UW Football: Why Nick Holt Will Remain D-Coordinator After the Alamo Bowl

The University of Washington's Nick Holt is a good coach.

Yes, I know this sounds fairly stupid following the 66-point trumping of the Huskies defense courtesy of Robert Griffin III and the Baylor offense, but I stand by Nick Holt.

His Huskies have had a tremendously poor season on defense this season, and many critics are calling for his firing. Local sports website Seatown Sports, usually a supporter of Holt, even said he should be fired.

But Holt will not be fired.

Why? For two reasons: Head coach Steve Sarkisian and Holt are good friends, and more importantly, Sarkisian knows that Holt is a good defensive coordinator.

Many Husky fans remember that in 2008, when Sarkisian was hired to coach the UW football team, he recruited Holt to come up from Southern California to Washington.

Holt agreed to moving his family and livelihood to Seattle. Sarkisian and Holt both came from USC and remained good friends throughout the transition from Southern California to Washington.

Sarkisian will not bow down to critics and the public just because they call for Holt's dismissal; he is loyal.

Secondly, and most importantly, Holt is still a good coach. He was excellent at USC, and Sarkisian recognizes this. Sarkisian knows that Holt has the potential to be phenomenal again, and so he's standing by him.

At USC, Holt's defense produced talents like Keith Rivers, Taylor Mays, Brian Cushing and Clay Matthews. At USC, his defense was feared, his players won noteworthy awards and his defensive schemes were spot on.

What changed when he came to UW? The players.

As Washington's recruits get better and better (and they will with Sarkisian as a coach), the defense will start to look more and more like the defense Holt had at USC. It may be easy to mudsling at Holt because of his defense's awful showing against Baylor, but hold tight; Holt will prove he is a top-notch coach.

Sarkisian knows this, and that is why, regardless of criticism, Holt will remain defensive coordinator for the Huskies in 2012.