Notre Dame football great comes under fire for comments about Title IX

When Lou Holtz was the head coach of the Notre Dame football team, he was universally beloved. Even after he retired from coaching and took his act to the ESPN studios, he was someone who was looked at as a harmless old grandpa who knew his stuff when it came to discussing strategy and approach in the college football world.

However, it’s been quite a while since the former Fighting Irish head coach had a job with ESPN or any other network and it feels like the longer he goes without a formal job with a big network, the more controversial comments he makes.

Notre Dame football great comes under fire for comments about Title IX

Earlier this week, Holtz took to social media to discuss Title IX, the NCAA rule that forces universities to devote as many resources to women’s sports as it does to men’s. While his comment started off benign enough, the Notre Dame football great soon wandered into an area that has to be viewed as a political third rail these days.

“I was happy when Title IX came out,” he wrote. “But here we are, many years later, and now we can’t even ensure women competing against women. It’s crazy!”

Because Holtz wandered into the transphobia that’s been sweeping social media of late, it took no time at all for those on the other side to notice that while the Irish coach claimed he was a fan of Title IX when it first became a thing, that’s not actually the truth.

“I was thinking about what Lou said this morning,” Shannon Ragland wrote on her own Twitter account. “I don't think he means this. It's just far right-wing trans bigotry. Here's what Lou had to say about Title IX in 1980. Spoiler. Lou didn't like it.”

She then included a picture of a newspaper clipping that quoted Holtz as being very against Title IX because it, in his view, interfered with free enterprise.

It took no time at all after that for the former Notre Dame football coach to be reminded by dozens of users that it probably would have been better if he’d stayed out of the issue entirely. Though it’s clear that’s not something he plans on doing.