Earlier this year, ESPN announced it was parting ways with College Football Final analyst Lou Holtz. He had spent ten years with the Worldwide Leader the most of which were teamed with Rece Davis and Mark May. We also can’t forget his days as “Dr. Lou.” Now as Holtz leaves Bristol for retirement, the former Notre Dame and South Carolina coach said it’s time to watch football and not have to be in front of a camera.

Speaking with the Tampa Bay Times, Holtz said it was time for some other activities, “I’ll spend some time trying to get my golf game straight. Right now, I can shoot my weight.”

He said on college football Saturdays, he’ll watch games and do some traveling, something he couldn’t do while stuck in the Bristol studios:

“You like to leave when people are saying ‘Why are you leaving?’ rather than ‘When are you leaving?’ We had 10 wonderful years (at ESPN). I owe it to my wife, my grandchildren. I’ll go watch my grandson (Trey) at Texas. I’ll go to Notre Dame. I’ll be quite busy, I’m sure.”

But what will he miss doing College Football Final and in particular his studio co-horts?

“Just the relationships with people. Rece (Davis) and Mark (May) and I were together for 10 years. Same show, 17-hour days on Saturdays but it went by so fast because you had all the TVs. Not just Rece and Mark, but the producers and directors, the camera people. Just great people. It’s like a college campus there. You miss the relationship with people. Rece is now going to GameDay so it was a good time to say, ‘Okay, this is it.'”

And Holtz said he loves the new College Football Playoff:

“I think it’s great. I wish they had that before. I can’t tell you how many times we finished in the top four but didn’t win. I really hope they’ll go to eight. I hope they take the five conference champions automatically. Three wild cards, maybe Notre Dame, maybe a second team from a conference. Maybe a smaller school. Now we’ll have better non-conference games because you’re preparing your team for the conference. You win the conference, you’re going to be in it. You have playoffs the whole year. Every conference game becomes ultra-important.”

So we won’t have Holtz on College Football Final and perhaps that’s a good thing, but there’s no doubting his impact on the sport and on Notre Dame. Now as he heads into retirement, perhaps ESPN will bring him out of mothballs for a special guest appearance now and then.

[Tampa Bay Times]

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.