In 1983, Lou Holtz was reportedly forced to resign as the University of Arkansas football coach after endorsing the character of the biggest racist in Congress in post-civil rights America, U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina.
https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/20/sports/helms-an-issue-in-holtz-move.html
https://deadspin.com/lou-holtzs-last-foray-into-politics-didnt-go-so-well-5330573
Holtz then promised he would never have anything to do with politics — or at least until he could find another racist candidate to endorse.
In July 2016, Holtz endorsed the presidency of Donald Trump because, like Trump, he wanted to end the “invasion” of immigrants into the United States. “I don’t want to become you,” Holtz said indirectly addressing Mexican immigrants in an interview. “I don’t want to speak your language, I don’t want to celebrate your holidays, I sure as hell don’t want to cheer for your soccer team!”
Holtz, who coached Notre Dame from 1986-96, praised Trump at the 2020 Republican National Convention by saying: “There are people today, like politicians, professors, protesters and, of course, President Trump naysayers in the media, who like to blame others for problems,” Holtz said, “They don’t have pride in our country and — because they no longer ask, ‘What can I do for my country?’ only what the country should be doing for them — they don’t have pride in themselves. That’s wrong.”
Holtz furthermore criticized Joe Biden, a lifelong Catholic who regularly attends mass as a catholic in “name only.” Notre Dame University’s president, father John Jenkins, criticized Holtz.
“While Coach Lou Holtz is a former coach at Notre Dame, his use of the University’s name at the Republican National Convention must not be taken to imply that the University endorses his views, any candidate or any political party. Moreover, we Catholics should remind ourselves that while we may judge the objective moral quality of another’s actions, we must never question the sincerity of another’s faith, which is due to the mysterious working of grace in that person’s heart. In this fractious time, let us remember that our highest calling is to love,” Jenkins said.
One of Holtz’s former Notre Dame players, receiver Bobby Brown, who graduated from the university with a triple major in government, sociology and computer application and a minor in African-American studies, responded:
“We feel as though the hero we loved and adored, that we would run through a brick wall for, died in front of our eyes on Wednesday night,” Brown told the Chicago Tribune. “We have literally shed tears because of it. It seems as though you’ve abandoned us based on your alignment with a man who is at least very sympathetic to racists, if he’s not a racist himself.”
https://www.herloyalsons.com/blog/2013/01/31/where-are-they-now-bobby-brown/
