December 2, 2004
Skip Holtz to be named ECU Coach
WIS in Columbia reports that sources at East Carolina have told them that Skip Holtz will be introduced as the new head coach of the Pirates on Friday.
Most recent speculation centered on Danny Ford before shifting to Holtz after initial reports of Mike O'Cain were replaced by a list of frontrunners that included Ron Zook, Holtz and Jimmye Laycock.
Ford told the press , "I'm on my farm today and I plan on being here tomorrow."
Holtz was the head coach at Connecticut before joining his father Lou at South Carolina. The younger Holtz also played for and coached with his dad at Notre Dame. South Carolina is paying a $480,000 buyout to Skip Holtz.
Comments:
posted on December 2, 2004 7:57 PM — link — abuse?Jeff Quinton said:
Josh,
I had the same thoughts. Skip's wife was interviewed for a story in the Style section of The State last season and dropped something in the middle of a puff piece about Skip only came to SC because Lou called him up at UConn and told him he wouldn't take the job without Skip.If Lou had retired as originally planned after the 2nd Outback Bowl win, Skip would have probably gotten the job - with some competition at that time from Charlie Strong.
posted on December 3, 2004 1:55 PM — 198.207.0.5 — link — abuse?
I fully agree Jeff. It amazing sometimes that how "hot" a coach is at the time plays into his job prospects. Look at Meyer and Petrino now. If either had gone 7-4 this season, suddenly they aren't geniuses. Willingham was the second coming of Jesus after his first season in ND. He wins less than half the next season and suddenly he's a coaching pariah. Did they forget or learn how to coach? Nope, it's all luck. Holtz will do good with ECU. They've traditionally had a solid mid level program in the past.
Robert said:
posted on December 3, 2004 3:13 PM — 161.247.135.55 — link — abuse?
Skip will do a great job at ECU just as he did with UConn. He is the main reason they are in the Big Easy, his work laid the foundation and then the next coach continued to build on it. I doubt he has any regets about leaving UConn to coach with his father and spend time with his mother ( who many thought would not live that much longer). Go Pirates !
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Josh McClain said:
posted on December 2, 2004 7:53 PM — 198.207.0.5 — link — abuse?Bet Skip is a little sad that he'll be watching his former school, UConn, compete in its first Division I-A bowl game this year. That could have been him. BCS School, new stadium, growing fan base.
Oh well.