00:00I don't know if you saw this, where Lou Holtz is not doing well.
00:03They said that he's been in hospice,
00:05and so I'm sure that within the next month or so that he will be leaving us.
00:09But he's a guy that's been such a big voice in college football.
00:12He's had such an impact both as a coach and then also as a commentator,
00:16and he was working at ESPN, doing a great job there.
00:18Your thoughts on him, Bill, and the impact that he ultimately had on the sport?
00:22As both commentator and coach, I think the commentator piece,
00:26which is what the younger generation knows Lou Holtz as,
00:29as the guy on game day final with Mark May,
00:32as the unashamed Notre Dame backer, loyalist supporter, however you want to put it,
00:38and obviously not afraid to share his opinions.
00:41I think it overshadows Lou Holtz, the coach,
00:44which you and I both know very well from, you know, he grew up,
00:48you know, went to Kent State, East Liverpool, grew up there,
00:51coached under Woody for a year,
00:52and that really set the course for his coaching career.
00:55There's a stretch from 1988 to 93 where Notre Dame was it.
00:59When you look at his record against top five opponents in that stretch,
01:01they were 11-2, and the only two losses,
01:05one was against Colorado in an Orange Bowl where there was a clipping call,
01:08bad clipping call that wasn't a clip on Ismail Return,
01:11and then Desmond Howard's diving catch.
01:14I mean, other than that, he would have been 13-0 in top five games for six years.
01:17It's an unbelievable run, and it's really the last time.
01:20I think he was the last time that Notre Dame was it, and then that kind of changed,
01:26and I say this all the time.
01:28The Midwest dominant program probably changed from Notre Dame to Ohio State
01:33when they played those two home-and-homes in the early 90s.
01:36Eddie George's run in one of them.
01:38Ohio State wins the other one.
01:39Lou Holtz leaves Notre Dame after that,
01:41and I would argue that Ohio State's been the predominant program in the Midwest ever since,
01:46because before that, in the 80s, you would have to say it was Notre Dame then.
01:50I'm part of that younger generation who never really got the ability to see him coach
01:54over at Notre Dame.
01:55I just know him as the commentator, and sadly,
01:58I only know him as the guy that kind of trashed on Ohio State a little bit
02:01after him and Coach Day's little quabble, whatever you want to call it.
02:06But, yeah, I mean, like, after seeing this news,
02:08like, kind of looking back and seeing, like, his coaching history,
02:11it really kind of opens your eyes to, like,
02:13exactly how big he was to the Notre Dame program as a coach.
02:17Because, again, like, I never got the ability to watch that.
02:20So it's cool seeing, like, what kind of guy he was outside of commentating
02:24and just how much he means to the Notre Dame program.
02:26Yeah, thanks, Bill.
02:27And it's interesting that people always – and you're younger still,
02:30so you don't – you know, you've watched him, you know,
02:33kind of bash on Ohio State and really go after Ryan Day.
02:36I wouldn't say go after him.
02:37I'm just talking about how Notre Dame was tougher.
02:39And I give Lou a lot of – I give him a lot of grace on that.
02:43Because, as you mentioned, Bill, when he was up there with Mark May,
02:46he was, yeah, obviously unabashedly a Notre Dame, you know, fan.
02:50He coached there.
02:50He talked about his love for it.
02:51But also, he was a very big proponent of Ohio State Steel
02:56for much of his time.
02:57Like, a lot of people don't know this.
02:58He coached under Woody at Ohio State.
03:00And so, like, he is an Ohio State guy.
03:04It's Notre Dame first, and then there's, like, a drop.
03:06But I think the next school that he was always a big supporter of –
03:09and, Bill, you can probably talk to this –
03:10is, like, how much he loved the state of Ohio and really his time
03:14at Ohio State with Woody.
03:15Yeah, and when you grew up, like –
03:18Steel might not know this, Bobby, you obviously do.
03:20We grew up in the same hometown, and I went to the Catholic school.
03:23So, Notre Dame – like, Lou Holtz is legend when you go to a Catholic school
03:26growing up.
03:27I went to a fundraiser two years ago, like a trivia contest night
03:30for the Catholic church, and Lou Holtz did a guest message.
03:34You know, he's a guest speaker, really strong into his convictions
03:37about coaching, about team building, about all those things.
03:41And like Bobby said, he did have an attachment to Ohio State
03:44with not only Woody Hayes, but listen to Urban Meyer talk about his time
03:48working with Lou Holtz.
03:49I mean, that influenced a lot of things that Urban Meyer did over the years,
03:53and there's no question.
03:54He looked at – I can't speak for Urban, but I'm pretty sure he looked at Lou
03:57as, like, a role model.
03:57The Ohio State-Notre Dame games, the two on campus,
04:00and then the one championship game, they had as much energy around him
04:04as any game.
04:05And maybe that's because I live in this bubble in Ohio
04:07and know the Catholic school scene as well.
04:09But, I mean, there was so much heat on the one here in Columbus
04:12that Ohio State wins.
04:13Obviously, with everything Coach Day said after the game,
04:17and that was as cool a game as I've ever seen.
04:19The atmosphere before – seeing Ohio State fans walking around South Bend
04:23and you had a lot of red, you had a lot of green,
04:26it kind of looked like Christmas.
04:27You get it then when you can cover games like that
04:30and the atmosphere around it.
04:32It's a big reason why – and, you know, I've read things in the past
04:35about why Ohio State and Notre Dame didn't play a lot in the 70s.
04:39I'm a big believer that they should play that series more often.
04:41The games are amazing.
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