When Lou Holtz demoted his son Skip as USC offensive coordinator

(Editor’s Note: Skip Holtz brings his Louisiana Tech team to play against South Carolina on Saturday. Here’s a look back at his time as an assistant at USC under his father, Lou Holtz. This story originally ran on March 18, 2004.)

South Carolina coach Lou Holtz made it official: Skip Holtz is out as offensive coordinator.

Lou Holtz announced in December that he was taking over the Gamecocks' offense, but had refused to comment on whether his son would retain his title. The elder Holtz dodged questions about Skip again.

But through the school's sports information department, Lou Holtz released a list of his new staff's coaching assignments. There was no offensive coordinator listed. In addition to working with the quarterbacks, Skip Holtz will remain USC's assistant head coach.

"We'll just have to see what happens with the offensive staff, but they seem to be getting along well," Lou Holtz said. "They're good coaches. They're professionals."

USC hired five new assistants during a tumultuous offseason that began with Holtz firing four members of his original staff. But the most surprising move was his demotion of his son, who gave up a head coaching position at Connecticut to join his father in Columbia five years ago.

Attempts to reach Skip Holtz were unsuccessful.

This is not the first time Lou Holtz has operated without an offensive coordinator: He called his own offense at Notre Dame in 1990 and 1991.

With Holtz running a power running game with play-action passes, the Fighting Irish finished in the top 20 nationally in scoring and total offense both years.

Holtz has told players that he plans to return to that approach rather than stick with the spread offense that Skip Holtz brought with him from Connecticut. But Lou Holtz offered no hints about what his offense might look like while meeting with reporters before the start of spring practice.

Asked about whether he would emphasize a power running game, Holtz said: "You can put an emphasis on it, but if you're not successful it doesn't help."

On his offensive approach: "We're hopeful by the fifth game we can get a first down."

On specific goals for the spring: "Don't have any."

On whether he would be more demanding: "That's hard to say."

Holtz had short, clipped responses to many of the questions. In fact, Holtz sounded as if he had as many questions as anyone.

"We've got a lot of question marks on defense. We've got a lot of question marks on offense -- quarterback, receiver, offensive line, depth. Linebacker is a question mark," he said. "As far as people that played consistently well all last year, the only two players coming back who did that are (defensive ends) Moe Thompson and George Gause, and George Gause missed half the year."

Holtz said quarterbacks Blake Mitchell, Syvelle Newton and Michael Rathe all would get work this spring along with returning starter Dondrial Pinkins.

"I can't believe anybody would run a spring practice and only work with one quarterback," he said. "I've never done it and I don't expect to do it now."

The Gamecocks' 5-7 finish in 2003 gave Holtz his first back-to-back losing seasons in 32 years. The season-ending, 63-17 loss to Clemson was the worst of his career. Yet, the 67-year-old Holtz, who promised USC fans a championship when he was hired, said he has not lost his desire.

"I'm going to coach the way I know how," he said. "Not the way anybody wants me to, just the way I know how."

This story was originally published September 18, 2017 at 4:21 PM with the headline "When Lou Holtz demoted his son Skip as USC offensive coordinator."