ESPN analyst Lou Holtz apologized on air Saturday for mentioning Adolf Hitler during a college football studio show the previous night. The former Notre Dame coach said "Hitler was a great leader, too," while making a point about good and bad leadership during a discussion of the struggles of first-year Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez.
"Last night while trying to make a point about leadership, I made an unfortunate reference,'' Holtz said. "It was a mistake and I sincerely apologize.''
An ESPN spokesman said Holtz will not be further disciplined.
After Michigan lost 46-17 at Penn State, Rodriguez said he had not heard about what Holtz said. When told, he said, "What is the correlation there? I don't know what his correlation is,'' and left it at that.
Earlier this year, ESPN disciplined columnist Jemele Hill for a writing "Rooting for the Celtics is like saying Hitler was a victim," in a story that appeared on its Web site.