Sept. 8, 2008
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – A sculpture of former University of Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz, a newly elected member of the College Football Hall of Fame, will be dedicated on Saturday (Sept. 13) at Notre Dame Stadium.
The dedication, slated for 10:30 a.m. EDT, on the morning of the Notre Dame-Michigan football game, will take place at Notre Dame Stadium’s Gate D, which honors the Irish national championship football coaches.
All of Holtz’s former players, coaches and staff members have been invited to the dedication ceremonies. Speaking at the dedication on behalf of Holtz’s former players will be 1987 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown. Other speakers include New York Times best-selling author Harvey Mackay, Notre Dame president Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., and Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick. Assisting with the sculpture unveiling will be former Holtz players Chris Zorich, Pat Terrell and Ned Bolcar, all members of the ’88 Irish national championship squad. The general public is welcome to attend the ceremony.
The Holtz sculpture shows the former Irish coach calling a play on the sidelines, with two Irish players beside him. Notre Dame graduate Jerry McKenna created the sculpture. He also created the Frank Leahy and Moose Krause sculpture east of Notre Dame Stadium, the Knute Rockne sculpture at the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown South Bend, Ind., and the Ara Parseghian sculpture that was dedicated last September at the same Notre Dame Stadium Gate D location.
The sculpture has been funded by donations from Holtz’s former players, assistant coaches, student managers, friends and business associates.
The sculpture complements bas relief portraits of the five Notre Dame national championship coaches – Rockne, Leahy, Parseghian, Dan Devine and Holtz – that are located at Gate D, designated the national championship coaches gate.
Former Irish team captains under Holtz who are confirmed to attend the ceremonies are Mike Kovaleski (1986), Mark Green (’88), Bolcar (’88 and ’89), Tony Rice (’89), Zorich (`90), Todd Lyght (’90), Rick Mirer (’92) and Brian Hamilton (’94). All-Americans under Holtz expected to attend include Brown (1986 and `87), Wes Pritchett (’88), Michael Stonebreaker (’88 and ’90), Frank Stams (’88), Zorich (’88, ’89 and ’90), Raghib Ismail (’89 and ’90), Lyght (’89 and ’90), Rice (’89), Mirer (’92) and Mirko Jurkovic (’91) .
Holtz coached 132 games in 11 seasons at Notre Dame and guided his teams to an overall record of 100-30-2. He holds the Irish record for most games coached and is second to Rockne in victories. He led Notre Dame to the 1988 national championship and remains 11th on the NCAA all-time win list for Division I-A coaches. Holtz took his Notre Dame teams to nine straight New Year’s Day bowl games from 1987 through ’95 and coached the Irish to finishes of sixth or better in the final Associated Press poll in five seasons.
Holtz was named the national coach of the year in 1988 by several organizations and saw his team play the most difficult schedule in the country three different years. Holtz had a 32-20-2 mark against teams ranked in the Associated Press top 25 during his career with the Irish.
Before coming to Notre Dame, the Kent State graduate previously served as head coach at William & Mary (1969-71), North Carolina State (1972-75), Arkansas (1977-83) and Minnesota (1984-85). He served as a college football analyst for CBS Sports in 1997 and ’98 before serving as head football coach at the University of South Carolina from 1999 to 2004. Holtz compiled a 33-37 record with the Gamecocks in six seasons at the helm of the program before retiring from coaching at the end of the 2004 season. Holtz then joined ESPN as a studio and game analyst for its college football coverage.
In 33 seasons as a college head coach, Holtz compiled a record of 249 wins, 133 losses and seven ties for a winning percentage of .651.
— ND —