Good will is Holtz's strategy

Not long after unpacking at Dodgertown this month, first-year University of South Florida football coach Skip Holtz noticed a young boy and his father.

Holtz had brought his team, still reeling from a tumultuous split with former Bulls coach Jim Leavitt, to Vero Beach to get away from potential distractions. During a 12-day camp, he wanted to bond with his players and wanted the players to get to know one another better. What no one could have envisioned before the Bulls loaded up for the three-hour drive across the state was that 8-year-old Cody Urbanczyk would become a building block.

In Holtz's world, coaching is more about relationships than third-down calls. He seeks a human touch in an era when many coaches have become more isolated, and Cody played a key role in the Bulls' bonding process.

"I think we have an obligation to teach our players how to be positive influences, how to be good citizens, how to get a degree and how to be good football players," Holtz said. "I believe winning is a result of building a program on a solid foundation of people."

As the Bulls practiced at Dodgertown, Cody and his father, Vero Beach police Officer Craig Urbanczyk, became regular guests, asking players for autographs. Unless Cody had to receive treatment for leukemia - a condition that has him on the prayer list regularly at St. Sebastian Catholic Church a few miles up U.S. 1 from Dodgertown - he was at USF practice with pen in hand. On several occasions, Holtz stopped to talk to Cody and his dad.

"You don't see that anymore," said Urbanczyk, who liked Holtz so much he bought season tickets. "I'm from Indiana, so I love the Irish, but I've got a new favorite team now."

A friendly face

Perhaps the most visible face in Tampa sports this summer thanks to all those billboards across town, Holtz has spoken to more people and signed more autographs than he can remember.

He has met with boosters, spoken at chamber of commerce luncheons and held town-hall meetings on campus. He has thrown out first pitches at a Yankees spring training game, a USF game and a Tampa Bay Rays game.

The public-relations blitz was a confluence of factors, including the school's messy split with Leavitt, who was fired in January after an investigation concluded he struck a player and interfered with the investigation. Leavitt, the program's only coach for its first 13 seasons, built a strong foundation on the field, but perhaps wasn't as fond of the public relations role.

Yet USF's place in the state's college football hierarchy - Florida, Florida State and Miami all have won national championships - requires salesmanship. Holtz said the publicity campaign was part of the plan he shared with athletic director Doug Woolard during the interview process.

"Being the head football coach is so much more than just standing out there on the field," Holtz said. "You've got an obligation not only to put the team together and keep everything running smoothly with your staff and your team, but you've got an obligation to sell your program, and that's why I have traveled around and spoken everywhere.

"When you look at the billboards and everything else, the head coach in a lot of respects is the face of the program. So we've got an obligation to get out and touch the people and to say thank you."

Those closest to Holtz say the friendly face the Tampa Bay area has seen making the rounds won't change.

"It's nice to be involved in football and it's nice to be able to sit back and admire the job your son does and the way he does it with class," dad and coaching great Lou Holtz said during a stop in Vero Beach. "You will never deal with a nicer person on a day-in and day-out basis.

"I've never seen him mistreat anybody."

Before last weekend's USF Football FanFest at Raymond James Stadium, Skip Holtz talked about how he looked forward to talking to fans.

Offensive coordinator Todd Fitch, who is at this fourth stop with Holtz - they worked together at Connecticut, South Carolina and East Carolina - swears Holtz's bubbly approach to life is not an act.

"He loves to interact with people," Fitch said. "That's one of his strengths as a head coach. He's good with people, good with the media, good with the fans. That's one of the reasons he has been successful."

Perhaps one of the most important steps for Holtz when he took over was to give the players room to deal with the Leavitt fallout on their own.

Senior center Sampson Genus said Holtz's approach worked perfectly for a wounded team.

"We were trying to find ourselves with a new coach," Genus said. "It really did seem like he was here to help."

On their final night in Vero Beach, the Bulls had a talent show. Every player had to get in front of the team and perform a skit. Holtz took the stage, too.

Quarterback B.J. Daniels is confident that whatever issues may have existed in the locker room when Holtz took over are buried in the past.

"We've moved on, and Coach Holtz is a big reason why," Daniels said. "He is a fun-loving guy, and that has kind of rubbed off on the team."

The afternoon USF wrapped up its stay in Vero Beach, Holtz drove his golf cart around the complex thanking the fans, landscapers, trainers, cooks and others.

Minor League Baseball CEO Tim Purpura, former general manager for the Houston Astros, watched from a distance. Purpura helped arrange USF's stay at Dodgertown, which is owned by Minor League Baseball.

"When I look at coaches and managers and people like that, I look at people like I do players," he said. "I try to evaluate their tools. From that point of view, Skip's approachability, his genuineness, his wit, all those pieces put together is a pretty compelling package of attributes."

Holtz seems to have won big in the first-impression category. In six days, he will be tested on the sideline when USF opens its first season under Holtz at home against Stony Brook.

What kind of identity is symbolic of a Holtz-coached team?

"Very physical, and a team that has had so much stress put on fundaments," said offensive line coach Steve Shankweiler, another who followed Holtz from East Carolina. "When we go into meetings, he'll point out every time one of my kids steps wrong. Everything about our football team is built around toughness and fundamentals."

Assistant head coach Rick Smith, who also followed Holtz from East Carolina, said Holtz is putting the same program in place at USF that he did at East Carolina, where he took over a program that had won three games in two years and turned the Pirates into back-to-back Conference-USA champions his final two seasons.

That means making players work in the classroom, too.

"I'm lucky to work for a man like Skip Holtz," Smith said. "He doesn't give academics lip service. He is sincere. If they don't go to class and we catch them skipping, they'll sit. I know better than anybody because I had several sit at East Carolina."

Cody's story

To help the players develop a better perspective of expectations, Holtz called on young Cody Urbanczyk. He tried to get Cody to come onto the field before practice one day, but Cody was too shy.

So Holtz told the players Cody's story. Several players told Holtz the next day how that affected them, and running back Demetris Murray suggested they let Cody know how much they appreciated his presence.

The next day, with Cody and his father standing behind a rope, the team came over and rubbed Cody on the head before practice.

Holtz smiled as his players showed the kind of human touch he preaches and practices.

"We went to Cody just to let him know that we're thinking about him," he said. "As we continue to progress and grow, I would like to see the players become the face of the program. We're getting there. It's not just about winning games."