President Donald Trump announced Friday night that former Notre Dame and South Carolina football head coach Lou Holtz will be receiving the Medal of Freedom.
Trump told reporters in a press brief Friday that he had received letters of recommendation from multiple coaches across the nation in favor of Holtz.
"We've analyzed it very closely. We've looked at all of those recommendations. We've looked at Lou's life and his career and what he's done for charity -- the football was obvious. He was a great coach but what he's done is even beyond coaching," Trump said.
The date for the ceremony has yet to be announced, but Trump told reporters it "won’t be in the too distant future.”
Holtz coached college football for 33 years, winning a national championship in 1988 with Notre Dame and also coaching at South Carolina from 1999 to 2004.
In those six years in Columbia, Holtz led the Gamecocks to two Outback Bowl wins in 2000 and 2001 while putting together a 33-37 record all time.
Holtz retired in 2004 after his last season with South Carolina and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008.