My Coach Holtz appreciation thread!

[jharris]

HogDawg and PawDawg seem be fixated on seeing the glass as 20% empty rather than 80% full.

My basis of evaluating Coach Holtz is based on whether or not he wins more than he loses (he does) and how his win rates compare to his predecessors.
Compared to his 1-A predecessors at Tech, the rest of the 1-A program in its entirity, Coach Holtz has:
the second best winning percentage, second only to Crowton (0.61 vs. 0.59) who was only at Tech for three years,
the most wins of a 1-A coach in the program,
three times the number of bowls wins as all the program's other bowl wins earned without him,
held the nation's longest bowl win streak at 6 and given Tech the third best bowl percentage in the nation,
earned Tech's first 1-A 10-win season that set an Independence Bowl record,
won CUSA West three times.
Empirically, Coach Holtz is Tech's most successful 1-A coach.

I do hear a lot complaints aimed at him. When I read between the lines, it seems like people are just angry that Tech is not a ranked P5 program or something like that (see my comment on fixation with status). That's unfortunate, because it denies appreciating what Tech actually is--a very respected, successful G5 program who is consistently among the best in their conference, a program that P5 teams know they're rolling the dice when they schedule. That is something to be proud of, and I am. But this lack of appreciation for what Tech actually is denigrates what the program has accomplished.

I appreciate HogDawg pointing out that following sports involves disappointment. Point well taken. As I said, I've followed Tech football since it moved to 1-A. So HogDawg's disappointments do not impress me, because they are indistinguishable from past disappointments by Tech prior to Holtz. Meanwhile, Tech has gone seven years without a losing season, its longest streak since moving to 1-A.

What prompted me to start this thread is that I thought the negativity aimed at the coach and the program was way out proportion to what they deserved. I saw a lot people constantly talking crap about something that, on the whole, is good. Really, I think, in aggregate, Tech's program has been successful and deserves a lot of appreciation. Instead the tenor on the board is so negative that it often seems petty and unfair. That's no way to attract people, be they fans, coaches or players.

[glm47]

HogDawg and PawDawg seem be fixated on seeing the glass as 20% empty rather than 80% full.

My basis of evaluating Coach Holtz is based on whether or not he wins more than he loses (he does) and how his win rates compare to his predecessors.
Compared to his 1-A predecessors at Tech, the rest of the 1-A program in its entirity, Coach Holtz has:
the second best winning percentage, second only to Crowton (0.61 vs. 0.59) who was only at Tech for three years,
the most wins of a 1-A coach in the program,
three times the number of bowls wins as all the program's other bowl wins earned without him,
held the nation's longest bowl win streak at 6 and given Tech the third best bowl percentage in the nation,
earned Tech's first 1-A 10-win season that set an Independence Bowl record,
won CUSA West three times.
Empirically, Coach Holtz is Tech's most successful 1-A coach.

I do hear a lot complaints aimed at him. When I read between the lines, it seems like people are just angry that Tech is not a ranked P5 program or something like that (see my comment on fixation with status). That's unfortunate, because it denies appreciating what Tech actually is--a very respected, successful G5 program who is consistently among the best in their conference, a program that P5 teams know they're rolling the dice when they schedule. That is something to be proud of, and I am. But this lack of appreciation for what Tech actually is denigrates what the program has accomplished.

I appreciate HogDawg pointing out that following sports involves disappointment. Point well taken. As I said, I've followed Tech football since it moved to 1-A. So HogDawg's disappointments do not impress me, because they are indistinguishable from past disappointments by Tech prior to Holtz. Meanwhile, Tech has gone seven years without a losing season, its longest streak since moving to 1-A.

What prompted me to start this thread is that I thought the negativity aimed at the coach and the program was way out proportion to what they deserved. I saw a lot people constantly talking crap about something that, on the whole, is good. Really, I think, in aggregate, Tech's program has been successful and deserves a lot of appreciation. Instead the tenor on the board is so negative that it often seems petty and unfair. That's no way to attract people, be they fans, coaches or players.

Do you still live with your momma?

