College Football lost an iconic head coach and personality on Wednesday with the passing of Lou Holtz, who died at the age of 89, surrounded by his family at home. Holtz had been in hospice care the last few months of his life.
Buckeye Nation is mourning the loss in its own way. Many are remembering Holtz's stand against Ryan Day during the 2023 season, when he repeatedly called the Ohio State Buckeyes "soft." OSU ended up 11-2 after losing their regular-season finale against TTUN and then lost in the Cotton Bowl Classic to the Missouri Tigers.
Holtz's words were needed to light a fire under Day to win the title the following season.
Day never took the shots too personally and largely played it above the belt, though he did notably emotionally ask where Holtz was after a 17-14 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the program Holtz made his name at.
And here’s Ryan Day fired up over Lou Holtz: pic.twitter.com/kYkGAn5BAt
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 24, 2023
That was definitely strange and kind of cringe. Day has more than made up for it by now, though. Hence, why he and Holtz's issues subsided in the last two years as the latter's physical condition worsened.
Lou Holtz destroyed Ryan Day with his losses
Holtz didn't go easy on Day when he called out the Buckeyes headman. Holtz went on The Pat McAfee Show in September 2023 and called out all of Day's most notable losses in Columbus up until that point.
“He has lost to Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Michigan twice, and everybody beats him, does so because they’re more physical than Ohio State,” Holtz said of Day.
As a longtime head coach at Notre Dame, Holtz undoubtedly knew how painful it is to relive all of your biggest failures in succession because someone is citing each time your team wasn't tough enough. Day has parlayed that pain into greatness, though. He'll probably realize at some point that Holtz was a perfect foil for him. And Day will undoubtedly miss him, just like the rest of us.
Holtz was a perfect personality for College Football. Our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones at this time.