This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Lou Holtz, the renowned college football coach and sports analyst, went on the offensive at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday with a series of inflammatory comments about immigrants.

According to Betsy Woodruff from The Daily Beast, Holtz – while speaking at a luncheon hosted by the Republican National Coalition for Life – condemned the number of immigrants coming to US as an “invasion”.



Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) Lou Holtz on immigrants: "I don't want to celebrate your holidays, I sure as hell don't want to cheer for your soccer team"

“I don’t want to speak your language, I don’t want to celebrate your holidays,” he said to an approving crowd. “I sure as hell don’t want to cheer for your soccer team!” Holtz also wants new immigrants arriving in America to learn English and “become us”. Holtz said his grandparents learned English after coming to the US from Ukraine.

The 79-year-old former Notre Dame coach made headlines on the first day of the convention when he was seen walking around the floor with a Crown Royal whisky bag.

John R Parkinson (@jparkABC) Legendary Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz carrying a bottle of Crown Royale at #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/UeXt0q9cOD

Holtz coached several teams including Arkansas and South Carolina as well as one season in the NFL with the New York Jets. But he is perhaps best known for his tenure with Notre Dame, whom he led to a national championship in 1988.

Earlier on Tuesday, Holtz told Fox News that Trump, “an outsider”, was going to make America great again.

“A leader is someone who has a vision and a plan. He [Trump] wants this country to be great. I remember this country years ago. It’s not the same country that I was raised in,” he said.

Holtz also suggested that political correctness was overrated.

“I think political correctness … I grew up being smaller and weaker, and everybody picked on me and made fun of me,” he said on Fox. “But you know what? You learn to handle adversity. Why listen to somebody that doesn’t like you?”