Dr. Lou is coming to Charleston.
That, of course, is special to the Kanawha Valley. Lou Holtz, now 80, is a Hall of Fame college football coach, author, motivational speaker and former ESPN commentator, where he created his "Dr. Lou" segments. He's speaking May 15 at the Civic Center on behalf of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. (Those interested in the $125 tickets may email kmoles@fca.org.)
Yet while having Holtz back in Charleston is a treat - remember, he once recruited a couple guys from DuPont High named Randy Moss and Bobbie Howard - it's also significant to him to return to the Mountain State.
For he is home.
See, although Holtz spent most of his teenage years in East Liverpool, Ohio, he was born and at least partially raised in Follansbee. The trip is also special because, later in Holtz's life, West Virginia had a huge impact on his career. As in life-changing.
This week, he retraced some of the journey with the Gazette-Mail via a phone interview.
"I was born in Follansbee, where my father's parents lived," Holtz said. "We lived there for seven and a half years. Then, when my dad went into World War II, we moved to East Liverpool, Ohio, to live with my mother's parents while my father was in the service.
"Well, every summer I would go back to Follansbee until about the age of 13 when I got involved in baseball. Then, when my dad got out of the service, they decided not to relocate because my sister and I were pretty well established in school. So I consider both places my home."
Follansbee, located in West Virginia's Northern Panhandle, also considers itself Holtz's home. Recently, the town honored the coaching legend with two signs along state Route 2 hailing his accomplishments.
"I have an awful lot of friends still in Follansbee," Holtz said. "In fact, two played for West Virginia [University]. When I was there [for the ceremony] they gave me a picture of the original Four Horsemen [of Notre Dame]. But on it they [photoshopped] my picture, [that of] Ralph Anastasio and Whitey Mikanik - two great friends of mine that both played and starred at West Virginia - and Geno Quattrocchi, who starred on the Franciscan University basketball team. So I was part of the Follansbee Four Horsemen with three of my friends."
Holtz has had a serious impact on West Virginia sports, and vice versa. First, he's part of the Mountain State-born roster of great coaches. There's also Nick Saban, Jimbo Fisher, Fielding Yost, Ben Schwartzwalder, Rich Rodriguez ...
"And don't forget [former USC coach] John McKay," Holtz chimed in. "It's amazing for the state to turn out that many successful coaches. Nick Saban and I were both born in West Virginia and both went to Kent State."
There is, though, one huge difference between the two. Saban didn't defeat WVU to win a national championship. Holtz did in the Jan. 2, 1989, Fiesta Bowl as the coach of Notre Dame. And he said he still gets ribbed about it from Mountaineer fans "everywhere I go."
"I didn't want it to be that way," he said almost apologetically. "It just turned out that way. That was an excellent West Virginia football team."
He continued.
"I remember before we played that game, we'd won and we were on the way to the airport afterward. I was listening to the Penn State-West Virginia game. They beat Joe Paterno [51-30]. And we'd struggled a little bit with them earlier [before winning 21-3]."
Notre Dame, however, had defeated then-No. 9 Michigan to start the season, then-No. 1 Miami in October and then-No. 2 USC to end the regular season.
"We had an excellent football team and West Virginia did as well," Holtz said. "I remember [WVU] had a very good defensive end in Renaldo [Turnbull]. But I think the post cut where Tony Rice hit Rocket Ismail for a touchdown was really big. That gave us a [23-3] lead and really put the game away."
WVU quarterback Major Harris injured a shoulder during the game, which contributed to the Mountaineers' loss.
"I didn't realize Major Harris had gotten injured because he played almost the whole game," Holtz said. "But we had excellent speed on defense. We wore black shoes and didn't look very fast on film, but we were pretty fast."
Afterward, Holtz and WVU coach Don Nehlen walked together after the postgame press conferences. The ex-Notre Dame mentor said he couldn't remember what was said, but did have one postgame memory.
"What I remember most after the game is walking to midfield," Holtz said. "The players might have been carrying me off, but after they put me down a guy grabbed my hat and took off. I took off after him. I chased him down and got the hat back. I met the guy several years later and he couldn't believe I'd run after him through everything.
"Well, the reason was, after every win, I'd take the hat I wore and write on it, 'I take my hat off to you.' And then I would write the score, the team and the date. When people would ask for auction items, I would send them a hat. It would be exceptionally valuable for charity. It wasn't that I wanted the hat. That's what I remember the most after the game."
While the Fighting Irish's 34-21 win that day in Sun Devil Stadium was Holtz's coaching zenith, his teams had other memorable games against WVU.
"I remember when I was at William & Mary [in 1970] and we went to Morgantown to play Bobby Bowden's West Virginia team," Holtz said. "It was a pretty close game, but at the end he had two backs in [Jim] Braxton and [Bob] Gresham. They both scored late and sort of made the [43-7] score look like a rout. But that was a pretty good game until there was about five minutes left.
"Afterward, I said to Bobby Bowden, 'We've been good friends since 1961. Why did you run the score up?' He said, 'I didn't. That's your job to hold the score down. If you don't like the score then recruit better and coach better.' "
Holtz did. Two years later, he was coaching North Carolina State - and beat WVU and Bowden in the 1972 Peach Bowl by 49-13. The Mountaineers did, however, return the favor in the same bowl three years later by 13-10.
These days, Holtz is an analyst for SiriusXM radio as well as a speaker. He said he's traveled of late to Atlanta, Las Vegas, Evansville, South Bend, Chicago, Augusta and all points in between. ("I'm ready to fire my secretary," he joked.) But a trip to the Mountain State, Holtz said, is always special.
"I've had a lot of memorable moments with West Virginia," Holtz said. "And it was always meaningful because I was born there."
Contact Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827 or mitchvingle@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @MitchVingle.