Ohio State’s first football game is a hop-skip away, so to help break down the Buckeyes 2024 season I needed someone who has been around forever, who knows – or thinks he knows – more about OSU football than just about anyone.
I wondered who?
Then it hit me. I’d like to know where Lou Holtz is right now.
Turns out Ryan Day’s buddy – ahem – holes up these days at his home near Orlando, Florida. His coaching and broadcasting days are behind him, save for the occasional opportunity to chime in on TV and radio sports talk shows.
You likely recall – how could you not? – Holtz questioning the Buckeyes’ toughness last season before they defeated Notre Dame in South Bend. Holtz went on The Pat McAfee Show and pointed out that Day’s teams lost to Alabama, Georgia, Clemson and Michigan largely because they were softer than the competition.
After beating the Fighting Irish, a fired up Day opened his postgame on-field interview with “I’d like to know where Lou Holtz is right now,” before defending his team’s toughness.
Day’s outburst went viral, made top-10 lists for most memorable quote of the 2023 college football season and will go down as one of the classic OSU media moments this century, along with Urban Meyer calling his wide receivers a “clown show” in the spring of 2012.
Anyway, I wanted to know if Holtz still feels the same way about Day and the Buckeyes. So I called him. And he picked up, despite seeing the 614 area code.
Once upon a time, going back to 1968 when Lou coached Ohio State defensive backs under Woody Hayes, seeing the 6-1-4 would have brought positive vibes to the hall of fame college coach. Holtz spent only the one season in Columbus, but what a season. The Buckeyes rode the Super Sophs to a 10-0 record and national championship, and Holtz rode those coattails to the head coaching job at William and Mary.
But after questioning Day and Ohio State last year, well, let’s just say I wouldn’t have been surprised if Holtz sent a Columbus phone number straight to voicemail. Instead, after three rings I heard a tired voice say “Hello?” At least I think I heard it. The background noise – just a hunch, but guessing it was FOX News – made the conversation more challenging.
Before getting into what we talked about, let me just say the 87-year-old owns a pinpoint memory. He rattled off the names of his sophomore defensive backs at OSU – Jack Tatum, Mike Sensibaugh and Tim Anderson – like he was still coaching them. “And all four of them are in the (OSU) Hall of Fame,” he said, adding junior Ted Provost’s name to the mix.
You have to figure if he remembers 1968 then he definitely recalls the firestorm in Columbus brought on by his comments about Day and OSU. Lou knew that I knew that he knew that I wasn’t calling just to see how he was doing. In other words, if this interview was going to last more than 10 seconds, I needed a “pass key,” what we in the business call an ice-breaker that establishes a connection before asking tougher questions.
Pass keys don’t have to be disingenuous, and this one wasn’t. I wondered what Holtz thought of Archie Griffin getting statues placed outside both Ohio Stadium and the Rose Bowl, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first of the OSU tailback’s two Heismans.
“He earned it,” Holtz said, before launching into how good of a person Griffin is. “So personable. And he was with the right person in Woody Hayes.”
Next, I mentioned to Lou how he and former Ohio State coach John Cooper are both 87.
“Good coach,” Holtz said. “Coached against him at Arkansas. John is a professional, a class guy with no fanciness to him. He’s down to earth.”
The pass keys firmly inserted, it was time to unlock the door.
“What do you think of the Buckeyes this season?” I asked, inching my way toward knowing where he stood on the toughness issue.
The cat smelled a rat, but when you have the gift of gab like Lou, it’s hard not to share some opinion
“I think they should be No. 1,” he said without hesitation. “They have four preseason All-Americans (Denzel Burke, Caleb Downs, Emeka Egbuka and Donovan Jackson). They’re a great football team and Ryan Day knows how to win.”
Ryan Day knows how to win.
There you go. Holtz is on record saying OSU’s coach knows how to win. What he’s not on record saying, at least to me, is whether Day knows how to win the biggest games. And you won’t read his answer here because when I inquired about this year’s OSU-Michigan game he said, “It’s a game unlike any other. It’s a season unto itself.”
And before I could follow up he offered a “Glad I could help you” and hung up.
Click. Guess I just wasn’t tough enough?
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Lou Holtz loves Ryan Day, Ohio State football as Buckeyes set to open
