A Reflection on the Life of Lou Holtz

It's easy to list the achievements in the life of coach Lou Holtz as if they were line items on a resume. Of course, he was the renowned coach of Notre Dame. Of course he was a well-known patriot. Of course he was a man of faith. Of course he was a philanthropist.

All these things are true, and yet not one of them captures the fullness of who he was, because they were all facets that individually reflected the greatness of an individual who in his conduct demonstrated what an American should be—and in his aspirations, demonstrated what a man could be.

The essence of Lou Holtz was not found within him. He would have been the first to say that his greatness, and more importantly, his goodness reposed chiefly in the lives of those who knew him. First and foremost, that goodness reposed with the young men that he coached through his long career in athletics.

But those young men are only the beginning, because coach Lou Holtz inspired many more than men on the gridiron. What he did in his continued engagement throughout his entire life was to model what being an American actually was, and he did that through a form of leadership that was anything but self-aggrandizing.

This is perhaps the most important thing to understand about Lou Holtz. Lou Holtz did not believe in the glory of Lou Holtz. He believed in the glorification of Christ and in the example of America. He believed in loving first his own family and then all those around him. In living that life of love and service, he relentlessly, continuously and yes, sometimes aggressively, empowered everyone around him. His greatness is reflected in those other lives. There are Americans alive today who conduct themselves as Americans fully so because Lou Holtz chose to coach, because Lou Holtz chose to speak, and because Lou Holtz chose to serve.

Coach Lou Holtz served at the America First Policy Institute long past the years in which anybody could have ever asked him to lift his hand up and serve. In these past years, years in which Coach would have been more than entitled to a well-earned rest, he chose to labor cheerfully in a field he did not feel free to leave behind.

That willingness to continue to answer the call is essential to understanding the man. Until his final days, he continued to speak and to work on behalf of this country he loved so much.

If anybody understood sanctification of labor, it was coach Lou Holtz. If anybody knew what it meant to obey Christ's command to evangelize, not by words, but by deeds and example, it was coach Lou Holtz.

Very few people out there can say that they worked for their God and their country to the very end. Lou Holtz can, and those of us who knew him, those of us who remember him, will for the rest of our lives, ask ourselves: Do we measure up to this man? Do we keep the faith with him, and do we vindicate the faith that he had in us?

Tomorrow is the first full day in nine decades in which America will exist without Lou Holtz among us. He abides now with the angels, in the glorious company of the God whom he served so well and for so long.

When we look to the sky, and see the stars and stripes flying, we can know that these symbols testify to his life—and that our love for them is a consequence of the love that he had for us.

God bless you. Coach Holtz, we will remember you always. And if we live according to your example, someday we'll join you.