gone on<\/a> to his reward \u2014 and he also lives on, among us, in the lives he transformed, and in the country he served.<\/span><\/p>\nHe was the greatest of men \u2014 a college football hall of famer, a devoted father, and a faithful Christian.<\/span><\/p>\nHe was also one of my best friends. I had the opportunity to reflect upon his friendship, and his example, at his visitation and memorial in South Bend, Indiana this week. Seeing the men and women gathered there \u2014 the friends and family, and just as importantly the Americans who he never knew but knew him \u2014 it was impossible to miss the simple truth. Lou Holtz was a heroic man. It was a quiet heroism, a modest heroism, and a heroism he would have denied with all sincerity. But his life was one of heroism all the same.<\/span><\/p>\nSelfless service and a solid personal example, you see, can be heroic in their way. He possessed both in full.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"GLENDALE,](\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-108124301-864x576.jpg\")
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Kevin C. Cox\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Coach Holtz was a source of inspiration to me ever since we first met 33 years ago at the 1993 Cotton Bowl game, where Texas A&M played Notre Dame, and I was the Cotton Bowl Queen. It was a cold, cold day out, but it turned out to be the beginning of a warm, lifelong friendship.<\/span><\/p>\nCoach Holtz famously said, \u201cGod did not put us on this earth to be ordinary.\u201d And his extraordinary life proves that he lived up to those words better than most.<\/span><\/p>\nWe could point to his many victories on the field, as the only college football coach in history to lead six different programs to bowl games and four different programs to final top 15 rankings.<\/span><\/p>\nBut those victories are just part of the story \u2014 the fruits of a lifelong commitment to servant leadership.<\/span><\/p>\nIn addition to serving as an officer in the United States Army Reserve, Coach Holtz was active in national politics for many years. Decades after we first met, we reunited when I was at the helm of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. As the years went on, we developed a bond over a shared vision for America that solidified under President Trump. Coach Holtz was an early supporter of the president, who awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2020 \u2014 an honor that was well deserved.<\/span><\/p>\nCoach Holtz was a great American, a great coach, a great man. But most important in the eyes of God: he was a good man. He was never content with merely speaking about the Gospel \u2014 he was intent on putting it into practice. His decades of charitable work, most recently through the Holtz\u2019s Heroes Foundation, served communities in need and provided scholarships to former student-athletes facing financial, physical, or mental hardships.<\/span><\/p>\nIn 2021, he helped me launch the America First Policy Institute, which he later told me was the most important team he would ever be a part of. Instead of kicking his feet up, he spent his final years coaching America back to greatness and inspired countless Americans along the way \u2014 including me. The last time I saw him, he was still working, still laboring, still leading for the causes he held dear \u2014 God and America.<\/span><\/p>\nWhether on the football field, on the civic field, or on the field of faith, Coach Holtz carried the ball and kept the flame of greatness alive. Although he\u2019s no longer with us, his dedication to truth and goodness lives on in the lives of those he impacted. There are so many who will walk in the paths he set forth without knowing it was him who gave them the opening drive. But we who know, we who loved him, we will always remember.<\/span><\/p>\nThank you, Coach, for your life, for your example, and for your faith. We won\u2019t let you down.<\/span><\/p>\n* * *<\/p>\n
Brooke L. Rollins is the 33rd U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nDisclaimer: Brooke Rollins is writing in her personal capacity as a private citizen and the views expressed herein are solely her own.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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