Former college football head coach and current head coach of the USFL’s Birmingham Stallions, Skip Holtz, is returning to college football. Kind of.
According to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Northwestern agreed in principle on Monday with Holtz to join the Wildcats’ football program as a “special assistant to the head coach.” Holtz will provide assistance to interim head coach David Braun, who took over earlier this month following the firing of Pat Fitzgerald in Evanston. It is unclear what Holtz’s duties will be with the program.
The 59-year-old Holtz will bring extensive experience to his role with the Wildcats. He began working in football in 1987 as a graduate assistant at Florida State. After also spending time at Colorado State and Notre Dame, Holtz earned his first head coaching opportunity in 1994 as the head coach at Connecticut. He would be the Huskies’ head coach till 1998 when he left the then-FCS program to be the assistant head coach at South Carolina.
Holtz would also spend time at East Carolina (2005-2009), South Florida (2010-2012), and Lousiana Tech (2013-2021) as a head coach. In 2022, he became the general manager and head coach of the USFL’s Birmingham Stallions. In his first two seasons, he’s led the franchise to a 17-3 overall record and a pair of USFL championships.
The Northwestern Wildcats will begin their 2023 on Sunday, September 3, on the road as they face the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The Wildcats are looking for their first win on American soil since October 16, 2021, which was also against Rutgers.