Offered is a 2000 University of South Carolina game ball presented to Gamecock's head coach Lou Holtz after his career coaching victory #222 on October 14, 2000. The Wilson brown pebbled leather ball features a white presentation panel hand painted with the legend "Game Ball Presented to Lou Holtz USC 27 - Arkansas 7 10-14-00" in black block letters and red gothic letters, along with a hand-painted black, yellow, gray and red "C" logo featuring the Gamecock. Opposite the presentation panel is the Wilson logo embossed in black and gold above the caption "AFCA" and the logo "1005" both embossed in black. Below the presentation panel is the logo "USC" embossed in black. After retiring as the head coach of the University of Notre Dame (1986-1996), Holtz worked as a college football commentator for CBS Sports for two seasons. Holtz came out of retirement in 1999 and returned to the University of South Carolina, where he had been an assistant in the 1960s. The year before Holtz arrived, the Gamecocks went 1–10, and the team subsequently went 0–11 during Holtz's first season. In his second season, South Carolina went 8–4, winning the Outback Bowl over the heavily favored Ohio State Buckeyes. The eight-game improvement from the previous year was the best in the nation in 2000 and the third best single-season turnaround in NCAA history. It also earned National Coach of the Year honors for Holtz from Football News and American Football Coaches Quarterly. [Please note that the ball is partially deflated and is otherwise free from defects.] This item comes with a LOA from Lou Holtz and 100% of the net proceeds from the sale of this item will be donated to the Holtz Charitable Foundation, Inc.

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