Lou Holtz enters the final chapter of his life. He kept Arkansas football relevant after program icon Frank Broyles stepped down to focus full-time on being athletic director
Few people have the kind of passion Lou Holtz had for Arkansas and college football as a whole. It was reported by On3 this past week that former Arkansas head coach has now entered hospice care. While Holtz may have a mortal body, he has an immortal name in the world of college football. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who gave back as much as Holtz did throughout his career, coaching at six different schools, one of them being Arkansas.
Holtz spent three seasons at William & Mary and four seasons at North Carolina State, building his credentials and playbook before taking the reins at Arkansas. Holtz had a modicum of success at NC State, but it was Arkansas that elevated him to the next level.
Frank Broyles' long and very successful tenure at Arkansas finally ended in the mid-1970s. In came Holtz, whose task was simple but daunting: Keep UA football relevant. He succeeded handsomely.
In his first year at Arkansas, Holtz engineered an 11-1 season that won the Orange Bowl. The team finished No. 3 in the Coaches and AP polls that year. The Hogs' only loss was a 13-9 home defeat against No. 2 Texas. Texas had an 11-0 regular season, but suffered its only defeat of the campaign against Holtz’s future program, Notre Dame, in the 1978 Cotton Bowl.
That ‘77 Razorback team absolutely pummeled No. 2 Oklahoma 31-6 in the 1978 Orange Bowl. Dan Devine’s Notre Dame won the consensus national championship that season, the Irish's last until Holtz took over as head coach at Notre Dame and won it all in 1988. The 1977 season was Holtz’s best year at Arkansas, but he also made the Fiesta, Sugar, Gator, and Bluebonnet Bowl during his tenure. Holtz's Arkansas tenure ended after a 6-5 season in 1983.
After leaving Arkansas, Holtz coached at Minnesota and Notre Dame and ended his coaching career at South Carolina. He finished coaching in 2004. He ended his career with a record of 249-132-7, winning one national title, 12 bowl games, and a host of personal and team awards. Holtz also spent one year coaching the New York Jets. Holtz's lifetime in college football included one more chapter: doing analysis as part of ESPN until 2015. Often contrarian but never boring, Holtz and Mark May created endlessly colorful and interesting television. We often disagreed with him, but he never committed the sin of being dull.
We extend our well-wishes to the Holtz family and his many friends in Arkansas and elsewhere.