Get to Know a Coaching Candidate: Skip Holtz
by Owen on Dec 8, 2009 12:02 PM CST
in Kansas Jayhawk Football
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PrintSkip Holtz, the son of coaching and broadcasting "legend" Lou Holtz, is another name that has been on the radar screen for the Kansas job even prior to Mark Mangino's departure. His past connections to Lew Perkins and Connecticut were an obvious tie as Lew prepares to make his first big hire as the Kansas Athletic Director.
Two years ago Holtz blew up a bit as a coaching candidate as his East Carolina squad upset #17 Virgina Tech and #8 ranked West Virginia early in the season. Those victories placed the Pirates in the top 25 and the season would finish a success as East Carolina would win the Conference USA title.
Now a full season removed East Carolina has continued that success but the buzz around Holtz seems to have subsided a bit. Still he appears to be a very real possibility for the Jayhawks and rumors of an impending interview are out there.
So who is Skip Holtz? I'm sure you could take an educated stab at his background, but let's get to know the candidate a little better.
Skip obviously was born into and raised in a coaching family as his father Lou Holtz had an extremely successful career and is basically the last coach at Notre Dame to reach the heights expected of that program.
Skip's playing career has a bit of the "Rudy" story to it. As a high school player in Fayettville Arkansas where his father coached the Razorbacks, Holtz attempted to get into Notre Dame. Unable to gain acceptance he was encouraged by then coach Gerry Faust to attend nearby Holy Cross for two years and then reapply to Notre Dame.
After two years at Holy Cross Holtz did transfer to Notre Dame where he planned to walk on with Faust. Faust resigned, Lou Holtz took the job and that made the walk on process a little simpler for the younger Holtz.
After a short playing career Holtz was able to catch on as a graduate assistant under Bobby Bowden at Florida State. After two seasons with the Seminoles Holtz accepted a position as wide receivers coach at Colorado State where he spent one season before returning to his father's staff at Notre Dame.
He spent two seasons as the receivers coach at Notre Dame before moving into the role of offensive coordinator in 1992. Working together with his father, Holtz and Notre Dame won 40 games, lost only 8 and had the third best offense in college football during the '91 season.
In 1994 Holtz had his first opportunity to take a head job as Lew Perkins, current Kansas athletic director, offered him the job at Connecticut. In five seasons with the Huskies Holtz amassed a record of 34-23 and led the Huskies to their first Division 1-AA playoff appearance. His final season with the Huskies was also their final season in Division 1-AA as Holtz is credited with helping lead the program into the division 1A ranks.
Holtz would leave Connecticut prior to that transition to rejoin his father who had taken a head position at South Carolina at the start of the '99 season. Holtz would fill the role of offensive coordinator with the Gamecocks. The Holtz combination would again be successful during it's tenure in South Carolina most notably during the 2000 and 2001 seasons in which they finished in the top 25 both times. After the 2003 season however, Holtz was demoted to QB coach and a season later with the retirement of his father and hiring of Steve Spurrier, Holtz was not retained.
From there Holtz stepped into his current role at East Carolina where he has brought unprecedented success to the program. A 38-26 overall record in 5 seasons with the Pirates. 4 Bowl appearances in five seasons and two first place finishes have been a big boost to the program and a major boost to the coaching stock of Holtz.
There's no doubt that Holtz has been successful, he's also coached under some legends and with some great programs. However, a majority of his career is spent on the East Coast. What are his connections to the Midwest? What would his staff makeup look like? The biggest thing with Holtz is the question marks that surround him, the unknowns. Many of the other candidates have pretty clear cut plusses and minuses. Holtz has proven successful which is obviously a big plus but other than that there isn't a lot that says, "this guy is perfect for Kansas."
The positive thing here is that Lew has worked with Holtz before, he knows his strengths, weaknesses and as an Athletic Director who makes these decisions Lew would certainly be well informed on Holtz if he determines he is the man for the job. If this is the hire, it means Perkins is saying that he basically believes in Holtz in a big way. He believes he's the guy to take Kansas to the next level just like he did UConn. Again, this isn't a "homerun" but it certainly on paper looks like a pretty good hire with some longterm stability potential.
