College Sports Information Directors of America

Lou Holtz, the legendary Notre Dame head coach and ESPN personality, will discuss his game plan for successfully gaining influence when he addresses the 2011 CoSIDA Convention participants on June 27 at the Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort in Marco Island, Florida.

ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) – Celebrated for a lifetime in sports and historic accomplishments as a head football coach, Lou Holtz is now regarded as “one of the greatest motivators of our time” and “the best sports speaker ever”. The legendary ESPN sports personality will be bringing his game plan for successfully gaining influence to the 2011 CoSIDA Convention in Marco Island, June 26-29. Holtz's address will highlight the second day of convention on Monday, June 27.

The four-day schedule and workshop features some of the most innovative programming CoSIDA has staged yet, and some of the most eloquent and poignant speakers in the collegiate community. The highlight of the Convention schedule includes the following daily programs:

• Gaining Influence within the Intercollegiate Community (Monday, June 27)
• Today’s Collegiate Communications & Role Development (Tuesday, June 28)
• Innovative Strategies for a Digital World (Wednesday, June 29)

“I am looking forward to getting back to the CoSIDA Convention this summer and speaking with our (college) communications directors and publicists,” said Holtz. “Nearly my whole career there has been someone with me serving in that capacity and I know it to be one of the most vital roles undertaken in an athletics department today.

“Intercollegiate athletics is a massive enterprise,” added Holtz. “There’s great impact through television and sports business, in general, but through organizations such as the NCAA, as large of a commitment has been placed on institutions’ academics, integrity and leadership. The annual training of our communications staffs to effectively provide a game plan for success is paramount.”

Holtz has made a career of inspiring his players and motivating them to be winners. Most notable for taking the Notre Dame Football program and building it into being a national powerhouse, Holtz is the only coach in NCAA history to lead six different programs to bowl games and the only coach to guide four different programs to the final top 20 rankings. Holtz’s humor and humility endear him to audiences as he helps them learn to assess their strengths, work as a team and embrace the values that can help improve any organization. Whether it’s helping people understand what’s important, encouraging people to hold themselves accountable or making leaders of followers, Holtz’s advice puts audiences on the road to achievement.

“CoSIDA is very fortunate to welcome back one of the top motivational speakers in intercollegiate athletics, Lou Holtz, to our annual Convention," said Larry Dougherty, 2010-11 CoSIDA President. "There is no one better to speak to our membership on the topic of gaining influence than Lou, and his panel is a tremendous way to kickoff what is sure to be one of the best CoSIDA Conventions in the organization's history.”

For many years Holtz has been considered among the greatest speaking legends in America today. He speaks on overcoming seemingly impossible challenges by setting your own goals and working to achieve them. He has built a reputation as a motivator, a demanding disciplinarian and someone who relishes challenges and hard work.

Holtz has authored three New York Times best-selling books The Fighting Spirit that chronicled Notre Dame's 1988 championship season and Winning Everyday: A Game Plan For Success (August 1998), which has been published in several languages. His latest book which was released August 15, 2006 is Wins, Losses and Lessons, an autobiography of his life and the lessons he has learned, and is also a best seller.

Additionally, he has produced three highly acclaimed motivational videos: Do Right and Do Right (20 Years Later), Do Right II, and If Enough People Care.

Currently, Holtz serves as a college football studio analyst on ESPN. He appears on ESPNEWS, ESPN College GameDay programs, SportsCenter as well as serves as an on-site analyst for college football games.

Despite never inheriting a winning team, he compiled a 243-127-7 career record that ranked him third in victories among active coaches and eighth in winning percentage. His 12 career postseason bowl victories ranked him fifth on the all-time list. Holtz was recently selected for the College Football Hall of Fame, class of 2008, which places him in an elite group of just over 800 individuals in the history of football who have earned this distinction. Approximate 1 in 5,000 people who played college football or coached it make it into the Hall of Fame.

Twenty-six seasons as a collegiate head coach earned Holtz a sterling reputation for turning pretenders into contenders - for taking football programs and elevating them a level or two on their way to the top 20. But nowhere has he done this as impressively than at Notre Dame. He enhanced that track record quickly, needing only two years to put the Fighting Irish back into a major post-season bowl game for the first time in seven seasons. Holtz proved he could take the Irish back to the ranks of college football’s elite and keep them there on a consistent basis.

photo credits: lead photo courtesy of ESPN
Notre Dame photo courtesy of Lighthouse Imaging, South Bend, IN

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• 06/23/26 / 11:59 P.M. M/W At-Large Academic All-America National Ballot Voting Deadline (NCAA, NAIA, College Division)
• 06/30/26 / 11:59 P.M. M/W Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-America National Ballot Voting Deadline (NCAA, NAIA)
• 07/07/26 / 12:00 P.M. W At-Large Academic All-America Announced (NCAA, NAIA, College Division)
• 07/08/26 / 12:00 P.M. M At-Large Academic All-America Announced (NCAA, NAIA, College Division)
• 07/14/26 / 12:00 P.M. M Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-America Announced (NCAA, NAIA)
• 06/07/26 / All Day 2026 CSC Unite Convention in Las Vegas
• 06/08/26 / All Day 2026 CSC Unite Convention in Las Vegas
• 06/09/26 / All Day 2026 CSC Unite Convention in Las Vegas
• 06/09/26 / 11:59 P.M. Baseball Academic All-America National Ballot Voting Deadline (NCAA, NAIA)
• 06/10/26 / All Day 2026 CSC Unite Convention in Las Vegas
• 06/16/26 / 12:00 P.M. Softball Academic All-America Announced (NCAA, NAIA)
• 06/16/26 / 12:00 P.M. M/W At-Large Academic All-District Released; National Voting Begins (NCAA, NAIA, College Division)
• 06/16/26 / 11:59 P.M. M/W Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-America Nomination Deadline (NCAA, NAIA)
• 06/23/26 / 12:00 P.M. M/W Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-District Released; National Voting Begins (NCAA, NAIA)
• 06/23/26 / 12:00 P.M. Baseball Academic All-America Announced (NCAA, NAIA)
• 06/23/26 / 11:59 P.M. M/W At-Large Academic All-America National Ballot Voting Deadline (NCAA, NAIA, College Division)
• 06/30/26 / 11:59 P.M. M/W Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-America National Ballot Voting Deadline (NCAA, NAIA)
• 07/07/26 / 12:00 P.M. W At-Large Academic All-America Announced (NCAA, NAIA, College Division)
• 07/08/26 / 12:00 P.M. M At-Large Academic All-America Announced (NCAA, NAIA, College Division)
• 07/14/26 / 12:00 P.M. M Track & Field/Cross Country Academic All-America Announced (NCAA, NAIA)
• 06/07/26 / All Day 2026 CSC Unite Convention in Las Vegas
• 06/08/26 / All Day 2026 CSC Unite Convention in Las Vegas
• 06/09/26 / All Day 2026 CSC Unite Convention in Las Vegas
• 06/09/26 / 11:59 P.M. Baseball Academic All-America National Ballot Voting Deadline (NCAA, NAIA)
• 06/10/26 / All Day 2026 CSC Unite Convention in Las Vegas