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ECU, Holtz sold on each other

By AARON BEARD
Associated Press Sports Writer

GREENVILLE — Skip Holtz had the pedigree, energy and optimism to become East Carolina's new football coach.

As it turned out, he also had a bit of good fortune.

When the Pirates traveled to Charlotte last weekend for a neutral-site game against North Carolina State, athletics director Terry Holland decided to meet with the former South Carolina assistant while he was in the area. Charlotte is about 80 miles north of Columbia, SC.

That meeting helped Holtz vault from just another candidate for the vacant East Carolina job to the man charged with returning a struggling program to prominence.

"I honestly don't know if we hadn't been going to Charlotte ... that we would have reacted nearly as quickly as we did, so we just got lucky," Holland said. "We looked a lot smarter than we were."

The school formally introduced Holtz as its 19th coach Friday, with the 40-year-old hardly sounding like a man inheriting a program that has lost 22 of its last 25 games.

"I promise you you'll have every ounce of energy, soul and life that I have in order to put this program back where it belongs," Holtz said, "and that's at a championship level."

Holtz, the son of former South Carolina and Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz, accepted the job Thursday. He replaces John Thompson, who resigned after going 3-20 in two seasons.

Holtz had spent the past six years on his father's Gamecocks' staff, serving as assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach this season. Before that he spent five seasons as the head coach at then-Division I-AA Connecticut.

He was introduced as the Pirates coach at a news conference attended by Chancellor Steve Ballard, Holland and a few hundred Pirates fans who cheered loudly when Holtz walked to the podium.

The coach already looked the part when he walked into the room. He wore a purple tie and purple shirt to go with the Pirates pin on the lapel of his black suit. And sons Trey, 10, and Chad, 8, came wearing Pirates jerseys.

By the time Holtz donned a purple Pirates cap and Holland handed him a purple East Carolina jersey, he was beaming at having a job he sought after Thompson resigned.

Holtz asked everyone he could think of to lobby Holland on his behalf. That list included Gamecocks basketball coach Dave Odom, the former Wake Forest coach who had a natural connection with Holland, the former Virginia basketball coach.

Holland soon talked with Holtz by phone, and met with Holtz in Rock Hill, SC — just south of Charlotte — the day before the Pirates' 52-14 loss to the Wolfpack.

Holtz visited East Carolina's campus in Greenville — about 90 miles east of Raleigh — on Tuesday. He left convinced he wanted the job.

"The more I was here, and the more I had the opportunity to meet people and see what the place was all about, the more my attitude became 'What do I need to do to become the next football coach at East Carolina?'" Holtz said. "This is a place that I want to be, that I'm excited about."

Nick Floyd, ECU's senior associate athletics director, noticed immediately.

"You could almost see the sparkle in Skip's eyes where he realized all East Carolina had to offer and the potential this place possesses," Floyd said. "And it was at that moment — at least for me — that we said, 'Hey we've got something special here.'"

Holtz has a five-year contract that will pay him a base salary of $150,000 per year. He will also receive a guarantee of $240,000 for the first year of appearances on TV, radio and Internet programs. That amount will increase by $25,000 for each of the following years.

Holtz will also receive a $25,000 bonus for any season in which the team reaches bowl eligibility.

That could be a tough task. The Pirates reached five bowls in 11 seasons under Steve Logan, including three consecutive postseason berths from 1999-2001, but his tenure ended with a 4-8 campaign in 2002. The Pirates haven't been close to postseason contention since.

Despite the program's recent struggles, Holtz said he expects the Pirates to contend for a bowl game right away.

"I can tell you that this will be a team that will go out and play extremely hard each and every week," he said. "And our goal will be to win a championship. We don't have a four-year plan or five-year plan."

Holtz served as offensive coordinator under his father at Notre Dame. In 1994, he became head coach at Connecticut, compiling a 34-23 overall record and a school-record 10 victories in 1998.

He then resigned to join his father's staff at South Carolina, where, coincidentally, the Gamecocks' first home loss in the Holtz era came at the hands of East Carolina on Sept. 18, 1999.

02/23/07 10:53 AM

©2004 The Associated Press. All rights rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Bonesville.net contributed to this report.