Every statue of a human being is at least a little bit problematic. That’s because all human beings have real flaws. Typically, statues of people become more problematic over time, as society progresses and more enlightened standards emerge, and are then retroactively applied to people who are no longer with us.
It’s very rare that a statue has severe “issues” of who it represents while that person is still alive, but that’s exactly what’s happening now with Lou Holtz, and his bronzed, sculpted image at the southwest corner of Notre Dame Stadium.
Holtz spoke at an event affiliated with the 2016 Republican National Convention, and it was there and then that he made egregiously bigoted and xenophobic remarks.
It prompted me to write this piece four years ago: “Notre Dame Must Distance Themselves from the Lou Holtz Brand.”
It included this passage:
I don’t honestly believe that Notre Dame is going to take down that statue currently residing at the southern end of Notre Dame stadium, but it’s definitely something they should consider down the line. The possibility should be on the table because it’s very likely Holtz will again make remarks as offensive as this (or worse) in the future.
About two weeks prior to the RNC, Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C. referred to general anti-immigrant rhetoric as “churlish, insulting political theater.”
He was referencing the rise of anti-Mexican propaganda, by Trump and his cult followers, but Holtz’s commentary was equally offensive and insulting to anyone who doesn’t hold anti-immigrant prejudices.
Bringing it back to this week, Lou Holtz had a major speaking gig at the 2020 RNC, and he used his time to make a laughably fawning and utterly delusional speech that ideologically slobbered all over Trump. Holtz reportedly donated $1,000 to Hillary Clinton in 2016, before later endorsing Trump. The speech was so obsequious that even a megalomaniac like Trump would have found it over the top.
Disgusting lie by Lou Holtz that Biden is a 'Catholic in name only.'
WaPo: "Biden almost always has rosary beads in his pocket … He has written and spoken at length of how faith helped him grieve the loss of his first wife and daughter many years ago, and his son Beau."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 27, 2020
Did Lou Holtz just call Democrats "Catholic in Name Only?"
Biden goes to Mass weekly. He's a devout Catholic and a man of actual faith who doesn't pretend to be one like Trump.
These people are so dishonest.
— Tara Setmayer ? (@TaraSetmayer) August 27, 2020
Lou Holtz even went so far as to call Joe Biden, Trump’s opponent in November, a faux Catholic, a pretend Catholic. Who is he to say such things??
As we wrote four years ago, Notre Dame must distance themselves from Lou Holtz, and now they officially have. Fr. Jenkins took extra special offense to the concept of one man claiming he could truly know what’s inside another man’s soul.
The full letter is linked below:
“While 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 political party."
Read Fr. Jenkins full statement: https://t.co/tbjJ1Beis6
— University of Notre Dame (@NotreDame) August 27, 2020
Well done, Fr. Jenkins, but why stop there?
Why not remove the statue at the stadium and rename the Lou Holtz gate? This summer has seen Confederate monuments come down, rapidly, in droves. Holtz’s politics are pretty much right in line with the people who financed and erected all those monuments to nothing but treasonous white supremacy.
Like Mike Ditka, Lou Holtz has become only a crude, cartoonish, non-sensical version of himself these days. It’s hard to even know for sure if he really believes some of the abhorrent drivel he spews whenever he appears on television, but if it is just all a routine, well, then that’s even worse.
Playing a bigot on TV to stay relevant and make money (a la the Clay Travis principle) is even more soulless and amoral than being an actual bigot.
On the day that the Big 10 and Pac 12 cancelled their seasons, Holtz went on FOX News Channel and compared college football amid the coronavirus pandemic to the allied forces storming the beaches at Normandy on D-Day. Holtz spoke of “acceptable losses,” and well, these remarks are so stupid and abhorrent, we really can’t spend any more time on it.
Further analyzing his remarks just dumbs us all down, so we won’t. Yes, Holtz was the head coach the last time that Notre Dame won the title. However, as we have learned over and over this summer, issues of social justice are much more meaningful than football.
The world has changed a lot since Lou Holtz led the Fighting Irish to glory over 30 years ago, but he hasn’t seemed to adapt very much. However, the University that disavowed him has. Now it’s time to take progress a step further and strongly consider removing his statue and renaming his stadium gate.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for Chicago Tribune.com, on Twitter and his cat on Instagram.