[Blue Dawg]

if the glass is 20% full of shit, doesn't matter what the 80% is

[Lotsudo]

I acknowledge your supremacy in driving suckage, sir

LMAO

[Tech79]

[QUOTE=HogDawg;1806729]Skip Holtz's career at LA Tech has had more than his share of disappointments:

- Simply beat UTSA last year, and LA Tech makes the CUSA Championship game (CCG) as the West rep. But nooooooo. With Tech leading 26-13 early in the 4th Qtr, Holtz manages to coach his way to another embarrassing defeat. UTSA upset Tech 27-26, and UAB --a team Tech defeated earlier-- made the CUSA championship game instead.

- It was the same story in 2019. Tech clearly had a team good enough to win a CUSA title. But after posting an 8-1 record (the lone loss was to the Texas Longhorns), Holtz suspended J'Mar Smith for 2 games, on the eve of our road game at Marshall. With Smith out for 2 games, the results were predictable "back-to-back" losses to CUSA contenders Marshall & UAB. Yeah, Tech finished the year 10-3 --something jharris wants to brag about-- but this was a huge disappointment when we all knew Tech could have finished 13-1 (with the CCG & a New Year's Day bowl) and a CUSA Championship. Holtz literally coached his way out of a championship in 2019. Again, Holtz, just can't win the big ones.

- It was the same story back in 2014. On the eve of LA Tech's first appearance in the CCG (against Marshall again), Holtz suspended 6 starters and subsequently fell to the Thundering Herd 26-23. And before you say it wasn't his fault, just remember that Holtz recruited and/or managed those players. He was in charge. It's his fault that HE didn't keep them in line, etc... Of course this was the same season that Tech also suffered embarrassing losses at home against 1AA "rival" Northwestern State, and a late season road game loss to upstart ODU in OT.

Others:

- In 2018, Tech collapsed in CUSA play late in the season, losing the last 2 regular season games to Southern Miss (who was 4-5 at the time) 21-20, and to a 2-9 WKU team, 30-15. That last embarrassment was at home. On national TV. (CBSSN)

- Should I even bother to mention USM's improbable "come from behind" win over Tech in 2017? That's the one where Tech had a 27-16 lead with only 1:00 left in the game, and still managed to LOSE in double OT to USM, 34-27. Only Holtz is capable of delivering such a shit show. Of course 2017 was also the year that Holtz humiliated Tech fans with 3 other 1-pt losses in games with South Carolina, UAB and North Texas, in addition to the USM OT disappointment.

- Speaking of 1-pt losses, in 2016 Tech stated the season with a 1-pt loss at Arkansas, a game we clearly should have won. But Tech was good enough to play in the CCG again that year, but just not good enough to win it. After defeating WKU 55-52 in Ruston earlier in the season, Holtz's Dog's decided they didn't want to be champions after all, and lost to WKU in the CCG, 58-44.

Just remember, Holtz is the king of letting the opposition come from behind to win.

There were other disappointments (KSU, WKU, etc..) of course, but I think I've made my point. Now that Marshall has fired long time coach Doc Holliday, Holtz is the longest serving head coach in CUSA. Holliday was 89-54 in 11 years, won the 2014 C-USA championship over Tech, and lost the 2020 conference title game 22-13 to UAB. Holliday was 3-0 against LA Tech and Skip Holtz, including last year.

Holtz can't win the big one. Any big one. And that's a problem.




Wow, you have resurrected some nightmares here! I posted the positives I saw with Holtz, but I totally agree with you about the collapses unfortunately listed above. Painful to think about all of them. I drove to San Antonio to watch that fourth quarter debacle last year. I was on an airplane in 2019 trying to catch the score of the Marshall game, hoping beyond hope that we could patch something together without J-Mar, nope. In 2017, we were on a safari in Africa and I got up to go the the "wi-fi" tent at 5:00 a.m. to see if I could get the score and we are up as you said 27-17 with 1:00 minute left. Surely we finally have a solid win against USM, nope. When I got the final score, our Kenyan safari guide though I might be ill. I told him I was ill, but it had nothing to do with medical issues. And I would say sitting through that 30-15 disaster against Western Kentucky was one of the all-time worst. My wife always tells me I can't take these games that seriously, and if you want to stay a fan, she's right.

[PawDawg]

Holtz didn't suspend anybody. He was told to suspend Smith because Smith failed his second test after KNOWING he would be tested.

2014 - The players flunked out. Basically would not go to class.

