Lou Holtz death: John Calipari releases statement after passing of Arkansas legend

Legendary Notre Dame and Arkansas head coach Lou Holtz passed away Wednesday at the age of 89, his family announced.

Shortly after the announcement, Arkansas basketball head coach John Calipari released a heartfelt statement on X/Twitter.

“Just heard the news about Coach Holtz,” Calipari tweeted. “First time I met him he was coaching at South Carolina (1999-2004) and I was in town on a recruiting trip, I spent an hour with him in his office talking about leadership, management, recruiting. He was a great recruiter, incredibly organized and extremely gracious with his time that day.

“It was incredible. I also coached in a league with his son Skip. Terrific coach and one of the nicest people you will ever meet. It was a pleasure meeting him again last year when he was honored at Arkansas. My condolences to the family and may he rest in peace.”

Holtz entered hospice care in January just weeks after his 89th birthday. He won a national championship at Notre Dame as part of a decorated coaching career, which included a memorable debut season at Arkansas. The Razorbacks went 11-1 during that 1977 season and took down Oklahoma in a historic Orange Bowl upset.

Lou Holtz is regarded as one of greatest coaches in college football history

Throughout his more than 40-year coaching career, including 32 as a college head coach, Holtz amassed a 249-132-7 overall record. He won two Bear Bryant Awards and Eddie Robinson Awards as national coach of the year while winning conference championships at William & Mary, NC State and Arkansas. In 1988, Holtz led Notre Dame to a national championship – his lone title as a head coach.

Holtz retired from coaching after the 2004 season at South Carolina, when he joined ESPN as an analyst from 2005-15. This past season, he served as an honorary captain ahead of the matchup between Arkansas and Notre Dame – a resounding Fighting Irish victory at Razorback Stadium.

During his time in Fayetteville, Holtz amassed a 60-21-2 overall record, including the upset win over Oklahoma in the 1977 Orange Bowl. After two years at Minnesota, he went on to go 100-30-2 overall at Notre Dame while leading the Fighting Irish to a 1988 national title.

After the 1996 season, Holtz announced his first retirement and venture into TV as an analyst for CBS Sports. But he returned to the sidelines in 1999 in his second stint at South Carolina as head coach and inherited a 1-10 program upon his arrival. The Gamecocks went 0-11 in his first season, but turned around to go 8-4 in 2000. On the whole, Holtz had a 33-37 overall record in Columbia.

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this article.