I guess this question pertains to ECU/USF/La Tech fans but it's an honest question. He did an excellent job at ECU. What happened at USF (at least in '11 and '12)? How do La Tech fans feel about their hire? Does his tenure at USF bother you? Or is it overshadowed by what he did at ECU? He seemed to do well his first year at USF going 8-5...but then went 8-16 the next two years.

I personally think he just wasn't a good fit at USF. He's a good coach but sometimes for whatever reason a certain coach doesn't fit at certain places. I always heard he was very disappointed with the fan support and lack of a true football culture at USF. I think La Tech will feel a lot more like ECU to him and I expect him to be a success there.

(07-30-2013 11:46 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  I personally think he just wasn't a good fit at USF. He's a good coach but sometimes for whatever reason a certain coach doesn't fit at certain places. I always heard he was very disappointed with the fan support and lack of a true football culture at USF. I think La Tech will feel a lot more like ECU to him and I expect him to be a success there.

agreed

(07-30-2013 11:46 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  I personally think he just wasn't a good fit at USF. He's a good coach but sometimes for whatever reason a certain coach doesn't fit at certain places. I always heard he was very disappointed with the fan support and lack of a true football culture at USF. I think La Tech will feel a lot more like ECU to him and I expect him to be a success there.

I thought USF was the only school other than ECU outside the P5 (not including ND or BYU) that averaged over 40,000 fans per game?

Having Greg Hudson here was the difference. GH went to FSU, and Todd Fitch went with him to USF. Game over.

(07-30-2013 11:57 AM)Niner National Wrote:  

(07-30-2013 11:46 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  I personally think he just wasn't a good fit at USF. He's a good coach but sometimes for whatever reason a certain coach doesn't fit at certain places. I always heard he was very disappointed with the fan support and lack of a true football culture at USF. I think La Tech will feel a lot more like ECU to him and I expect him to be a success there.

I thought USF was the only school other than ECU outside the P5 (not including ND or BYU) that averaged over 40,000 fans per game?

Putting Lville with the ACC, then yes. But USF has less of a history. Plus ~60% full vs. 95+% full can change a stadiums feel by a lot (even if the same number of people are there).

16-year-old program and pretty successful, but now it needs to do something to stand out. It hasn't had time to breed die-hard fans. It just needs to continue being successful. Holtz DID beat Notre Dame. The program, like UCF, FIU, and FAU, is so young, and it has to take recruiting leftovers from UF, Miami, and FSU, established national championship contenders.

Holtz is going to an offense-minded program at La Tech, where he is pretty old-school, ball-control kind of guy. That's the biggest challenge I see with that hire.

The problem with coaching at USF is that you are in Tampa; the "pro-mentality" kicks and the fans expect immediate results.

I'm a fan of USF but truthfully their fans do expect a bit much for such a young program.

He also tried to carry what worked in Greenville with him to USF, which was a mistake. He will not make that same mistake in Ruston.

Because he is a middle class man's Mark Snyder.

I often wondered why his tenure at USF didn't go as well as expected. Like a fellow poster said here, he's a good coach, La. Tech will learn this soon enough.

He said he had to clean up some APR problems and he was hit hard with injuries in the final year. He probably thinks he left it better than he found it and Taggart will reap the benefits.

I am hoping for the best from the Holtz hire. However, I get concerned when I keep hearing about his conservative offensive history. He says we will continue with the offense we have been using, and have been successful with historically. I can't see three yards and a cloud of dust working with our offensive "culture", and I believe he has made a commitment to our administration to maintain the high octane offense. People seem to like him, and I hope his personality is genuine, because we need to increase our fan and financial support. Early indications are his recruiting is successful.
Obviously, I want him to be a superstar. He can win at Tech despite not having all the bells and whistles other programs might have. I don't really expect him to stick around when he does win, however. Our previous coaches have sung the praises of Tech and the Ruston community all the way up to the time they are waving goodbye.

He loves the Pistol...

