Skip Holtz may have spent some time at the college level over the last few months but it’s safe to say he is thrilled to get back to work with the Birmingham Stallions. After winning a pair of championships in the USFL, the Stallions will take on a new challenge as a part of the United Football League (UFL), a new spring league which combines four teams from the USFL and four teams from the XFL.
“Now that this news broke, I haven’t been able to sleep at night,” Holtz said. “I’m fired up. It’s good stuff, it’s exciting.”
Birmingham joins the Houston Roughnecks, Memphis Showboats, and Michigan Panthers as teams joining from the USFL. They will have new opponents this season including the D.C. Defenders, San Antonio Brahmas, St. Louis Battlehawks and the reigning XFL champion Arlington Renegades.
UFL players will report to training camp Feb. 24. Its teams will play a 10-game regular season, starting March 30 with a matchup between Birmingham and Arlington.
“This is a three-year process and they did it in three months,” Holtz said of the merger. “I think it goes to the willingness that everybody had and the vision that everybody had to see how great this could be and how much stronger it’s going to make spring football. In my mind, spring football has been a hit-or-miss type of deal. A lot of leagues have tried it… I think spring football is here to stay.”
With the announcement coming earlier this week, Holtz and his team have very little time to prepare for the first steps of the new season. The Stallions will join the other three USFL teams in a dispersal draft for the players previously on the league’s four teams not included in the merger. Each team will get to protect 42 players then select up to 20 more players from the teams not included in the UFL. Another draft will be held Jan. 15 for all unprotected players. Holtz said the roster will have to be cut down to 75 teams each by Jan. 16.
“I think the product is going to be so good,” Holtz said. And I say that because we’re watching film. Just in our league, we’re going to disperse four teams and that’s 200 players that we’re going to draft on Friday on to our existing rosters. So you’re going to get better at every position… the product is going to be so much deeper, balanced… I think anybody is going to beat anybody every week.”
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Holtz led the Stallions to back-to-back championships during the two seasons of the USFL return. Some people thought that success could lead to a return to coaching college football or set up a jump to the NFL but Holtz said he is happy to be with the Stallions. Holtz said he has had eight offers to coach Group of 5 teams at the college level over the last two years but he has had the same response to each of them.
“I’m not interested,” Holtz said. “I’d rather be in the USFL than be in a Group of 5 college job. And there’s probably only a handful of Power 5 jobs that I would pick up what I’m doing right now and leave for. I’m having more fun coaching than I ever have in my 35 year career. I am enjoying what I am doing more now than I’ve ever done.”
Holtz said a large part of that is due to the current state of college football because of problems surrounding the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness (NIL). He said there is a need for both to be a part of college football but he would want more regulations on both.
“Honestly, watching the bowl games right now to me, some of them are disgusting. It’s almost like watching the old NFL Pro Bowl. Nobody wanted to get hurt, nobody wanted to tackle,” Holtz said.
Holtz served as a temporary special assistant with Northwestern during the 2023 season and he called it one of the most rewarding experiences of his coaching career. However, he said looking back, being forced to part ways with Louisiana Tech in 2021 was a blessing in disguise.
“It’s been a breath of fresh air to me,” Holtz said. “It’s been awesome, it’s been a blessing and it’s been one of the best things to ever happen to me.”
Another reason Holtz wants to stay with the Stallions is the talent level he gets to coach. He knows the product is better on the field as only some of the best college football players will be making it to the next level.
“These teams in the spring league could go win the SEC,” Holtz said. “It’s an all-star team of college players from all over the country that are one more opportunity to be seen to get in the NFL. The caliber of talent in this league will only get better with this merger. It’s going to make it really hard to cut it to 50 players.”
The next step for Holtz could be to the NFL as he said there have been some feelers put out to see if he would be interested but he still wants to make it clear he is fully invested in the UFL and the Birmingham Stallions.
“Right now, I’m not looking for something else,” Holtz said. “I’ve always said if you want to be successful, you’ve got to be where your feet are. I’m loving the environment I’m in, I’m loving the people I work with, the staff, the players the league and I think it’s even more exciting with all the adjustments and the merger and everything coming together. It’s just creating that much more excitement.”
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