Skip Holtz

Louis Leo "Skip" Holtz Jr. (born March 12, 1964) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Birmingham Stallions of the United Football League (UFL). Holtz has led the team to two USFL Championships, in 2022 and 2023, and a UFL Championship in 2024. Previously, he was the head coach for the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, South Florida Bulls, East Carolina Pirates, and the Connecticut Huskies. He has also served as an assistant coach for the South Carolina Gamecocks, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Colorado State Rams, and the Florida State Seminoles.

Skip's father, Lou Holtz, is a former head football coach and worked as a commentator on the television channel ESPN. Due to his father's career as a collegiate football coach, Skip was exposed to football from an early age. He played college football at Notre Dame, where he played mostly on special teams. He joined the coaching ranks immediately upon graduation from college, working initially for Bobby Bowden as an assistant at Florida State. He gradually worked his way through the ranks at various NCAA Division I schools before being named head coach at Connecticut in 1994. He has an overall record of 152 wins and 121 losses as a head coach, including eight bowl wins and two conference championships.

Early life

Skip Holtz grew up in many towns while his father coached football. After Skip was born in Connecticut, the Holtz family moved to Columbia, South Carolina for two years, as his father worked as an assistant coach at the University of South Carolina. In 1968, the family moved to Columbus, Ohio after Holtz took a job at Ohio State University. One year later, the Holtz family moved to Williamsburg, Virginia and The College of William & Mary for Lou's first head coaching position. After two seasons, Lou took a head coaching position with the Wolfpack of North Carolina State University. The family lived in Raleigh, North Carolina for four years until Lou accepted a head coaching job for the National Football League's New York Jets. The family lived in Cold Spring Harbor, New York for one year, while Lou coached the Jets. After resigning from the Jets, Lou took his family back to the American South when he accepted the head coaching job in Fayetteville, Arkansas, at the University of Arkansas in 1977. In Fayetteville, Skip attended Fayetteville High School and graduated in 1982.

Playing career

While at high school in Fayetteville, Skip played for the school's football team at the quarterback position, bringing moderate success to the program. As a high school junior, he visited Notre Dame and met with head football coach Gerry Faust and head basketball coach Digger Phelps. In his final year of high school, Skip was denied admission to Notre Dame due to average grades and his failure to learn a foreign language. Coaches Faust and Phelps encouraged Skip to enroll at nearby Holy Cross College, located adjacent to the university in Notre Dame, Indiana. After two years of study at Holy Cross, Skip had improved his grades and transferred to Notre Dame. After his first year, Skip decided he wanted to speak with Coach Faust about walking on to the football team during his senior year. The discussions were cut short, however, as after the 1985 season, Coach Faust resigned. Replacing Faust was Skip's father Lou. Skip began spring practice before the 1986 season as a quarterback, but quickly changed to flanker due to his lack of throwing ability. As a flanker, he earned 54 yards on three receptions at the Blue-Gold intra-squad game in the spring of 1986. During the fall of 1986, Skip played in all 11 games on special teams. He never caught a pass, but rushed once for one yard.

Coaching career

Early positions

Due to Skip's lack of success on the field and his desire to remain associated with football, he began to investigate the possibility of becoming a coach. After Skip told Lou he wanted to start coaching, Lou put together a list of potential coaches who would give him the best training. The list included Tom Osborne, Joe Paterno, and Terry Donahue, but upon hearing of Skip's interest, Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden said, "if you can be here in two days, I've got a job for you at Florida State."
Upon arriving at Florida State in 1987, he became the graduate assistant coach. He met his future wife, Jennifer, in Coach Bowden's office while in Tallahassee. He left after two years to become the wide receivers coach at Colorado State University under coach Earle Bruce. After one season, he went back to Notre Dame to coach under his father.

Notre Dame

Holtz's first job at his alma mater was to serve as wide receivers coach, and he filled the position for two years. In 1992, the team began a search for a new offensive coordinator. Lou's first choice, Joe Moore, declined. Lou then asked Skip for recommendations to fill the position. Skip initially said he wanted the position but said of Lou, "he couldn't do it at that time with me kipbeing his son." Skip then mentioned Mark Richt, who was then the offensive coordinator at Florida State. Lou Holtz called Coach Bowden to ask permission to speak to Mark Richt. Coach Bowden said Holtz could hire Richt as long as he could hire Skip. Coach Holtz said, "Well, if I'm just going to switch coaches, I might as well hire Skip." Skip became Notre Dame's offensive coordinator in 1992. Between 1992 and 1994, Skip and his father recorded 40 wins, eight losses, and one tie, an 82.7% winning percentage. Together, they coached Notre Dame to the Cotton Bowl Classic twice, beating Texas A&M both times. Skip had the third-best total offense in the NCAA during the 1992 football season.

Connecticut

Following his success at Notre Dame, Skip Holtz was asked to become the head coach of the Connecticut Huskies. He accepted the offer and took his first head coaching job on December 23, 1993. He replaced Tom Jackson, who had gone 14–19 over the past three years and had decided to resign on November 17, 1993. He agreed to a four-year contract at a salary of $95,000 a year. Even though Skip came from a "major football institution" (Notre Dame), University of Connecticut President Dr. Harry J. Hartley said that the hire "should not be seen as a signal that Connecticut intends to upgrade its program." Despite Hartley's remarks, Holtz planned to help elevate the team from I-AA to I-A. Holtz commented on Hartley's remarks by saying "I'd love to have the opportunity to coach a Division I team here...." In 1998, UConn, after 100 years of football and five years with Skip Holtz as its head coach, played in its first Division I-AA playoff game. The Huskies scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to beat Hampton University, 42–34. In the next round of the playoffs, the Huskies lost to eventual runner-up