Holtz wins over crowd as USF Bulls usher in new football era

TAMPA University of South Florida officials called it a press conference, but make no mistake, the instant Skip Holtz stepped onto the stage shortly after noon Friday at an outdoor amphitheatre on campus, one of the largest pep rallies in school history broke out.

The Sun Dolls danced, Rocky the Bull pranced, and USF stamped a huge exclamation point on the most tumultuous week in the history of the school's football program by introducing Holtz as the second coach in school history.

"Today is about USF's future," university president Judy Genshaft said, one week after announcing the firing of Jim Leavitt. "The most important consideration in hiring a coach is finding someone with the values of the institution, and we have found a perfect match with our values."

Holtz wasted little time in firing up the crowd of several hundred, sharing the reason he left East Carolina after five seasons for the USF job.
"We came to the University of South Florida because we want to win championships," Holtz said. "We want to bring the national championship to Tampa."

Friday's pep rally ended a hectic 24 hours for Holtz, 45, who agreed to a five-year, $9.1 million contract Thursday afternoon. He flew to Tampa on Thursday night with his family, held a 20-minute team meeting on campus, then delivered an energetic speech on a sun-splashed Friday afternoon, creating hope on campus in need of some good news.

Following a week of off-the-field headlines dominated by the Leavitt-Joel Miller controversy and USF's coaching search, Holtz provided a perfect remedy as the new face of the football program.

"It's kind of a tragic thing that happened with Leavitt," USF senior communications major Rob Boelke said as he hung around to meet Holtz. "But I think we've really done a good job on getting a guy in here who has a pedigree for winning. We're tired of talking about (the Leavitt-Miller scandal); we're tired of hearing about it, because we really don't know what's going on.

"We just kind of want to put it to bed."

Holtz compiled a 38-27 record in five seasons at East Carolina, leading the Pirates to Conference USA titles the past two seasons. USF contacted him Sunday to gauge his interest in replacing Leavitt, and he quickly moved to the top of USF's wish list.

"As I spoke to other athletic directors, coaches, conference commissioners across the country, one name continued to surface: Coach Skip Holtz," USF athletic director Doug Woolard said Friday.

Holtz's first order of business is to stabilize a program rocked by the ouster of Leavitt, the only coach in the program's 14-year history.

"I've got to build a trust factor between these players," he said. "They didn't choose me. I chose them."

Leavitt was fired Jan. 8 after a USF investigation concluded he grabbed and slapped Miller, a walk-on sophomore, at halftime of a win against Louisville on Nov. 21.

Holtz plans to meet with several recruits this weekend and begin assembling his coaching staff. He said he likely will retain some of the assistants on Leavitt's staff, but that he also hopes to persuade some members of his East Carolina staff to join him at USF.

Several players turned out for Holtz's news conference, ready to turn the page.

"It's a big page," freshman linebacker Sam Barrington said. "This page has a lot of words on it. With Coach Holtz being here, I think it's going to speed everything up."

"We don't like the circumstances that it happened under, but we're behind him," quarterback B.J. Daniels said.

As Holtz spoke Friday, his wife Jennifer and their children Hailey, Trey and Chad sat to his right wearing USF green and gold.

When he took over the East Carolina program in 2004, the Pirates had won only three games in two seasons.

He inherits a USF team coming off an 8-5 season and a victory in the International Bowl. The Bulls return eight starters on offense, and the young defense is expected to be anchored by Barrington.

Holtz understands this is a different situation than he inherited at East Carolina and Connecticut, his first head coaching job from 1994-98.

"This is not a thing where it's completely broke," he said. "We don't need to come in and tear it down, burn it down and say we need to start all over again. We have to come in and embrace the success they've had."

He's off to a good start.

"This puts the strawberry on top of the sundae," Holtz said of his reception Friday. "This was a great experience and I think it shows a little bit of the emotion and excitement this program is all about."