With a head coaching career that reaches back to the 1970s and a run in media that kept him in the center of the college football spotlight for decades after his final game, Hall of Fame coach Lou Holtz was one of the stewards who ushered the sport into its television era. 

The sports world is celebrating Holtz’s accomplishments after he passed this week — 249 career wins and a chorus of memories from former players and assistants who felt his impact across more than three decades as a head coach. Some stories will make you smile, like when Holtz broke two fingers trying to show Tim Brown how to catch a punt. Others that might be more inspirational or heartfelt — Holtz was an emotional coach who believed in the power of belief, the strength of faith and what a properly motivated team could accomplish. Those stories will continue to pour out from all corners of the country, adding to a celebration of his impact. 

As inspirational as those stories are, Holtz’s impact on college football goes far beyond game plans or motivational speeches. He was first the perfect face for Notre Dame as the television era exploded in the 1980s and 1990s, and then a one-of-a-kind voice that helped a regional sport go national in the 2000s. 

Holtz leads Notre Dame into its NBC era 

The Supreme Court ruling in NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma in 1984 is considered by many to be the starting point for modern college football — at least when it comes to the influence of television and media rights deals on the sport. The ability to sign media rights deals without going through the NCAA put more games on television for fans and generated more revenue for the schools and conferences. 

Unfortunately for Notre Dame, the program was not peaking in 1984. 

Lou Holtz is credited with doing a lot for Notre Dame, from big accomplishments like the 1988 national championship (the school’s most recent title) to inspiring a spirit of tradition and romanticism that includes the “Play Like A Champion Today” in the stairwell outside the home locker room in Notre Dame Stadium. But among the football-specific reflections of this week, Holtz has been credited with saving a proud title-winning program from the wilderness that was the early 1980s. 

After Ara Parseghian and Dan Devine combined to win three national championships and finish in the top-10 a dozen times in 17 years, the Fighting Irish lost their footing under Gerry Faust in the 1980s. The team never won more than seven games under Faust, and new faces were bursting onto the national scene with Penn State (1982) and Miami (1983) winning their first national championships in back-to-back years. Interest in college football was growing at a time when Notre Dame’s position in the sport was slipping. A 58-7 loss to Miami in 1985 marked the low point at the end of the tenure. 

But it did not take long for Lou Holtz to re-establish the Notre Dame standard, and quickly the Fighting Irish were the biggest draw in a sport that was seeing an explosion thanks to television. Holtz played the foil to Miami for the “Catholics vs. Convicts” rivalry, and his quotable quick wit and folksy charm were perfect for the new media landscape. 

Of course, the attention would not have been the same without the success. Holtz rode the momentum from an epic 31-30 win against Miami to a 12-0 season and national championship in 1988 — his third season on the job. The Fighting Irish backed it up with a 12-1 record the following season, with the only loss coming to Miami in the regular season finale. At his peak in South Bend, Holtz won double-digit games five times across six seasons (1988-93) and compiled a 64-9-1 record in that span. Notre Dame was a power player in college football once again, and Holtz was the face of the program. 

While Holtz was building on the field, Notre Dame prepared to make a landscape-shifting business move off the field. In 1990, the school announced a football television deal with NBC set to begin for the 1991 season. No longer at the mercy of getting selected for big national windows, Notre Dame could tell fans across the country exactly where they could find the Fighting Irish on TV, and the school has continued to profit from that media rights relationship to this very day. 

Notre Dame would not have held the same position in the TV marketplace at that time if the football team had not just come off 24 wins in two years, including a national championship and a runner-up finish in the AP Top 25 poll. That’s not to say that Notre Dame, with its coast-to-coast appeal and title-winning history, wouldn’t have wound up as an early prize winner in college football’s TV boom. But the success of the early years in Holtz’s tenure absolutely impacted the program’s momentum in this new era. 

That momentum continued with one of the television events of the decade in 1993 when No. 1 Florida State visited No. 2 Notre Dame in the “Game of the Century.” Never before had a regular-season contest drawn such nationwide appeal, and that audience (estimated at around 22 million) was unmatched until the College Football Playoff. When people of a certain generation talk about big regular-season games not feeling the same as they did in the pre-playoff era, they are imagining Lou Holtz celebrating a 31-24 win over Bobby Bowden in mid-November. 

