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College Sports in the Carolinas
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from the 'ville
Wednesday,
August 24, 2005
By Al Myatt |
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Pirates embracing Skip's
formula
©2005 Bonesville.net
Papa Lou Holtz was a widely-renowned master at
the coaching art of poor mouthing — the technique of building a foe up in
order to create a false sense of confidence while providing his own program
with a certain backs-to-the-wall mentality.
His comments could land with all the spin and
bite of a Phil Mickelson lob wedge.
In East Carolina parlance, poor mouthing is a
close cousin of the highly-effective "chip on the shoulder" which has served
as motivation for some of the Pirates' finest moments.
Just last season, Papa Lou described himself
as a "basket case" before South Carolina played South Florida. He declared
that the Bulls "had a huge advantage in the kicking game." His expressed
anxiety was relatively humorous in retrospect of a 34-3 Gamecocks victory.
Then again, the case could be made that Papa
Lou's teams were seldom guilty of taking anyone lightly.
The source must be considered when examining
comments the old poor mouthing master made in an interview with The State
newspaper in Columbia, SC, regarding the ECU program now directed by son
Skip Holtz that was published on Sunday.
"I talk to Skip all the time," the elder Holtz
said. "I love him. I love all my children, but someday I'm going to be known
as Skip Holtz's father. I don't have any doubt about it. I went up and
watched them work out this spring, and I understand why they're 3-27 the
last three years. I love the attitude. I love the players' work (ethic). ...
"
For the record, the Pirates haven't been quite
as bad as 3-27. Over the last three years, the record is slightly better —
7-28.
Like father, like son
Like his dad, the younger Holtz has expressed
an appreciation for the attitude of the players in the program he took over
after a 2-9 season in 2004.
The challenge ECU's Holtz faces bears some
similarity to the situations he encountered when he became head coach at
Connecticut and when he joined his dad's staff at South Carolina as
assistant head coach.
"It's very similar from a win-loss record when
you look at it," Skip said. "South Carolina had won one game the year before
we got there. Connecticut, it was three and here it's two. ... I think the
thing that has really encouraged me about this team is the way that this
team has bought into the program. At South Carolina, it took us a little
longer for them to buy into it. Same thing at Connecticut."
Both the Huskies and the Gamecocks experienced
significant improvement while Skip was involved. Connecticut was 34-23 in
five seasons with Holtz at the helm, including a 10-win season in 1998.
South Carolina's perceptible progress included victories in the 2001 and
2002 Outback Bowls.
When Skip was offensive coordinator at Notre
Dame in 1992 and 1993, the Irish were 21-2-1 and averaged almost 37 points
per game. It can be assumed from his resume, which also includes a winning
stint as an assistant at Florida State, that the younger Holtz knows
something about building successful teams.
"As I have said before, there are two ways to
strengthen the team — one is through addition with this freshmen class and
some of the transfers — and one is through deletion," Skip said.
Regarding the deletion mode, there is a
prominent one at present — that of Jamar Flournoy, who had 75 tackles last
season and appeared poised to flourish in 2005 following a move from outside
linebacker to safety. Flournoy
has been suspended indefinitely for a
violation of team rules. The senior from Valley, AL, by way of Hutchinson
(KS) Community College has a meeting with Holtz today that may provide more
substance on his status.
But back to Papa Lou — who occasionally
provided a diversion with magic tricks — and his Greenville-based progeny.
In contrast to that slight-of-hand aspect of his heritage, Skip says smoke
and mirrors aren't what will get it done at ECU.
"Football's football," Skip said. "There's a
formula for how you win and lose. It's not magic. It's not special. It's not
trick plays, It's not gimmicks. It's fundamentals of blocking and tackling
and solid football. There's a formula for it. ... The quicker we get these
guys to buy into the formula and understand it, the quicker we're going to
have success."
Buying in
Conversations with some of the Pirate players
indicate that they are sold on Holtz personally and as the program's trusty
guide for leading ECU out of the football wilderness.
"Personally, I just think Coach Holtz is
looser (than predecessor John Thompson)," said senior offensive lineman Gary
Freeman. "He's not really uptight, I guess you could say. On the field he's
just as intense as anybody, any head coach, but off the field he's a regular
guy you can talk to.
"You don't necessarily have to talk about
football. You can talk about life, anything. He's just a looser guy, you
know, just a more upbeat type of guy."
Quarterback James Pinkney said Holtz supported
him as he overcame academic issues to rejoin the Pirates.
"He encouraged me all through the summer about
getting my grades back together," Pinkney said. "He's more of an open guy.
He tells you what's on his mind. He tells you what needs to be done."
Holtz and staff have been educating the ECU
players about that formula for success in the hot August process of
preparing the Pirates for that Sept. 3 season opener at home with Duke.
"Coach told us it's all about who makes less
turnovers," said senior linebacker Chris Moore. " ... We've just got to keep
it simple. It's going to be great. We've got a great game plan for Duke. ...
We will be ready for Duke."
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02/23/2007 12:33:27 AM
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