You've got to have a pretty strong will and personality to win 249 football games over a 33-year span while leading six different schools to bowl bids.

But even Lou Holtz is a bit taken aback by the honor that will be bestowed upon him this fall in Notre Dame Stadium.

Holtz, who won 100, lost 30 and tied two games as head coach of the Fighting Irish over 11 seasons (1986-96), has been selected to the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame.

Holtz will be inducted in December at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, and then enshrined at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend in July of 2009.

There will be no prouder moment in Holtz's life, however, than Sept. 13, 2008 when the University of Notre Dame dedicates a statue of him the morning of the Notre Dame-Michigan game.

"I am humbled," Holtz said. "I don't know of any greater honor I could ever hope for professionally. To be back with the national championship team and to have a statue put in there with Rockne, Leahy, Parseghian...I am really humbled."

Holtz joins Knute Rockne, Frank Leahy, Jesse Harper, Ara Parseghian and Dan Devine among former Irish coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame. Forty-two former Notre Dame players also have been inducted, including Chris Zorich in 2007.

"I could never repay Notre Dame for everything it did for me family," Holtz said. "More importantly, to be able to associate with the people of Notre Dame was a great honor. People like Emil Hoffman, Mike DeCicco, Dean Waddick, Bill Sexton, Colonel Stephens, Moose Krause...

"No matter how depressed you might be some days with your job, to walk out of a place knowing you're associated with people like that makes you feel good."

Holtz said that he coached at Notre Dame during a time when the facilities were a far cry from what they are today with the Guglielmino Athletics Complex housing the football team and the coaching staff, and the weather was, well, typical of South Bend, Ind.

"To be at Notre Dame—even though the weather was terrible—was a real blessing," Holtz said. "We didn't have very good facilities. I used to dress with (baseball coach) Pat Murphy. That locker room was a piece of work.

"But to be honored like this is a tribute to our athletes and to people like Gene Corrigan, Dick Rosenthal, Father (William) Beauchamp...I happened to be there at a great time when we played a great schedule. But we also had fun.

"I'm not a complicated individual. My whole life is based on being able to trust each other, being committed to excellence, knowing that you care about one another, and trying to do things to the best of my ability."

Holtz, his coaching staff, and former players will celebrate the 20-year anniversary of Notre Dame's last football national championship the weekend of the Michigan game. Parseghian was honored with a statue last season prior to the home game against Michigan State.

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