The spectacle in South Bend was so large that it prompted ESPN to take its College GameDay show on the road for the road for its first time. Holtz’s role in one of the “big boom” moments for ESPN’s college football coverage is fitting, because it served as a preview for how the Hall of Fame coach would usher the sport through yet another explosion in popularity. 

Late Night with Lou 

Some fans are too young to remember much of Lou Holtz’s coaching career, but they do remember Lou Holtz the personality. After retiring at the end of the 2004 season as South Carolina’s head coach, Holtz moved into a studio position with ESPN. There, he became a respected voice of the sport on a network that had committed to being a home for college football throughout an entire fall Saturday. Some of the biggest games could be found on CBS, NBC, ABC or FOX throughout the day, but in the mid-2000s, college football fans could have a home base with a studio show that offered updating results, highlights and commentary from the first kickoff until the end of the night. 

And it was at the end of the night when Holtz formed a connection with a newer generation of college football fans.

Often working alongside Rece Davis and Mark May, Holtz took part in ESPN’s College Football Final. The show, taped live at the very end of the night with reruns occurring into Sunday, accurately captured the joyous, bleary-eyed experience of taking in a full day of college football. The 1980s and 1990s may have been the sport’s “glory days” for one generation of fan, but the explosion of cable and college football viewing options created an appreciation for what was happening outside of your region and the four biggest games of the day. 

Holtz was a tangential piece to the game-changing deal that put Notre Dame on NBC for every home game at the start of the 1990s, but not 20 years later, he was on TV after the conclusion of the Boise State-Hawai’i game to argue about the Heisman Trophy race while Rece Davis banged a gavel in a judge’s robe. 

College football history is littered with figures who fill different roles across the decades, but Lou Holtz truly is the face of the sport’s television explosion. He was the championship-winning coach as Notre Dame broke out on its own and college football leveled up in the national consciousness, and then he was the respected former coach filling the analyst position at a time when cable television was sparking another popularity boom. 

So celebrate the 249 wins and the national championship. Celebrate the impact he had on decades of players and coaches in the game. But also recognize that it takes a unique individual to connect with so many people across the decades. 

Notre Dame fans fell in love with the passion that Holtz had for Notre Dame, and college football fans were engaged by the motor and quick wit of this title-winning coach who was still pouring his energy into the sport well past his 70th birthday. To put it simply, Lou Holtz loved the game of college football, and it doesn’t matter the decade or the device — that’s an emotion that makes for great TV. 

HARTFORD, Conn. — “Dynasty” occupied Dan Hurley’s mind for eight straight months.

Fresh off UConn‘s 2023 and 2024 national championships, the Huskies coach ordered bracelets inscribed with the word for the team. He opened their first offseason practice with highlights of the Chicago Bulls‘ three-peat from the 1990s. He saved a book about legendary UCLA coach John Wooden to read just before the 2024-25 season.

The focus was singular: do what hasn’t been done in men’s college basketball since Wooden and those Bruins did it more than 50 years ago — win a third straight title.

Hurley set the bar so high that when his team matched the total number of their nonconference losses from the previous season before November of 2024 was even over, it felt as if they had crashed down to earth.

“Last year’s experience was grueling and miserable for the most part,” Hurley told ESPN in early February. “When you’re used to dominant national championship runs and that [becomes] more of a survival fest, the ego explodes and the frustration builds and the disappointment, the resentment and you’re tough to be around and you’re tough for yourself to be around.”

The Huskies went on to finish third in the Big East Conference and entered the 2025 NCAA tournament as an 8-seed before eventual champion Florida sent them packing in the second round. The pressure proved insurmountable for a roster that featured only three players from those title-winning teams. Hurley knew he had put the burden of championship expectations on a group that hadn’t earned them. He knew he had to adjust for 2025-26.

With a new philosophy to balance his trademark intensity, Hurley has adjusted — his approach to roster construction and, perhaps more importantly, his expectations. Now with the focus on process over perfection, the Huskies are the No. 4 team in the country and are tracking for a 1-seed in the NCAA tournament. They have a realistic shot at their third national title in four years — a dynasty still in reach.

“Just be about how we pursue things,” Hurley told ESPN about the shift. “If we pursue things honorably, preparation, how hard we play, putting everything in pursuit of championship glory, then we’ll give ourselves a real shot.”

