USF Holtz Press Release

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USF Hires Skip Holtz as the Head Coach of the Football Program 

Courtesy: USF

            Release: 01/14/2010

Courtesy: USF

http://www.gousfbulls.com/

TAMPA - A new era began at the University of South Florida with the hiring of Skip Holtz as the head coach of the football program on Jan. 14, 2010.

Holtz, who is just the second head coach in the 13 year history, comes to USF after five seasons at East Carolina and is a riding a streak of back-to-back Conference USA Championships.  Holtz is one of just four coaches nationally to lead his teams to league titles each of the last two seasons.

While USF has been praised for its meteoric rise over the last 13 years, Holtz has been leading ECU to unprecedented heights including four-straight winning seasons, a quartet of bowl game appearances and back-to-back Conference USA championships.

Holtz quickly revived the lifeline of a once-proud tradition which had stumbled to record just three wins in a 25-game period two-plus seasons prior to his arrival in 2005.

He promptly instilled a sense of pride, commitment, character and discipline into a Pirate team which, only 60 months later, rewarded its loyal and passionate fan base with the school's first-ever run of four consecutive bowl invitations and the program's first four-year streak of winning seasons since the 1970s.

The USF football program has been to five consecutive bowl games, is one of seven programs to make a bowl appearance in every season as a BCS league member and is in the midst of four straight winning seasons.

USF will return nine offensive starters and six defensive starters in 2010, including electric quarterback B.J. Daniels, the entire offensive line and at least three of its top four rushers.

The drastic turnaround at ECU, which included a 7-6 finish in 2006, an 8-5 ledger in 2007, a 9-5 mark in 2008 and another nine-win campaign in 2009, has coincided with dramatic school-record attendance increases at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

While the initial success in 2005 relied heavily on a wide-open offensive assault that produced the school's fourth-best passing attack in history, it was a no-nonsense and fundamentally-sound defensive effort that launched the Pirates back into college football's competitive arena a year later.

Holtz followed by using a combination of both in 2007, offering a well-balanced offense and a run-stopping, ball-hawking defense to lead East Carolina to its highest Conference USA win total in school history at that time, just one shy of earning a berth in the league championship game, despite playing one of the toughest schedules in program history, which was loaded with four Bowl Championship Series members.

In addition to guiding ECU to its first post-season win since 2000 with a 41-38 victory over No. 24 Boise State in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, Holtz fine-tuned the efforts of running back Chris Johnson, who was college football's national statistical champion in all-purpose yards. Johnson also became the program's second first-round draft choice (first since 1992) in history when the Tennessee Titans selected him with their initial pick in April, 2008 and recently was named the 2009 NFL Offensive Player of the Year.

The Pirates impressively finished the job in 2008 by earning a spot in the Conference USA Championship game, where they delivered a knock-out blow to Tulsa on to the road to claim the program's first conference title in 32 years and earning a bid to the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. Along the way, the 2008 Conference USA Coach of the Year and the Pirates made headlines by reaching No. 14 in the polls and defeating No. 17 Virginia Tech and No. 8 West Virginia.

East Carolina added an exclamation point a year later when it became the first team in C-USA Championship game history to post consecutive victories with another win over the vaunted offense of the Houston Cougars and Heisman-candidate Case Keenum.

Holtz was named East Carolina's 19th head football coach in the school's all-time history on Dec. 3, 2004.

Holtz, who has played an active role on coaching staffs which have captured seven major bowl titles in eight appearances since 1987, officially ended a six-year position on the South Carolina offensive staff when he moved to Greenville.

Holtz, 45, completed his sixth season as South Carolina's assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach in 2004. He displayed his all-around abilities as a coach, remaining closely involved with the Gamecock offense in addition to handling a variety of duties as assistant head coach under his father, the legendary Lou Holtz.

He wore several hats during his tenure with the Gamecocks, coaching the quarterbacks his first four seasons, before handling the tight ends in 2003 and then returning to guide the signal-callers. He helped South Carolina to a top 50 national rank in rushing offense (168.7 ypg) while averaging 368.9 yards of total offense in 2004.

The Gamecocks ranked second in the Southeastern Conference in rushing offense in 2001, and under his tutelage, senior Phil Petty developed into a winning SEC quarterback, leading South Carolina to 17 victories in his last 23 starts, including back-to-back Outback Bowl wins over Ohio State in 2001 (24-7) and 2002 (31-28).

For his efforts during the 2001 season, Holtz was recognized as one of the winners of the Assistant Coach-of-the-Year Award by the All-American Football Foundation, and was presented with the award at the organization's annual banquet.

