The Vince Lombardi of spring football is stepping down.
Skip Holtz, who coached the Birmingham Stallions to three straight USFL/UFL championships (2022-24) has announced that he’s stepping away from his position.
“Coaching the Stallions has been one of the great honors of my career,” Holtz said in a statement. “I’m grateful for the players, staff, the City of Birmingham, and our passionate fans who helped create such a special and winning culture. What we accomplished together is something I’ll always treasure.
“I am not retiring. This is simply the right moment to pause, reflect, and look ahead. I’m excited about the next steps in my journey and energized by new possibilities. I look forward to seeing where this path leads.”
The move comes one day after Bob Stoops retired as head coach of the Dallas Renegades. The timing invites speculation that the exits aren’t coincidental. It’s possible, with Mike Repole now heavily involved in an ownership role, that coaching salaries won’t be what they had been. Which may have prompted Stoops and Holtz to say, “No thanks.”
Regardless, the bang-bang exits of 25 percent of the UFL’s head coaches cries out for more information. And, unlike information that the UFL or any other sports league would put in a press release, this is the kind of stuff they wouldn’t want us to know. If this really is anything other than a coincidence.
If it really was a coincidence, they should have held one or the other for a week or two. By doing one on a Monday and the other on a Tuesday, many with basic common sense will ask themselves, “What’s really going on here?”
