Where is Lou Holtz now?

If Ryan Day still wants to know, the 88-year-old coaching legend is at his home in Orlando, Fla., recovering from a recent leg injury.

He plans to be in Atlanta for Monday night’s national championship game.

“It depends on how well I come along,” Holtz said, “but I’m hoping.”

I connected with the Notre Dame great this week for his quick thoughts on the Fighting Irish’s blockbuster showdown against Ohio State — and, yes, the feud that college football didn’t know it needed.

As always, Holtz was sharp, funny, and unable to help himself.

Why did Notre Dame infamously have only 10 men on the field when the Buckeyes won on a last-second touchdown in South Bend last season?

“We thought that’s all we needed,” Holtz cracked.

Later, he posted on X: "If Notre Dame doesn’t win, it’s because we want to preserve Ryan Day’s job.”

Hey, you can’t say he isn’t committed to the bit.

In truth, Holtz has plenty of respect for Ohio State — which he called the best team in the nation — and he looks forward to a game that represents a collision of his former worlds.

Long before he led the Irish to their last national title in 1988, he was a Buckeye, bred and schooled, growing up in East Liverpool, Ohio, playing linebacker at Kent State, and apprenticing under Woody Hayes. He was an assistant on Ohio State’s 1968 championship team.

Holtz appreciates what an Ohio State-Notre Dame title game means in his home state, especially in cities like Toledo, where Irish fans — and alums — are everywhere. (One of Holtz’s early stalwarts at Notre Dame: linebacker Dave Butler, is a St. John’s Jesuit grad.)

“Toledo was a very big market for us,” Holtz said. “A lot of good Catholic high schools there. Good football, but just good fans, too.”

Another Toledo connection, by the way: In 1970, the University of Toledo polished off its second of three straight perfect seasons with a 40-12 win in the Tangerine Bowl over a William & Mary team coached by none other than Holtz, who afterward said of Chuck Ealey and the unstoppable Rockets: “[They] can can play football with anyone — that includes teams like Ohio State and Texas.”

“They were a great team,” Holtz remembered.

But we digress.

Holtz, of course, remains best known for his 11 seasons in South Bend, Ind., which is where he left his heart.

You can guess who he likes in Monday night’s game.

“It’s the chemistry, the culture that they have developed,” Holtz said of Notre Dame. “Ohio State is an excellent team. They are very well coached. Their defensive coordinator [Jim Knowles] is extraordinary. Chip Kelly has done a nice job with the offense. But I just think Notre Dame's momentum is too great. If they can keep the game close and run the football — that’s the secret — if Notre Dame can run the football and keep the offense of Ohio State on the bench, they’ll find a way to win.”

As for his quarrel with Day, he laughed.

You’ll remember the dramarama from last season.

Before the Ohio State-Notre Dame game, Holtz challenged the core of Day’s program, telling ESPN: “He has lost to Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Michigan twice — and everybody who beats them does so because they’re more physical than Ohio State. I think Notre Dame will take that same approach.”

Well …

Day — who can be a little sensitive to questions of the Buckeyes’ toughness (see: their game plan against Michigan) — was not amused.

And he went off after the game, clapping back at Holtz as if he were a pro wrestling rival.

“I’d like to know where Lou Holtz is right now,” Day said in his viral on-field interview on NBC. “What he said about our team, I cannot believe. This is a tough team right here.”

It was one of the more bizarre moments of the 2023 season, and, naturally, Day was asked this week if he and Holtz have since spoken to patch things up.

“No,” he said with an ever-so-slight smile. “No.”

OK, then!

Holtz, meanwhile, commended Day — now 69-10 in six seasons at Ohio State — and called the fan revolt against him just a few weeks ago “ridiculous.”

“He’s done a tremendous job,” he said. “He’s done everything you can possibly ask other than beat Michigan. But after having coached Ohio State, I understand how important that is to Ohio State fans.”

Holtz insisted he has no issue with Day, telling us, “Nothing is further from the truth on that. He’s the one who exploded.”

Then again, nor does he have it in him to resist sprinkling his praise with the kind of button pushing that makes us miss him on TV.

“I know they needed a half yard,” Holtz said, nodding to Ohio State’s game-winning touchdown against the Irish last year. “And they ran, and they had to do a video [review] to make sure he scored, and we only had 10 men on the field. The media said, ‘Why did you only have 10.’ We said, ‘We thought that's all we needed.’

“I have great respect for Urban Meyer, who was a great coach and he thinks the world of coach Day. I don't know coach Day very well, but you look at his resume. It’s outstanding.

“And he's got the highest NIL payroll in the country.”

Lou Holtz, everyone. 

Here’s wishing him the best. 

First Published January 15, 2025, 7:47 p.m.