The college coaching carousel is a never-ending loop this time of year and things don't appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
According to sources who spoke to ESPN.com, Skip Holtz has been hired as the new head coach at Louisiana Tech.
Holtz will replace Sonny Dykes, who moved to take the head coaching job at California in the Pac-12. Holtz was previously the head coach at South Florida, but was fired after a disappointing 2012 season. According to CBSSports.com, Oklahoma assistant Cale Gundy and Texas A&M special teams coordinator Brian Polian were also candidates for the job.
The move is just the latest coaching change in major college programs in the past two months.
NC State fired coach Tom O'Brien and hired Northern Illinois coach Dave Doeren to take his place, while Tommy Tuberville moved from Texas Tech to Cincinnati. Butch Jones moved from Cincinnati to Tennessee, while Kliff Kinsbury was named head coach at Texas Tech after playing quarterback for the school in college.
That's not all. Bret Bielema left Wisconsin for Arkansas, while, Bobby Petrino, who used to be at Arkansas, was hired at Western Kentucky. Also, Gus Malzahn was named head coach at Auburn after working at the school as offensive coordinator under Cam Newton in the championship season 2010.
South Florida suffered the worst season in school history this year after going 3-9 and finishing at the bottom of the Big East with a 1-6 record. Over the past three seasons, Holtz has gone just 16-21, including just 5-15 in the Big East.
In the final game of the season, South Florida was defeated 27-3 at home by Pittsburgh and gained a school-low 117 yards. The team scored just one offensive touchdown over the final three games and lost nine of the last 10 games this season.
"Just a very frustrating night, a very frustrating year," said Holtz after the game, according to the Associated Press. There's been a lot of hard work that has gone into this. ... But I also understand that we've put some people in a very tough position with where we are, and I understand the nature of this business is to win games," Holtz added. "People don't really care if you're on a fourth quarterback, your fifth defensive end or how many freshmen you're playing. They want to win."
The Bulls started the season with high expectations after winning its first two games over Chattanooga and Nevada, but then six games in a row, including four Big East conference matchups. The only win for South Florida in the second half of the season was a 13-6 victory over Connecticut at home on Nov. 3.
South Florida finished the season with three blowout losses against Miami, Cincinnati and Pittsburg and didn't score more than 10 points in any of the three games. The Bulls suffered a loss to Miami 40-9 on Nov. 17 and averaged just 20 points per game this season.
The Bulls had to play a redshirt freshman at quarterback for most of the season after an injury to quarterback B.J. Daniels and ranked just 83rd in passing and 72nd in rushing in the nation. Holtz won the first game in his career at South Florida against Stony Brook 59-14, but was never able to sustain total success for one full season.
The highest point for Holtz at the school was in 2011 when the team made it into the Top 25 after winning four straight games to start the season. The Bulls stumbled the rest of the way, winning one of their final eight games and snapping a six-year bowl game streak. The team Bulls finished 5-7 and tied for last place in the Big East with a 1-6 record.
The biggest issue while at USF for Holtz was the lack of success in the Big East. When he arrived, Holtz said to the press: "We can win conference championships here. We can win national championships here." By the end of his tenure he was just 5-16 in the conference over five seasons.
Holtz came to South Florida from East Carolina, where he won two Conference USA Championships. He previously coached at South Carolina and Notre Dame with his father, Lou Holtz, and was the head coach at Connecticut from 1994 to 1998, where he had 34-23 record.
Louisiana Tech is coming off of a 9-3 record in the third season under Dykes. The team finished third in the Western Athletic Conference this season with a 4-2 record and will not play in a bowl game after not responding fast enough to a request to play in the Independence Bowl (HERE is the full schedule of college bowl games for the 2012 season.)
Dykes was 22-15 with the Bulldogs in three seasons and orchestrated a high-powered offense that was the top scoring unit in the country, averaging 52 points per game. Over the past three years the team averaged 35.9 points and 452.5 yards per game and was ranked fourth in rushing this year with 350 yards per game.
The team will attempt to continue that trend under Holtz, as the school will have freshman running back Kenneth Dixon back for another season.
Dixon was one of the most impressive backs in all the country, rushing for 1,194 yards and 27 touchdowns to lead all players in the WAC. He rushed for over 100 yards six times this season and scored four or more touchdowns three times, including six against Idaho in a 70-28 win in October.
The Bulldogs lost their last two games of the season to Utah State and San Jose State, but started the year with a 5-0 record before losing to Texas A&M on Oct. 13. The team won their next four games before losing 48-41 in overtime to Utah State.
In his career, Holtz has 88-70 overall record in 13 seasons as a head coach.
HERE is the full schedule of college bowl games for the 2012 season.
