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Find out more about Nathan: Nathan is a USC graduate who has been writing about the school's athletic program since 2005. His work has been featured on ESPN, Sports Illustrated.com, Deadspin and the CBS College Sports network. |
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Holt wasn't really the defensive coordinator at USC.
Even though Pete Carroll officially turned that job over to Holt in 2006, the head coach still called the plays on that side of the ball, and the defense was still viewed as Carroll's, not Holt's.
That's why, with all the attention the USC defense got this season, Holt's name was rarely if ever mentioned. (Contrast this with how much Norm Chow was talked about when the Trojans won national championships in 2003 and 2004.) How surprising is it that he realized he needed to escape Carroll's shadow and go elsewhere to set himself up for another shot at leading a college football program.
Holt, remember, was the first Carroll assistant to land a head coaching position, spending two years at the University of Idaho in 2004 and 2005. (Ironically, Holt succeeded Tom Cable, who this past year followed fellow former USC assistant Lane Kiffin as interim coach with the Oakland Raiders.)
Holt went 5-18 at Idaho and then resigned, initially to accept a position as the defensive line coach for the St. Louis Rams in the NFL. Before signing his contract, however, Carroll convinced him to return to USC to become the defensive coordinator and coach the defensive line.
It proved to be a smart decision, as the man who hired him in St. Louis, Scott Linehan, was fired earlier this season after the Rams struggled for the third consecutive year. (Linehan and Holt are friends and had coached together at the University of Louisville and Holt's previous stint as an assistant at Idaho.)
Now Holt finds himself in Seattle, trying to help Sarkisian rebuild a once proud program that has fallen on hard times. He won't have the kind of athletes he's used to coaching at USC, at least not initially, but his new job will provide one thing he would never have gotten had he stayed in Los Angeles: full responsibility.
If the Huskies defense succeeds, Holt will be able to take the credit.
And if it doesn't, he'll get the blame.
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