 Texas the only blemish. Texas would go undefeated and claim a Southwest Conference championship, and the Hogs, who finished the regular season ranked sixth, headed to the Orange Bowl (one of four major bowls at the time) to face Oklahoma, then a juggernaut under Barry Switzer, an Arkansas native and former Hog player and coach.
"The Hogs were going to be underdogs anyway, but Holtz suspended three offensive starters, including leading rusher Ben Cowins, for violations of team rules, while another starter was injured in practice leading up to the game. The line ballooned to 18 points, but Holtz stuck to his guns, insisting rules applied to every member of the team, even the stars, before a big game. Backup running back Roland Sales ran for a then-bowl record 205 yards, and the game was never close. The Hogs finished 11-1 and No. 3 in the final AP poll behind Alabama and top-ranked Notre Dame, which routed Texas in the 1978 Cotton Bowl behind QB Joe Montana.
"Holtz had been handpicked by former Arkansas head coach AD Frank Broyles to replace him following the ’76 season. Holtz coached at William & Mary, N.C. State, Minnesota and South Carolina on the college level as well as for the Jets in the NFL. He is the only coach in the history of college football to take six different teams to a bowl game, win five bowl games with various teams and have four different college teams ranked in the final top 20."
Lou Holtz was a master motivator, one of the best motivational coaches college football or any other sport has ever seen. He was a coach who maximized talent and got his players to play with tremendous effort, especially in big games. He had a conservative coaching philosophy but elicited strong, passionate performance within that philosophy to gain results. Holtz won the 1988 national title at Notre Dame, but he scored multiple bowl wins at Arkansas and then did a good job at South Carolina on the other side of his tenure with the Fighting Irish.
Lou Holtz is a genuine college football legend and one of the sport's most colorful coaches. He will long be remembered as a signature presence for decades on fall Saturdays.