Urban Meyer has three national titles and multiple conference crowns. He’s a legend at both Florida and Ohio State, so you might think he built his career on a foundation he loved. But if you ask him, he’ll talk about a phone call and Lou Holtz, the College Football giant the world is mourning right now. 

“Lou Holtz was my mentor,” Urban Meyer told The Triple Option. “He was a family friend, and without Lou Holtz, our career really never would have gotten started. But he hired me in 1996 at Notre Dame and then became a family friend and mentor that I leaned on for strategy and for advice.”

Lou Holtz went 249-132-7 in 33 seasons. He won a national title with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in 1988, finishing undefeated in a tenure that spanned one decade. He was the trusted voice, a strong influence who shaped the careers of other figures like Marcus Freeman and even SEC commissioner Greg Sankey. 

“But the great story that I’ve told many times is that he pushed me very hard to be the head coach of Bowling Green at a young age. So they got me an interview. I interviewed with the athletic director. It went well. They offered me the job. I flew in the next day to take a look, and it wasn’t in very good shape.”

So he turned it down and came back to Notre Dame and told Lou Holtz he wasn’t taking it. But the coach persisted, saying, “You’re going to take the job.” Urban Meyer pushed back, saying it wasn’t a great job. And that’s when Holtz delivered a valuable message that sent him packing to Bowling Green.

“He said, ‘Of course it’s not a great job. If it’s a great job, they wouldn’t be calling your ass,” Meyer said. “So I hung up the phone, called Bowling Green back, and took the job.”

That may be one of the best decisions he made early. At Bowling Green Falcons, Urban Meyer inherited a program that had just gone 2-8. Within a year, it went 8-3, one of the best turnarounds in the country. He finished 17-6 over two seasons, won the 2001 MAC Coach of the Year, and climbed to No. 20 in the final AP poll.

That stop launched him to Utah, then Florida, then Ohio State, where he won three national titles, two in 2006 and 2008 with Florida and one in 2014 with Ohio State. If he had never made that phone call back to Bowling Green, would any of that have happened? And Lou Holtz’s influence didn’t stop there

Meyer is not the only one who was influences by Holtz. The current Notre Dame head coach, Marcus Freeman, frequently consulted Holtz for advice. Holtz reportedly told Freeman, “I’m gonna give you my advice, but not my opinion,” a boundary Freeman deeply admired as he worked to rebuild the program using Holtz’s late-80s blueprint.

The Hall of Fame running back, Jerome Bettis, also view Holtz as “family” rather than just a coach. Bettis recalls that during his recruitment, Holtz sat with his mother and promised to take care of him as a young man, not just an athlete. A moment Bettis says shaped his entire life.

Urban Meyer lives by Lou Holtz’s advice

It was before the 2006 BCS National Championship. Urban Meyer’s Florida just beat Arkansas in the SEC title game and had a month to prepare for Ohio State. Ahead of such a high-stakes game, the first call he made was to Lou Holtz. And he received two pieces of advice.

First, Lou Holtz reminded him that the game’s not played until January 8, 7 p.m. So, with about four weeks to the game, the advice is not to let his players’ excitement peak too early. Urban Meyer printed that line in bold and put it in front of his desk.

The second piece of advice was, “Your team knows a routine. Keep them in that routine.”

“So, that’s exactly what I did for three weeks,” he said, and it led to Florida beating Ohio State 41-14. “The players still tell me to this day that the reason they played so well in that national championship game is that we stayed on that routine.”

But all of these circle back to the lesson Lou Holtz taught him before his first coaching job. Last May, the National Football Foundation announced an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute for Urban Meyer at Bowling Green’s opener at Doyt Perry Stadium. He got his first salute for his first head coaching job. He called the program “an integral part” of his trajectory and said he’s proud to be a Falcon for life.

Well, that trajectory rarely starts without Lou Holtz pushing him into a job he didn’t want. Sometimes the difference between a career and a legacy is one stubborn mentor who won’t let you play it safe. And that’s why he’s made a huge impact on so many people who now honor him as he’s laid to rest at 89.