East Carolina football coach Skip Holtz is staying, Pirates athletics director Terry Holland told the Raleigh Sports Club at Highland Methodist Church Wednesday.
"We kept our coach," Holland said. "Thank goodness. And what a terrific guy he is."
Cincinnati, which Holtz turned down in 2007, apparently will hire Central Michigan coach Butch Jones.
Javier Serna has covered sports for The News & Observer since 2007. He previously covered growth for the North Raleigh News, and sports at The Truth in Elkhart, Ind. E-mail
Comments
Admiration for Skip
Wed, 12/16/2009 - 22:10 — unc098Holtz is the best thing going for ECU, and seems to be a class act. I suspect he will be around for a couple more years. They will come up with the money to keep him interested for that amount of time. If he continues to win at this pace he will be outta there. Who knows maybe NCSU might be interested if TOB can't get any traction.
gawd
Wed, 12/16/2009 - 22:32 — gvillegatrI hope not b/c that is extremely feasible at the moment.
Strength and Condtioning
Thu, 12/17/2009 - 11:26 — YAR8packTOB may get run out of there by his strength and conditioning program coordinator. Seriously. 13 done for the year in 2009. 8 done for the year in 2008. 7 done for the year in 2007. WTF is up with that? I understand every team has injuries, but what's going on in Raleigh is well above the typical curve.
BTW, does anyone know anything about the progress of Coach Bible?
Good
Wed, 12/16/2009 - 15:51 — YAR8packGood for coach Holtz. He should wait till the job he wants comes open. ECU's about the best non-BCS series [Beyond Completely Stupid] school on the east coast. If he wins the Liberty Bowl this year, he should make somewhere close to 1.4 mil. No, that's not the amount that Mack is getting on a yearly basis, but I'm willing to bet it's by far more than what the majority of us are making.
Agreed
Thu, 12/17/2009 - 02:55 — Heels20No reason for Holtz to leave on a gamble. ECU is a (very?) good football team with fans who love Skip. He is still young, and as long as he has stuck with ECU, he should wait for a great program with great talent.
Jim Grobe is in a similar position (although an older coach). Had he gone to Arkansas, they would probably be talking about running him out by now. He has permanent job security at Wake and should not leave unless a USC/Florida-type offering comes his way.
Those Pig Fans are Crazy
Thu, 12/17/2009 - 12:02 — YAR8packYou're absolutely right about Grobe and Arkansas. I'm only 29, so I don't ever remember Arkansas being in the top-10 every year, but their crazy fans sure think that they're perennially one of the best teams. Swine flu must have taken its toll out there several years ago.