Skip Holtz Leaving ECU For South Florida

Holtz leaving ECU for South Florida

By J.P. Giglio
Raleigh News & Observer

Posted: Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010

TAMPA, Fla. - After five seasons with East Carolina, and almost as many chances to leave, Skip Holtz said goodbye to the Pirates on Thursday and accepted the coaching job at South Florida.

He inherited a program in 2005 that was coming off a 3-20 two-year stretch. Holtz leaves ECU with two consecutive Conference USA titles, four straight bowl appearances and a 38-27 record. In the last three years, Holtz was in the mix for jobs at Syracuse, West Virginia and Cincinnati (twice) but remained in Greenville.

"I'm glad he stayed my whole career," ECU senior defensive end C.J. Wilson said. "We all knew he had other opportunities. I'm happy for him but sad that he's leaving ECU."

After meeting with ECU players Thursday, Holtz told The Daily Reflector that he accepted USF's offer largely because his parents and the parents of his wife Jennifer all live in Florida.

"We have some family decisions to make," Holtz said. "With my parents living an hour from there, with my wife's parents being in that area and my wife being from that area [Port Charlotte], and looking at the decision I had to make, you don't get many opportunities to be around family."

At USF, Holtz, 45, also gets an opportunity to coach in a conference, the Big East, with an automatic Bowl Championship Series bid, something ECU's league, Conference USA, did not have. The South Florida program has undergone some recent turmoil, however.

USF has had four straight winning seasons, but it fired coach Jim Leavitt on Jan. 8 after he was accused of striking one of his players. Leavitt was the Bulls' only coach in the program's 13-year history.

Holtz still inherits a better on-field situation at USF than the one that greeted him at ECU when he arrived in Greenville. Located in Tampa, Fla., a rich recruiting area, South Florida has returning talent – nine starters on offense, including quarterback B.J. Daniels. The Bulls went 8-5 this season, capping the campaign with a 27-3 International Bowl win over Northern Illinois.

With the Feb. 3 signing day looming, the Pirates need a new coach as soon as possible. In a statement released by the school, ECU athletics director Terry Holland said he has started his search. He also thanked Holtz and his family.

"They will be missed, but have provided ECU with a solid foundation for future success," said Holland, who hired Holtz. "It will be up to us to build on that foundation."

Temple coach Al Golden, Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster and former Clemson coach Tommy Bowden are three possible candidates to replace Holtz.

"We're certainly in a better position than when Skip got here," said Mark Wharton, the executive director of the Pirate Club. "He turned around the program and got it back to where our fans expect, and probably even more."

Although ECU's next coach will inherits a team coming off back-to-back, C-USA titles and consecutive nine-win seasons, it also will lose 28 seniors from this season.

Holtz gradually turned the Pirates from a 2-9 mess in 2004, to a five-win club his first season, followed by seven wins in 2006, eight in 2007 and nine in both 2008 and 2009.

The high-water mark for Holtz at ECU came after the Pirates followed a 41-38 win over Boise State in the 2007 Hawaii Bowl with consecutive upsets of Virginia Tech and West Virginia at the start of the 2008 season.

The 24-3 win over No. 8 West Virginia ranks as the biggest upset in school history, in terms of an opponent's AP ranking.To the delight of ECU fans, Holtz also beat N.C. State in 2006 and North Carolina in 2007, making him one of only two ECU coaches with a win over the Tar Heels.

A bitter 20-17 overtime loss to Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl marked the end of Holtz's tenure on Jan. 2.

Holtz's coaching background was as an offensive assistant, and running back C.J. Johnson, now an NFL star, was key in the program's rise. But the Pirates won with defense the last two seasons. They lost defensive coordinator Greg Hudson to Florida State last week.

Holtz was also known as a master motivator, much like his father, Lou Holtz, the former Notre Dame, N.C. State and South Carolina coach.

"He got the players to believe in him and buy into his system," Wilson said.

After Thursday, Holtz will have to sell his system to a new set of players.


AP Sports Writer Aaron Beard in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.