Holtz came to South Carolina after a successful five-year stint as head coach fellow BIG EAST school, Connecticut. While at UConn, he led the Huskies to their best season in school history in 1998 and was recognized as one of the top young coaching talents in the country.

Holtz has been credited for developing high-powered and prolific offenses throughout his coaching career. During his last season at Connecticut, he led the Huskies to a school-record 10 victories and an appearance in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs. His team ranked 11th nationally in scoring offense, averaging nearly 36 points per game.

During his five-year tenure as head coach at UConn, Holtz guided the Huskies' program to national top 25 rankings the last four seasons and unprecedented success in the school's 100-year football history which provided a firm foundation for the school's eventual move to the I-A level in 2002.

The success Holtz earned on the field at Connecticut during his first head coaching tenure was matched by his involvement in the community as a successful speaker, clinician and humanitarian - often donating his time and effort to many charitable and educational organizations. He served as the honorary chairman for Camp Courant in Hartford for four consecutive years, helping fund-raising efforts to send more than 1,000 under-privileged area children to recreational and educational camps during the summer. Holtz was also actively involved with the American Diabetes Association, serving as an honorary chairman and member of the Board of Trustees for two years.

Holtz was honored in 1996 with the National Football Foundation Man-of-the-Year Award and was a member of the Foundation's ethics committee. He was also the recipient of the Franciscan Life Center's St. Francis Award in 1995, an honor given for his dedication and support of Christian values and outstanding athletic achievements.

Holtz's stay at South Carolina marked the second time in his career that he had worked under his father on an offensive staff. He combined forces with his father at Notre Dame for four years, in fact, serving the Fighting Irish's offensive coordinator during the 1992 and 1993 seasons.

During those seasons, he was in charge of one of the country's most potent offensive attacks - a period in which the Irish compiled a 21-2-1 record. The 1992 Notre Dame offense ranked third nationally in total offense, averaging better than 470 yards per game. The 1993 Irish offense, despite the loss of All-America running backs Jerome Bettis and Reggie Brooks, ended the season ranked No. 9 in scoring offense (36.6 points per game). During Holtz's two seasons as offensive coordinator at Notre Dame, the Irish offense averaged nearly 37 points per game.

Holtz has also served on the coaching staffs at Florida State and Colorado State. While serving on Bobby Bowden's FSU staff in 1987 and 1988, the Seminoles rolled to a 22-2 record, captured the Sugar and Fiesta Bowl titles and earned a No. 2 and No. 3 national rank, respectively.

In all, he has been involved in eight New Year's Day bowl games during his coaching career. Prior to his stint at South Carolina, the overall record of teams he had been associated with as an assistant coach was an impressive 67-15-2.

Born March 12, 1964, in Willimantic, Conn., Louis "Skip" Holtz spent the first two years of his life at UConn while his father served as the top football assistant on the Huskies' staff from 1964-65. He was a prep quarterback at Fayetteville (Ark.) High School, while his father was the head coach at the University of Arkansas.

He attended Holy Cross Junior College in South Bend, Ind., for two years before transferring to Notre Dame in 1984. Holtz earned his bachelor's degree in business management in 1986 and was a football letterwinner for the Irish in 1986, appearing in all 11 games as a special teams member and backup flanker.

Skip and his wife, Jennifer, are the parents of three children: Louis Leo (Trey) Holtz III (15); Chad Fitzgerald Holtz (12); and Hailey Elizabeth Holtz (10).

[outrunner]

tl;dr

USF hires Skip Holtz.

He's a good guy.

He has lots of coaching experience.

[BleedGreenAndGold]

"Holtz has been credited for developing high-powered and prolific offenses throughout his coaching career."

Sounds good to me.  Get after it coach.

[MechanicalBull]

Holtz's stay at South Carolina marked the second time in his career that he had worked under his father on an offensive staff. He combined forces with his father at Notre Dame for four years, in fact, serving the Fighting Irish's offensive coordinator during the 1992 and 1993 seasons.

[glow=red,2,300]During those seasons, he was in charge of one of the country's most potent offensive attacks - a period in which the Irish compiled a 21-2-1 record. The 1992 Notre Dame offense ranked third nationally in total offense, averaging better than 470 yards per game. [/glow]The 1993 Irish offense, despite the loss of All-America running backs Jerome Bettis and Reggie Brooks, ended the season ranked No. 9 in scoring offense (36.6 points per game). During Holtz's two seasons as offensive coordinator at Notre Dame, the Irish offense averaged nearly 37 points per game

Didn't know this.  Very Impressive