Both the above are on Holtz and not what I call running a clean program.

[techman05]

I'm not going to drive in from Plano to watch the piece of crap offense that Skip has turned Tech's offense in to.

^^^This!! IMO, our fans have shown they will show up to watch us win 56-48. However, we will not show up to watch us win or lose 21-20. Holtz said he would keep the style. It only took him 1 season to completely remove that high octane, swagger culture we had so appreciated.

[techman05]

Until the bowl field is cut in half, I will not judge success by that. Until our conference is much better, winning seasons don’t do much for me either. We need to win our conference. We need to win these games against Miss St, Baylor, and similar. With the sanctions I’m sure they will get, we won’t play lsu for a while. More than anything, I want to see us do the unexpected instead of the clockwork like collapsing we have seen for years in key games.

[dawg80]

I was pleased and encouraged after our 14-0 win over Miami in the bowl, to finish 10-3. Then there was last year...with it being a rebuilding year, punctuated by the virus and the rash of bad luck, especially on the OL, the makeshift/ever-changing schedule I can overlook the lousy 5-5 finish...provided Holtz does something decent this year.

[Bone_afide_Dawg]

There’s been lots of interesting punch and counter punch here. Here are my most basic points. Regardless of the team on the field, the previous AD overpriced the program driving fans away with ridiculous parking costs and ticket prices that were simply too high. Half the cost and twice the fans is a pretty simple formula to put butts in the seats. In addition to that Tech ran the students away by kicking them out of Hideaway Park. Without their numbers, youth and enthusiasm things are already only a fraction of what they could be.

As for Holtz, he’s an underachiever (period)! There’s a say, “who you are speaks so loudly that I can’t hear a word you’re saying.” In other words Holtz dresses up everything very well, he runs a half ass interesting also ran program, but he never wins the underdog or big game and yet he’s very capable of losing the easiest game. I don’t care if Holtz brought the Buccaneers to Ruston, somehow he’d coach them to a lose or speaker against ULM. He doesn’t go into any game to beat the crap out of the opponent. Instead he coaches in hopes the other team will lose.

I didn’t renew my seasons ticket for the first time in 40 years because of Tech’s overall lacking drive towards excellence. I’m done supporting half ass.

[dawg80]

After a couple of bowl wins, say back in 2015, some of us took that moderate success and weighed it against the obvious, glaring absences of success and posed a simple question: "Is there nothing more?" OMG! we got taken to task by some posters who posted about all the lean years in Tech football history and blasted us with "how dare you!"

Well...that question has been answered, and answered again and again: "No, there is nothing more. This is a Holtz football program with a glass ceiling on it."

Give us more 8-4 seasons on the high end, and hopefully 9-4 if we get back to winning bowls.

[PawDawg]

After a couple of bowl wins, say back in 2015, some of us took that moderate success and weighed it against the obvious, glaring absences of success and posed a simple question: "Is there nothing more?" OMG! we got taken to task by some posters who posted about all the lean years in Tech football history and blasted us with "how dare you!"

Well...that question has been answered, and answered again and again: "No, there is nothing more. This is a Holtz football program with a glass ceiling on it."

Give us more 8-4 seasons on the high end, and hopefully 9-4 if we get back to winning bowls.

Exactly. Some of us didn't buy the lame excuses for our team being so bad in 2013. It was obvious in year one that he was an under achiever.

[T1]

Holtz is hit and miss. 2014 (Sokol), 2015 (Driskel), 2016 (Higgins), and 2019 (J'mar) were fun and great offenses and championship-caliber teams. 2013, 2017, 2018, and 2020 were boring and crappy offenses and not championship-caliber teams. The common denominator of the championship-caliber teams seems to be having a Senior QB. 2020 is the only year a Senior QB struggled under Holtz.

[SicemDawgz]

Holtz is George McClellan. Great at creating a team, but sub par at making battle field decisions. McClellan was loved by his soldiers, but was too timid and cautious on the battlefield and always seemed to stall long enough to let his enemy escape or resupply. He also was reluctant to trust in reports from his subordinate officers, and was never able to seize the moment, but instead waited for his enemy to make a mistake which cost him. That’s Holtz to a T.

[stodgdog]

Do you still live with your momma?

What?