Hurley didn’t have to go far for a wake-up call. A conversation with the Hall of Fame coach on the other side of UConn’s basketball facility set him straight.

“Where’s the joy in the things that you’ve always been about as a coach before you went on the championship run?” Geno Auriemma pressed, according to Hurley’s book.

“It’s like getting enjoyment out of coaching [Alex] Karaban for his last year,” Hurley told ESPN of the lessons he immediately applied. “I want to enjoy that experience. I want to enjoy the experience of going into big games or Big East games, the experience of trying to win the Big East or striving for a 1-seed or all the things. It’s not just the end result.”

Hurley fully leaned into the process, starting with the recruitment of the most important position on the court.

After nailing the signing of East Carolina transfer Tristen Newton in 2022 — a key player in their first title win who then earned All-America honors and was the Most Outstanding Player at the 2024 Final Four — the Huskies rushed to find his replacement. The Aidan Mahaney experiment didn’t work, with Hurley acknowledging he didn’t put the Saint Mary’s transfer in the best position to succeed. So to get the most out of Karaban’s final season, the Huskies didn’t take another chance. They sifted through and vetted options until they found a point guard in Newton’s mold, someone with size who could control the pace and make an impact at both ends of the court: Georgia transfer Silas Demary Jr.

“He’s changed everything for us and we play off his energy on the defensive end,” Karaban said of Demary. “He came in, he bought into everyone, he bought into the coaching staff and now he just changed us. He made us a national championship contender again, which is really a credit to him, a credit to the coaches. It’s crazy how one position could really change everything and he did that.”

Karaban also has a claim to the year-over-year improvements. The redshirt senior forward became the face of the program a year ago, when expectations were at their highest. Now with intense pressure behind him, he is much more comfortable in his role.

“I really let games affect how I was as a leader,” Karaban said. “So really just learning and growing from my personal experiences last year while having the success of the first two years, I think I’ve seen everything. I’ve been through everything to where I can help the team out with my voice.”

Karaban carries himself differently now, with more gravitas in his role as the Huskies’ pacesetter. Teammates look his way for direction during practice and games. He’s the one they lean on during times of adversity. And it’s not only players.

At a practice the day before a game in early February against Xavier, Hurley and assistant coach Luke Murray were going through the scout and game plan for the Musketeers. Toward the end, Hurley walked over to Karaban and asked if there was anything else they hadn’t seen in prep that they should run through. Naturally, the program’s all-time winningest men’s basketball player had some suggestions.

“A guy like that really is the culture for UConn,” Tarris Reed Jr. told ESPN of Karaban. “He really sets the tone, sets the standard for what UConn is and he won two national championships. I haven’t been there. He’s been to the mountaintop twice. I’m trying to get there. Having a leader like that to really roll behind and knowing that whatever he does, you do.”

Better on-court leadership and a renewed focus on process has lent itself to improved chemistry. When asked to pinpoint the biggest difference between last season and this season, Reed and Solo Ball both said the same thing: camaraderie.

It started in the summer — with enthusiasm in workouts and a roster committed to competing, top to bottom.

“We had a different energy every single practice we went into and it’s everyone uplifting each other,” Ball said. “Being loud throughout the whole practice and in the squad scrimmages. That’s really when I knew how competitive [we] were. I just knew. I was like, ‘Yeah, no, we’re going to be special.'”

Hurley’s year-over-year adjustments have made the Huskies legitimate title contenders, but they haven’t led to outright domination.

First came the injuries. Five-star freshman Braylon Mullins sat out the first six games of the season because of an ankle injury, then sat out another in January while in concussion protocol. Reed’s availability was inconsistent throughout the first month of the season, first because of a hamstring issue and then an ankle injury. Ball has dealt with a wrist injury. Karaban has been banged up. Jaylin Stewart sat out a win over St. John’s because of knee inflammation.

What those injuries did — especially Mullins’ and Reed’s — was force Hurley to lean on his bench more than expected, developing some of the best depth in college basketball.

“It forced us to develop a will to win,” Hurley said. “It created situational basketball where we’re comfortable and at the end of close games executing and having a belief that we’re going to find a way to win. And I think just giving the team a lot of confidence, like knowing that you beat some really top-flight teams without two starters or with one starter in, one out, guys coming back from injuries. I think it gave the group a lot of confidence.”