(07-30-2013 01:38 PM)BuzDawg73 Wrote:  I am hoping for the best from the Holtz hire. However, I get concerned when I keep hearing about his conservative offensive history. He says we will continue with the offense we have been using, and have been successful with historically. I can't see three yards and a cloud of dust working with our offensive "culture", and I believe he has made a commitment to our administration to maintain the high octane offense. People seem to like him, and I hope his personality is genuine, because we need to increase our fan and financial support. Early indications are his recruiting is successful.
Obviously, I want him to be a superstar. He can win at Tech despite not having all the bells and whistles other programs might have. I don't really expect him to stick around when he does win, however. Our previous coaches have sung the praises of Tech and the Ruston community all the way up to the time they are waving goodbye.

He'll be less likely to leave LaTech if successful unless he gets called by whatever his "destination non cartel school" happens to be --- partly, maybe mostly but not exclusively, because the bs conference members won't be so inclined to give him another shot. He took a then down non cartel school to a point the bs conferences felt he earned a shot in their elitist ranks. While IN those ranks he pretty much stunk up the joint --- he won't be anybody's number one or two for a very long time.

(07-30-2013 11:41 AM)TTT Wrote:  I guess this question pertains to ECU/USF/La Tech fans but it's an honest question. He did an excellent job at ECU. What happened at USF (at least in '11 and '12)? How do La Tech fans feel about their hire? Does his tenure at USF bother you? Or is it overshadowed by what he did at ECU? He seemed to do well his first year at USF going 8-5...but then went 8-16 the next two years.

Because for leaving us for a so called better opportunity Blackbeard's ghost cursed him as he did some of his predecessors. Sonny Randle left for Virginia, fired. Bill Lewis left for Ga Tech, fired. Skip for USF, fired. Others were fired or ran off like Pat Dye who escaped the curse for that reason and became successful. Dye didn't leave for a so called better opportunity and may have saved himself by going to Wyoming for a year 'til the Auburn position came open.

I don't know enough about the talent that was left at USF or the injuries, but Holtz was only there 3 years, his recruits probably never even got to see the field.

The trending of his program wasn't on his side but he 16-21 with wins over Bowl teams from Clemson, Miami, Louisville and Notre Dame isn't as aweful as some coaches do. Pretty short leash. I really thought he deserved another year with his recruits just hitting the upperclass.

I think they gave up on him to quick and La Tech ended up with a solid coach. He might never get you to the BCS but I think as long as he stays you are going to be good for 7-10 wins in this version of CUSA pretty consistently I think.

Holtz is the kind of coach that can be very successful when he has the built in "institutional support" of not only the athletic department supporting him but assistant coaches, local/regional media, local government, alumni, and fans.

Holtz is CEO type to runing a football program. There were times when fans or others in these mentioned areas did not support or agree with him that he did not handle it well. Rumors were out that non of his assistant coaches (some of which were with him entire time at ECU) would consider going with him to La Tech and had like weekly get togethers while they were looking jobs so they had a commoradree among themselves.

(07-30-2013 02:09 PM)StillJonesing Wrote:  I don't know enough about the talent that was left at USF or the injuries, but Holtz was only there 3 years, his recruits probably never even got to see the field.

The trending of his program wasn't on his side but he 16-21 with wins over Bowl teams from Clemson, Miami, Louisville and Notre Dame isn't as aweful as some coaches do. Pretty short leash. I really thought he deserved another year with his recruits just hitting the upperclass.

I think they gave up on him to quick and La Tech ended up with a solid coach. He might never get you to the BCS but I think as long as he stays you are going to be good for 7-10 wins in this version of CUSA pretty consistently I think.

USF attendance was in a very downward trend and if anyone saw any of their games last year, the numbers they reported were very inflated. For such a large school and large market, their attendance was putrid. Holtz had to go.

Firing Levitt was the biggest mistake in USF athletics history. I was at that game vs. Louisville where the "incident" happened. What a joke.....
BJ Daniels was a stud, just didn't have the right coaching IMO. The same situation reminds me a lot of UM's Jacory Harris, great talent, poor coaching. I also don't believe their recruiting has been quite as good as in years past.