Hall Of Fame Coach And Notre Dame Icon Lou Holtz Enters Hospice Care

College Football Hall of Fame Coach Lou Holtz, best known for leading the University of Notre Dame to a national championship, reportedly entered hospice care Friday.

The 89-year-old had a historic career coaching Notre Dame for 11 seasons from 1986 to 1996. He was the last coach to deliver the school a national title in 1988. Holtz also had a brief stint coaching the New York Jets in 1976, resigning with a 3-10 record before returning to college football. A source close to the Holtz family confirmed news to ABC57 News. (RELATED: Greatest Tennis Player Of All-Time Gloriously Puts Reporter In His Place After ‘Disrespectful’ Question)

Supporters and figures across the sports world have been sending prayers and well-wishes to the former coach. Conservative author Nick Adams, a Trump appointee to the Woodrow Wilson Center, wrote on X, “Please join me in praying for Lou Holtz and his family.”

Please join me in praying for Lou Holtz and his family.

I am hearing reports that the legendary college football coach has entered hospice care. pic.twitter.com/lMKw9pKSwJ

— Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) January 30, 2026

Holtz began his football career as a linebacker at Kent State before a knee injury ended his playing days. After graduating in 1959, he launched his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Iowa in 1960. Over the next nine years, he served as an assistant coach at William & Mary, Connecticut, South Carolina, and Ohio State — where the Buckeyes won a national championship in 1968. In 1969, Holtz landed his first head coaching position at William & Mary in Virginia.

He also took the Irish to bowl games for nine consecutive seasons, still an all-time Notre Dame record.

23 Nov 1996: Head coach Lou Holtz of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish addresses the crowd at the completion of his final home game as Notre Dame head coach during the Irish’s 62-0 victory over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend,

After leaving Notre Dame, Holtz worked as a commentator for CBS Sports before coming out of retirement to coach the University of South Carolina from 1999 to 2004. He then joined ESPN as a college football analyst, where he became a fixture of the network until his retirement in 2015.

President Donald Trump awarded Holtz the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2020. That same year, Holtz spoke at the Republican National Convention in support of Trump’s reelection.

Known as a sought-after motivational speaker, Holtz often encouraged people to follow their dreams by setting clear goals.

“I didn’t join clubs; I wasn’t the president of anything,” he said of his youth, according to his Horatio Alger Award biography. “To look at that book, you would think I probably never amounted to anything. What my life proves, however, is that it is never too late to change. It is never too late to expect more of yourself.”