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Not to mention
wherever Holtz winds up, as long as Lou is at ESPN, you can count on increased coverage on ESPN.
kidding aside
is actually worth something, from a recruiting standpoint (and a revenue standpoint)
Blank
Not a joke
Lou and the boys called 2 or 3 ECU Thursday night games this season. And I think the coverage would be fantastic.
KU could use some national tv exposure,
as long as the train gets back on the tracks.
I used to work with an old man that told me- Son, every workplace has a dumbass. If you don't have one where you work, then I'm afraid you're it.
impressive resume
This is the most I’ve read about Holtz, and that’s a pretty impressive resume (OC at Notre Dame and SC, success at UConn and ECU).
That being said, he doesn’t really have any “wow” factor to him.
He's got a better resume than I orginally thought
If he comes in, I would think Lew might put some stipulations on him at first….like you need to keep Beaty, Bowen, and Miller and let them continue to recruit the midwest until you develop your own ties and/or hire your own staff with ties.
Because, really, he’s biggest flaw is no ties to our recruiting territories.
Who's next?
Wow -
He just moved up my depth chart. Great write up! Agree with Rivet on the recruiting stipulation.
Me no likey Clint Bowen.
I agree.
He looks a lot better than I thought. I would be happy with him I think, though I am a little worried about recruiting, too.
I don't know, I like to think that things started out initially with good intentions, but then we just loused it up. Kind of like intelligence. We have this glorious thing that allowed us to survive for millenia and now we use it to write porn film plots involving pterodactyls. Talk about wasting the gift.
by tequilaprophet on Dec 8, 2009 1:34 PM CST up reply actions
yep...
this isn’t a bad hire…as most have eluded to the recruiting ties are the biggest concern but depending on how he chooses to fill his staff we could be in great shape. If Holtz retains Beaty, Miller and Bowen…I’d be pretty confident in the near term recruiting efforts.
Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.
Great summary
What I find really interesting is that two supposed hot coaches are “followers” of Skip; Edsall followed him at UConn after Skip turned that program around and supposedly Brian Kelly went to Cincinnati after Skip turned that job down. Really good winning percentage here, too. He’d be a great choice and he’s a real motivator like his father (though I think a better coach) so he makes believers out of the kids.
How great is it that
on the home page there is a banner ad that says “WE ARE HIRING”
On a KU site
Priceless
Excellent report Denver.
His resume is more impressive than I realized. Odd that Edsall has gotten so much play because of his connection to Lew but Holtz has been a bit off the radar.
You've totally hit on something here
Edsall is the guy who replaced Holtz at UConn but it was Lew and Skip who turned that program around so it could go Big East
My Favorite Lou Holtthhhh Speech:
Everyone needs 4 things in life:
* First, you have to have something to do. Stories of healthy individuals who die within a few years of retiring are too numerous to list. It’s also true that prisoners serving life sentences sleep for 12-14 hours a day because they have nothing in their lives that compels them to get out of bed.
* The second thing you have to have is someone to love. We are put on earth to love other people. Those who don’t have anyone exist without happiness.
* Third, you have to have something to believe in. I’ve always said that not believing in a god is not an option for humans. You might not believe in the Heavenly Father, as I do, but everyone has a god. It might be the quest for power or material gains; it might be a cause–environmentalism, conservationism, global socialism, or one of countless other isms, or it might be the search for peace–but everyone has a god.
* Finally, you have to have something to look forward to. In his famous book Man’s Search for Meaning, Dr. Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, made some interesting clinical observations in the midst of the horrors of Auschwitz. Dr. Frankl noticed that prisoners who had nothing to live for and nothing to look forward to died quickly of starvation, fatigue, or abuse at the hands of their captors. But those who survived shared one thing in common: They all had something to look forward to. Often the survivors lived for the thought of rejoining a relative, or escaping to another country. Sometimes they hung on in the hopes of exacting revenge on the Nazis. But whatever the reason, those who survived the greatest atrocity in history were those who had something to look forward to.
