Former football coach and ESPN analyst Lou Holtz hasn’t been shy about making controversial or eye-popping comments in recent years.
He got in hot water in 2008 for saying “Hitler was a good leader” for which he later apologized and said he had misspoken. He’s made various controversial comments over the years about immigrants. In 2020, he bemoaned the cancelation of college football games during the COVID-19 pandemic by using a reference to the storming of Normandy during WWII, something he would do again.
Holtz has been a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump and publicly endorsed him during his election run. Trump is now kinda-sorta-not-really-but-maybe starting a run for the 2024 Presidential election and is hosting rallies around the country with candidates he’s endorsed for the 2022 general election.
Holtz was on hand over the weekend to speak at one of those rallies in South Carolina (Holtz coaches the Gamecocks football team between 1999 and 2004). He specifically cited three reasons why he is supporting Trump.
Ex football coach Lou Holtz said he supports Trump for 3 reasons:
1. “I trust him completely – when he says something take it to the bank;”
2. “Every decision he made wasn’t to help him personally, it was to help the country;”
3. “He cares about the people of this country.” pic.twitter.com/N7LdwhDgVZ
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) March 12, 2022
There has been much made elsewhere of Donald Trump’s intentions and record as President of the United States, much of which doesn’t exactly line up with how Holtz paints him here. And naturally, there were some strong reactions on social media to these comments. Some of them came specifically from the sports world.
When it comes to one man/one vote, I will cancel Lou Holtz.
CancelCulture#
RegisterToVote@fairfightaction @BlackVotersMtr— Kenny Mayne (@Kenny_Mayne) March 13, 2022
Lou Holtz is an example of people willing to throw their entire careers away for a conman
— 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐞 (@exavierpope) March 13, 2022
Yeah, well…https://t.co/CZdmN4XNQr https://t.co/2IJo6Cx1Cz
— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 12, 2022
The only time I want to see Lou Holtz trending on Twitter: https://t.co/WibByRDgAz
— College Sports Only (@CollegeSportsO) March 12, 2022
The Jets did us a favor. https://t.co/a17rrEb7vR
— James Curle (@JamesCurle) March 13, 2022
