Lou Holtz joined ESPN in 2004 and in his time at the network he became a fixture of ESPN's college football studio shows with Mark May and Rece Davis. This fall will be the first without Holtz at the network in 11 years.
According to Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch, ESPN has parted ways with Holtz by way of a mutual agreement. ESPN gave SI the following statement on the matter.
"Lou brought a champion's perspective and a legacy of accomplishment to our coverage along with his distinctive style and humor. We appreciate his contributions and wish him all the best in the future."
"Lou enjoyed his time and friendships made at ESPN and looks forward to other opportunities in college football," Holtz's agent said on his behalf.
It will be interesting to see who tries to add Holtz to their network. Fox Sports 1 is always trying to pull shine away from ESPN, so they would make sense to take a run at the 78-year-old if they could add him to their Saturday studio show. NBC would also make some sense since they hold Notre Dame rights and we all know how much Holtz loves his beloved Fighting Irish.
As for what ESPN will do, this move means two of the three members of the old college football studio show — Holtz and Rece Davis, who is the new host of College Gameday — are gone, which will hopefully mean big changes. ESPN has a number of strong analysts on their staff, but had stuck with Holtz and Mark May for too long.
Those that have watched the film room shows have seen the talented analysts that can bring deep analysis of X's and O's to the set. I'd love to see Greg McElroy get more air time on the mothership, as he's been fantastic on the SEC Network and in rare ESPN studio shows. Matt Millen was also very good in film room segments. ESPN certainly has options to replace Holtz — and maybe move May to a different role — and hopefully they'll try to infuse a new studio show with their analysts that have shown the ability to bring real insight into the more detailed aspects of the game.
