President Jerry Falwell, Notre Dame icon Lou Holtz discuss their universities’ histories and similar paths to success

Holtz is most notably known as the man who coached Notre Dame’s program to a Fiesta Bowl victory in 1989, which resulted in the Fighting Irish being named national champions that season, as well as leading five other programs to success in bowl games. Falwell said that he showed Holtz the letter Tuesday night, and Holtz described the history behind the aforementioned Notre Dame victory, which took place in 1913

“Notre Dame had built such a great football program in the Midwest that no one in the Big 10 would play them, and all the powerful teams were in the East at that time. Notre Dame was the underdog team, a little old school from the Midwest with only 16 players, and that’s when Notre Dame really started … that’s when everyone sort of adopted Notre Dame.”

Holtz noted how similar Liberty is now to Notre Dame back then. The football icon believes that Liberty will continue to experience a future of rapid growth and success.

“I see so many similarities between Liberty University and Note Dame, and your future is unlimited,” Holtz said. “Believe in yourself, believe in God, and ask yourself, ‘What do we have to do to be where we want to be?”’