Legendary coach Lou Holtz tests positive for coronavirus

Lou Holtz, the former Notre Dame and South Carolina football coach, has been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to a report Thursday by ABC Columbia.

Holtz, 83, told the ABC affiliate based in the South Carolina capital that he was feeling fatigued.

“I don’t have a lot of energy right now,” said Holtz, also a former ESPN analyst.

Holtz — a supporter of President Donald Trump who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom earlier this year — is not the first legendary college coach to contract the coronavirus. Former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, 91, was hospitalized with the virus last month, but recovered and was discharged and thanked family, friends and fans for their support during his “tough” bout with the virus.

Holtz has been a proponent of college football playing through the pandemic if players didn’t have any preconditions and made that case in August during a Fox News appearance with Bill Hemmer.

“When they stormed Normandy, they knew that there were going to be casualties, there was gonna be risk,” Holtz said at the time. “Two percent of the people that go to the emergency room go for COVID-19. But young people, Bill, they think it’s like cancer. They think they’re gonna die.”

All major conferences are now playing, but multiple games have had to be postponed as some teams have been hit with the virus.

Holtz was a head coach for 33 seasons. He spent 11 seasons at Notre Dame from 1986-1996 and had a career record of 110-30-2 with the Fighting Irish. In 1988, Holtz led Notre Dame to a 12-0 recording, including a win in the Fiesta Bowl Bowl, to end the season as the No. 1 team in the AP Top 25.

After a two-year hiatus, Holtz became South Carolina’s coach in 1999 and coached six seasons with the school, compiling a 33-37 record. Before Notre Dame, Holtz coached at William & Mary, North Carolina State, Arkansas, and Minnesota.

Holtz also coached the Jets in 1976, but lasted just one season in which he went 3-10.

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