Injuries haven’t been the only challenge to UConn’s title credentials. Uneven performances in Big East play have also opened the door to questions.

UConn’s 2023-24 team was a juggernaut, setting a record for consecutive nonconference victories by double digits and leading the nation in scoring margin by more than two points per game. This season’s team hasn’t quite had the same ability to bury opponents. In the 17 Big East wins, two came in overtime and another five came by two or fewer possessions.

The Huskies’ offense and defense also haven’t always clicked at the same time.

During the first 2½ months of the season, they had one of the nation’s elite defenses but an offense that could get itself into trouble with turnovers or a lack of 3-point volume. Through Jan. 30, UConn was No. 39 in adjusted offensive efficiency and No. 2 in adjusted defensive efficiency. Then once they started hitting shots consistently in late January, their defense fell off a cliff, giving up at least 1.15 points per possession in four straight games — something they had done only once in the first 23 games. Between Feb. 1 and 18, the Huskies were No. 14 in adjusted offensive efficiency and No. 99 in adjusted defensive efficiency.

Both units looked to be at their best in recent crucial wins over Villanova and St. John’s, though, with UConn ranking third nationally in adjusted efficiency margin at Bart Torvik over the past three games.

Mullins has established himself as a consistent perimeter threat, scoring in double figures in seven straight games before to the win over St. John’s, including a career-high 25 points against Creighton. Karaban is a constant, while Ball has rediscovered his shooting stroke and has improved on defense. Demary is a top-five transfer. And Reed has looked like one of the elite big men in the country lately, with his 20-point, 11-rebound, 6-block performance against St. John’s “as good as a center has played for us in a game,” according to Hurley.

“There’s not a whole lot for me to complain about,” Hurley told reporters after the St. John’s blowout. “Just a lot of soul-searching by the group during that stretch that started at MSG, where our defense kind of tanked. And then you saw today, its capabilities when we’re dialed in.”

Don’t mistake Hurley’s regrets about his approach to last season as a sign that his — and the program’s — relentless pursuit of success has waned.

With 11:48 left in last month’s win over St. John’s, NBC showed a snippet of UConn’s huddle during a media timeout.

“So after how hard we fought, right now we’re gonna give in on the glass?” Hurley yelled to his players after the Red Storm grabbed three offensive rebounds in the previous minute of play. “That’s what we’re gonna do? We talk of not letting each other down. Don’t let each other down. Don’t regret something we watch on film where you could’ve dug a ball out. Don’t give them life right now. Beat their ass!”

UConn was up by 23 at the time.

The Huskies immediately scored the next seven points to push the lead to 30, St. John’s never made another field goal and UConn’s status as a national title contender was solidified.

“It was just our night,” Hurley told reporters afterward.

Even with the close wins, the disappointing performance in the first meeting at St. John’s and the stunning home defeat to Creighton on Feb. 18, UConn is actually on a similar trajectory to the 2023-24 title team and comfortably ahead of the 2022-23 version.

In 2022-23, the Huskies lost six of eight games in the middle of the season and were 5-6 in Big East play at one point. In 2023-24, they lost by 15 at Seton Hall just before Christmas, and by 19 at Creighton on Feb. 20 for their third loss.

“Those first two years … we didn’t peak,” Karaban said. “We didn’t peak at a certain moment. We continued to get better and better. And that’s something I want this group to know, too. The point is you want to play your best basketball in March and April.”

Bouncing back from those losses and then going on to win national championships has helped inform the Huskies’ approach this time of year. It didn’t matter if UConn was the best team in January and February, it just needs to be the best team when the stakes are highest. And they’re about to rise.

UConn has a head coach with a staff that has won two national championships. It has a four-year starter with two titles under his belt. It has another three players with one championship ring. There’s only one other team in the country — Florida — with that sort of championship pedigree on its current roster.

Ball called it “UConn swagger.” Reed said “Sweet 16s and Elite Eights aren’t good enough here.”

Will that make a difference when the NCAA tournament starts? Hurley thinks so.

“I think it gives us an edge come March because we know we could do it,” he told ESPN. “If you’ve never done it and you’ve never won it, you’ve never gotten to a Final Four, there’s going to be doubt. … I’ve been there. I’ve had that doubt before. And the thing about UConn is, once we get out of that first round, we think we’re supposed to win it.”