'Skipping' to See Skip and Turtles on Fenceposts...

On Friday, I had my first chance of the new year to attend a school sporting event. There were no jerseys or pads or referees there, but the same atmosphere and out right insanity you have come to expect from our student body at USF was. I actually had to 'skip' class to be there. Skip Holtz, former front man of the back-to-back Conference USA champion East Carolina Pirates, and son of Notre Dame legend, Lou Holtz, was being introduced as our new head football coach. I couldn't miss this. We have only ever had one football coach, so to see the first ever 'new' coach be introduced, it should be something else, right?

The band played. Rocky danced. The Beef Studs were all painted up. It was just like being at a football game except on a Friday at lunchtime. We were thrilled, as students, to have an new coach. I was thrilled just to know the whole Leavitt controversy was coming to an end. I also think Skip was thrilled too. You could see it on the man's face as he took the stage, that he was absolutely jovial. Grinning from ear to ear. I felt that way too. I had the comfort of knowing my school, eager as it is to rise to national prominence academically as well as athletically, made the right choice.

I felt we needed to bring in a coach with a different attitude. We have a program here that is frustrated, looking to attain a Big East title, something that has alluded us at the ends of the last three seasons. Attitude was also important to factor into the search because we were coming away from the Joel Miller/Jim Leavitt fiasco. We needed someone who wasn't standoff-ish, wasn't arrogant, but still had the same hunger and drive that we all loved in Leavitt. Holtz is that man. And to boot, Holtz has the resume of a winner. He learned the trade as a graduate assistant with Bobby Bowden at Florida State. He then went on to assist his father as Offensive Coordinator at both Notre Dame and South Carolina, and won a combined 3 Conference Championships (Atlantic 10/Big East and C-USA) as a head coach at both UConn and ECU.

After the introduction and pleasantries with the crowd of near 2000, his opening quote was "It's like the old saying: If you see a turtle on top of a fence post, it didn't get there alone". "Wow man, did he just say that?" is all I could muster between the laughs. I then realized that that's exactly what I was thinking about with attitude change.

As the speech wore on, Holtz talked about the entire community banding together in order to reach higher goals, like continuing the growing traditions, graduating more players, and helping students become better people then they were the day they started at South Florida. He said that we will not be winning championships just because Skip Holtz came to Tampa.

"We will have the same goals now, as we will in 3, 4, and 5 years down the road...When the seniors who came here 4 and 5 years ago, they didn't say they wanted to be average. They wanted to be apart of something special. They wanted to be apart of something great...We came to the University of South Florida to championships, and we want to win a National Championship in Tampa."

Cheers and applauding ensued as the 'press conference' came to an end. The whole event felt more like a pep rally than anything. The crowd dissipated and the media then clambered to speak to Coach in a little more personal setting, right behind the stage where he was just introduced. Security urged everyone to leave, however, a handful of students remained behind for the possible chance to meet our school's new 'football god'. I was one of them. He took over an hour with the press before needing to exit for a scheduled coaches or team meeting. I can't really remember which it was. I was too busy realizing that if he came by to see us, I could totally use that as a chance to ask him some questions for the blog. I mean, he did say during the speech that "the student body is the heartbeat of any college atmosphere", so it would be impolite if he didn't stop by right?

That's precisely what he did, and I bet you all can guess what I did.

Me: "Hey Coach (shakes hand). My name is Rob Boelke and I am studying to become a sports journalist. Was wondering if I could ask you a question for my blog?"
Coach Holtz: "Hi there. Nice to meet you. Of course you can."
Me: "This, your hiring, is a big opportunity for us here at USF, as well as it is for you. The competition level is going up for all of us. As was mentioned, we are playing Florida next year, along with Miami over the next few, but I have to ask you, will there be a family feud when we go to South Bend in 2011?"
Coach Holtz: (Laughing) "No, there shouldn't be. It will be a great honor to go back to Notre Dame, just as it will be to play a lot of these major non-conference games coming up."
Student next to me: (Sarcastically) "Like when we play Stony Brook?"
Coach Holtz: (Again laughing) "Especially that one, that's the first one."

Too cool, just too cool.

I was quoted in the Saturday Sports page of the Tampa Tribune, in an article by Scott Carter, in regards to the hiring. To see the article, check the link below.

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

There is also a vid on Youtube of the event, where you can see me in the crowd.

Click Here - Youtube