SkipHoltz:Willie Taggart walked into a great situation at USF

[BiggTipp]

http://coachingsearch.com/home/2033-skip-holtz-willie-taggart-walked-into-a-great-situation-at-usf.html

Skip Holtz is excited about the future at Louisiana Tech, but he still feels bad about how things ended at South Florida.

Holtz has had success at every stop in his career, but couldn't turn the corner in Tampa. A long list of injuries to key players stunted any progress in a 3-9 season in 2012, ending in Holtz's dismissal.

But the resulting youth movement bodes well for the program's future, as Holtz explained on The Tim Brando Show.

"(Look at) the NFL, you start talking about looking at Arizona. They lose their quarterback and they couldn't win for eight weeks," Holtz said. "Look at the teams around major college. Again, you take the top two quarterbacks off anybody's team and they're going to struggle. It is that fragile. Unfortunately, injury is a part of the game. The thing I got excited about was the young talent; we started eight freshmen or sophomores.

"I think that program is extremely healthy and I think (Willie) Taggart has walked into a great situation, and I'm sure he'll have a lot of success there. I'm excited for him, because I want to see him win on the field and see all those young kids continue to develop and graduate."

Those comments from Holtz are interesting, given he previously described how he was exhausted from fighting battles at USF when he was introduced for the Bulldogs.

As for LA Tech, Holtz is the first head coach hired by the school with previous head coaching experience since A.L. Williams in 1975 - before the school was playing Division 1-A football.

Now, the school is moving to Conference USA from the WAC, and Holtz is excited. It didn't take him very long to get contacted and accept the job, as he explained to Brando.

"On Wednesday, I was on the golf course," he said. "I got a phone call that said, 'Can you be on a flight at 2 o'clock?' I could probably make 3:30. So I get on their plane, I flew back to Tampa the next morning and by 5 o'clock, this was done. So I was on a plane and we had a press conference Friday afternoon. It was really a 48-hour turnaround the way this whole thing happened.

"From people I talked to around the country that I respect - athletic directors, football coaches, etc. - almost everyone of them (felt I should take it). It is a great program and an up-and-coming program."

[sayheykid]

Skip just said a mouthful about his own abilities as a head coach. Even in wins, the defense was dreadful and it isn't like we were having a great deal of success even when the offense was mostly healthy. Not to mention the games where his obvious gaffes dealt devastating blows to our chances of winning. You seem like a man of integrity Skip, but excuses are unbecoming.

[thatboykane]

He thinks he left the program "extremely healthy" as if he's giving himself a pat on the back for a job well done. We lost to Ball St. and Temple with him in charge. Man I'm so glad he's gone. He still doesn't get it.

[thatboykane]

Not to mention he left us without a solid QB....YEA THANKS SKIPPY...WHAT A GREAT JOB YOU DID FOR 2 MILLION A YEAR!! BLAHHH

[SRQ]

he's making it really easy for me to not miss him in any way at all

[Held_AccountaBull]

Skip's a total loser.

[WoolyBully]

...exhausted from fighting battles

I'd like to hear more about those 'battles'. What exactly does that mean?

Is that on-the-field, or does it refer to something else. Look, I don't think

he was hamstrung by anything at USF. He was just in over his head &

probably will do good at the new place. I'd be hard pressed, however,

to say that WT is walking into a 'good situation' on behalf of the predecessor.

[Hem]

What a tool.

Coach T to the rescue baby!

[GaUSFBull]

We had our senior, 4-year QB in what, week 9? What about all the games before that?

It was about defense with your teams, Skip, or lack thereof. They couldn't stop a toddler from reaching the endzone.

You don't get fired as a football coach, usually, for leaving a program in a great situation.

[Skingraft]

This guy....

Successful at every stop, what a joke... I love how they always leave out his dad demoting him