Mike Vaccaro In a career of reinventions, Lou Holtz always got the last laugh By Mike Vaccaro Published March 4, 2026, 7:43 p.m. ET Head coach Lou Holtz of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish gives instructions to his players during a practice circa 1988. Getty Images This was in a golf cart, tooling around the 17th hole at Bella Vista Country Club one scorching-hot July afternoon in the summer of 1992.
The two men driving around these well-manicured lawns in Bentonville, Ark., would assemble 398 victories as college football coaches; more relevant to the locals lining the fairways and greens was the fact that 209 of them had come for the Arkansas Razorbacks.
“Frank,” Lou Holtz said, “you know, if you add up our wins at Arkansas that’s only 23 less than ol’ Bear Bryant had at Alabama.”
