{"id":792435,"date":"2026-03-04T23:22:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T23:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/792435\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T23:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T23:22:07","slug":"marcus-freeman-breaks-silence-on-death-of-legendary-notre-dame-coach-lou-holtz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/792435\/","title":{"rendered":"Marcus Freeman Breaks Silence on Death of Legendary Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Surrounded by his family, legendary college football<\/a> coach Lou Holtz passed away at age 89 in Orlando, Florida, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Holtz coached at several universities during his collegiate career, but his most notable stint was in South Bend, where he led the Fighting Irish for 11 seasons, including a national championship victory in 1988.<\/p>\n

He also guided the team to two No. 2 finishes in 1989 and 1993, winning 100 games at Notre Dame \u2014 third all-time behind Brian Kelly (106) and Knute Rockne (105).<\/p>\n

More news: Miami\u2019s Carson Beck Receives Hostile Treatment From NFL Crowd<\/a><\/p>\n

More news: Ohio State Star Predicted to Land With Struggling NFL Team<\/a><\/p>\n

Current Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman responded to the news with a public statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Lou Holtz,\u201d \u201cLou and I shared a very special relationship. He welcomed me to the Notre Dame family immediately, offering me great support throughout our time together. Our relationship meant a lot to me, as I admired the values he used to build the foundation of his coaching career: love, trust, and commitment.<\/p>\n

\u201cLou’s impact at Notre Dame went well beyond the football field. He and his wife, Beth, are respected across campus for their generous hearts and dedication to Notre Dame\u2019s mission of being a force for good. On behalf of the Notre Dame Football program, we send our love to Lou’s family, friends, and former players, wishing you all comfort and peace during this difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Holtz left Notre Dame in 1999 and went on to coach at University of South Carolina before retiring. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump in 2020.<\/p>\n

His son, Skip Holtz, who also coached alongside him at South Carolina, shared a message about his father\u2019s passing:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father passed away today, resting peacefully at home,” Skip wrote.<\/a> “I appreciate everyone\u2019s thoughts and prayers over the last couple months! He was successful, but more importantly, he was significant.\u201d<\/p>\n

More news: Notre Dame Standout Projected to Land With Troubled NFL Team<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Surrounded by his family, legendary college football coach Lou Holtz passed away at age 89 in Orlando, Florida,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[331,7,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-792435","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-college-football","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=792435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}