Skip Holtz Fired as Head Football Coach by USF

After three seasons and diminishing results, the Skip Holtz era at the University of South Florida has come to a close.

ESPN's Brett McMurphy delivered the news of the head coach's dismissal:

"

Skip Holtz fired after 3 seasons at USF, sources told @espn

— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) December 2, 2012"

This is far from surprising. The Bulls have been growing increasingly terrible while being guided by the son of coaching legend and current ESPN analyst Lou Holtz.

This past Saturday was likely the last straw. The Bulls were noncompetitive while losing to Pitt, 27-3. That put the cap on a 3-9 season, in which the team only seemed to get worse as it went along. 

South Florida won its first two games of the year. After that it was a string of ugly losses plagued by sloppy turnover-filled play and an anemic offense. 

The loss to Pitt was a shining example of all that is wrong with the team. In that game, the Bulls had four turnovers, no takeaways and just 117 yards of offense. 

That is enough to doom any team, and it was all just part of a disturbing trend for Holtz. 

Consider that in the last 15 quarters of football the Bulls have mustered just one touchdown. For the season, they are minus-19 in turnover ratio. It's clear that this move had to be made. 

The Bulls had a good run in Holtz's first season, as they went 8-5 and grabbed a win over Clemson in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. They also started off the next season strong by winning their first four. However, they lost seven of their last eight last year, and then there was the disaster that was this season. 

It is time for a new direction in South Florida.