Legendary College Football Coach Praises Harrison Butker, Says America Has Lost Its Values

Legendary college football coach Lou Holtz praised Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s commencement address at Benedictine College and said America has lost its values.

During a recent interview with Newsmax, Holtz questioned why Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players were praised by the same groups condemning Butker when they opted to state their beliefs, on the field even. The legendary coach, now 87, also noted the NFL’s long-running issues with domestic violence and other serious crimes.

“But you know what, you close ranks, you march on, you do what you believe in your heart is right, and you live with it,” Holtz said of the backlash to Butker’s speech.

Holtz, who delivered the commencement address at Benedictine in the past, said Butker “did a great job with it.”

Butker has been on the receiving end of backlash from far-left extremists over a commencement speech in which he endorsed traditional gender roles and affirmed his Catholic faith.

“For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point in your young lives,” he said. “I want to speak directly to you briefly, because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you. How many of you are sitting here now, about to cross this stage, and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”

Holtz pointed out that he delivered a similar message after Notre Dame’s championship win in 1989. “What I said was a breakdown of the families, that we don’t have a father and a mother. We don’t have leadership, we don’t have discipline,” he said. “We end up with people doing what they wanna do and when they wanna do it, and it’s not right.”

Holtz is the most recent coach to lead the Notre Dame fighting Irish to a championship when his team defeated an unbeaten West Virginia in 1989.  In total, he turned four separate college football programs into top 15 contenders throughout his illustrious career, including Minnesota, Arkansas and South Carolina.

Always an outspoken conservative, Holtz was presented with the presidential medal of freedom by then-President Donald Trump in 2020.