RODD TEESING, my arch-nemesis! Give us back our TODD, you rapscallion!
by KennyGregoryRockThaCradle on Dec 8, 2009 9:00 PM CST reply actions
great stuff...
I have to say I’ve always enjoyed Lou’s philosophical pieces during the college football broadcasts.
Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.
Most recruiting
seems to be done by the assistants, so that doesn’t really worry me. Actually, I think him having connections someplace other than TX is great, b/c I don’t think we can ultimately be successful if we focus on UT (A&M, TTU, Baylor) scraps. We need to learn from the Huskers, who may have even less in state talent than KU, and recruit nationally.
What does worry me tho, is the demotion after 2003. Why?
What really worries me tho, is increased exposure to Lou. I’ll take Mark Mays commentary any day, but the moment I see the reincarnation of Harry Carey, I change the channel. Besides, we already have (’09) every game televised.
The demotion to QB coach
As best I can tell from talking to gamecock fans, Skip was a fan of spreading it out and running zone option reads in the running game as well as a more open passing game where Lou wanted to stick with more of a power football. Lou was the HC so he took over the playcalling to stick with the power game.
gotta say
The more I read about the guy, the more I could really get behind this hire.
So for me, right now:
1. Harbaugh
2. Holtz
3. Gill/Fedora
Although I don’t know enough about Fedora yet. Denver, got anything coming?
Got a Sumlin and Fedora on tap today...along with the bball preview for tonight
Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.
oh and I'll get to the power rankings this week as well...
this season has really wrapped up nicely, can’t wait till next years RCT Football League
Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.
As far as the Holtz hire...
I’m with the majority of folks around here who feel like it’s a hire slightly above that of Gill/Fedora or Sumlin. He may not have that homerun feel of a Harbaugh/Fulmer etc, but he’s a younger guy that has been successful for a longer period of time than those others. I’d be happy with it, I really would.
It’s interesting though that many of the other KU message boards etc are not very high on this guy. Most who take a moment to look at the resume warm up to the idea but it’s a name that some write off almost immediately for some reason.
Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.
message boards
I think it’s purely a knee-jerk reaction to his name and family. Lou is a bit obnoxious on TV. It’d be the same way if Dick Vitale had a son who was THE hot name in coaching and KU had an opening. There would be a LARGE contingent of folks who would not want that coach simply because of his name.
That and the fact that it’s a message board. :)
I'd love to see Dicky V's coach on the sidelines
ARE YOU SERIOUS? HEY, THAT PLAY WAS AWESOME BABY. YOU’RE AN ELEVATOR MAN, HIGH RISER!
Coach can you tell us about the recruiting class you are bringing in?
THEY ARE AWESOME BABY, DIAPER DANDIES. THESE KIDS ARE ABSOLUTELY SENSATIONAL! THEY MIGHT BE CUTTING DOWN THE NETSSSS (now the awkward dicky v stare/smile into the camera for 5 seconds because ESPN never knows when he is done yelling and Dicky V doesn’t know how to do a sign off)
by Andrew Clark on Dec 9, 2009 11:53 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Some insight on Holtz from a Pirate
As an ECU fan, I absolutely hate the thought of Skip Holtz leaving. It is hard to even describe what he has done for the program at ECU. We were a proud program in the 1990’s, with a good deal of success including numerous wins over BCS programs. We fell on hard times in the early 2000’s, and under coach John Thompson, we endured a 1-11 season followed by a 2-10 season. In comes Holtz, and in his very first year we go 5-7. It has been steady improvement ever since.
Year 1: 5-7 (up from 2-10 the previous year)
Year 2: 7-5, appearance in PapaJohns.com Bowl (L to South Florida)
Year 3: 8-5, appearance in Hawaii Bowl (W over ranked Bosie State team)
Year 4: 9-5, Won conference championship ( L to Kentucky in Liberty Bowl)
Year 5: 9-4, Repeat as conference champs, upcoming Liberty Bowl against Arkansas
We are the first team to repeat as CUSA conference champs since the league split into two divisions. If we beat Arkansas, we will finish at 10-4, meaning he improved our record every year he has been with ECU. During his 5 years we have wins over Duke, NC State, UVA, UNC, and VT from the ACC, and a win over WVU from the Big East. Our 43,000 seat stadium sold out for every home game for the second year in a row, leading to our upcoming stadium expansion which will close in one end zone and raise capacity to 50,000.
Believe me, his brings much more to the table than just a last name. He is a great coach and a great motivator of players and fans alike. ECU fans have dreams of him staying and growing the program (like Beamer did at Virginia Tech), and leading us into the Big East. We also realize however, that he will leave ECU if the right opportunity comes along. I would hate to see him go, but KU would benefit immensely from bringing him in.
by VAPirate91 on Dec 9, 2009 8:53 AM CST reply actions 2 recs
and...I like him even MORE now!
appreciate you chiming in here VAPirate. I think after doing a little research on his coaching career it’s easy to see the guy is a qualified candidate and would be a nice pickup for the Jayhawks if they choose to go that route and if Holtz would choose to accept.
One question for you and maybe you don’t know for certain but what is the opinion on his staff. Is Holtz very loyal to his staff, are there any on his staff known for their recruiting or any specific areas of strength? Curious because the biggest tragedy in this Mangino thing is that we had an excellent group of assistants who are likely to become casualties of the situation. Some of us are hoping there might be room to retain a few, but aren’t very familiar with Holtz’s assistants.
Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.
ECU Assistants
We have a good group of assistants under Holtz, with the real star being defensive coordinator Greg Hudson. I believe he is directly responsible for transforming what was basically one of the worst defenses in the nation into the best in our conference. Many Pirate faithful hope that he would be our next head coach if Holtz were to leave, but he does have a history with Holtz from before ECU, when he worked for him at UConn. Unfortunately, I really don’t know if Holtz would try to bring along members of his current staff if he took a new job.
As for recruiting, I think it goes without saying that he would have to learn the ins and outs of recruiting the Mid-West, since his coaching experience has all been on the east coast. Current KU assistants would seem to a valuable resource and I would be surprised if he didn’t take advantage of it. I do know that he has a great relationship with the high school coaches in the state (NC), and that he has a knack for seeing potential in players that might have been passed up by bigger name programs. Chris Johnson (who was from Florida) is the best example, but our current superstar, Dwayne Harris, is from Georgia and could definitely be playing at one of the area ACC or SEC schools.
Is he the right fit for KU? Not sure. A lot has to do with personalities and how well he meshes with alumni, current players, and school administrators. To be honest, there are times when I think he may wish he had a different last name, so that he would not be coaching from the shadow of his father. Like I said, I’d hate to see him go, but at the same time I’d be happy for him if it was a move up, to a good situation.
by VAPirate91 on Dec 9, 2009 11:05 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
You'd think with his last name though
He would be even more hungry to move up the coach ranks and take over a BCS conference team and try to make a run and some sustained success like his father have. Extra motivation to show the world “hey I am a damn good coach too” at least on a national level. Just my two cents.
by Andrew Clark on Dec 9, 2009 11:56 AM CST up reply actions
Like his father HAD, I meant
my typing skills today are fantastic
by Andrew Clark on Dec 9, 2009 11:56 AM CST up reply actions
WIN
I don't know, I like to think that things started out initially with good intentions, but then we just loused it up. Kind of like intelligence. We have this glorious thing that allowed us to survive for millenia and now we use it to write porn film plots involving pterodactyls. Talk about wasting the gift.
by tequilaprophet on Dec 9, 2009 12:37 PM CST up reply actions
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