SEATTLE — Nick Holt knew the question would come up when he was introduced as Washington’s defensive coordinator Tuesday, so he admittedly spent some time working on his answer during his flight from Los Angeles to Seattle Monday.
Holt, USC’s defensive coordinator for three seasons before agreeing Monday to become the defensive coordinator and assistant head coach at Washington, first thanked a number of USC administrators and coaches, then he got to explaining why he left one of the nation’s top programs to take over one of the worst defenses in the country and join a program fresh off an 0-12 season.
“That’s a good point,” Holt said, drawing laughs when asked what he would say to people who think he’s crazy for leaving USC. “A lot of people are probably looking at this move and scratching their heads … So why did Nick Holt leave and come join this staff? It’s really simple, it’s because you guys got a tremendous, tremendous football coach in coach (Steve) Sarkisian, and I know it better than you guys because I’ve been around him for six years and had to practice against this guy … He is the best offensive mind coach in college football without a doubt, and I wanted to be a part of that.”
Oh, and the money probably didn’t hurt either. Holt, who initially turned down the job in early December shortly after Sarkisian was hired, eventually agreed to a three-year contract worth $600,000 in the first year and $650,000 in second and third years. He also gets a $200,000 retention bonus payable up front that would have to be returned all or in part if he were to leave early. It is by far the largest contract ever given to a UW assistant.
“I gave him a better deal,” Sarkisian said with a laugh when asked what changed between last month and now. “At the end of the day, USC has as much money as the University of Washington. Money only can get you so far, but it got us in the game. At the end of the day, it was about recruiting, it was about Nick understanding the opportunities we have here … When we turn this place around he’s going to have a stamp on it, it’s going to have his name on it. For him in his career, when this does happen here, it’s going to be a great springboard for him in his head coaching opportunities.”
Holt said getting a chance to run his own defense was a “great lure” to come to Washington. At USC, he handled the nuts and bolts of the defense, but head coach Pete Carroll was in charge of the defense on game days. With Sarkisian focused on the offense, Holt will be calling the shots at Washington when it comes to defense.
But while Holt is excited to have control over his own defense, it will have a similar style to the defenses he and Carroll ran at USC.
“The system that I was involved in with coach Carroll was an awesome system,” said Holt, whose mother and stepfather live on Orcas Island. “He is the best defensive mind in football. And we will continue to do what we’ve been doing and what I know, and that is coach Carroll’s system … Our base package will be very similar but we’ll add to it just like everybody does. But it is a great system and I learned it from the best and it will work here too.”
Another thing Holt will bring with him from USC is a philosophy that calls for physical practices and the first-string defense playing against the first-string offense at times.
“We get after it in practice and we want to make it a game-like situation,” Holt said. “We want to always go best against the best because we feel that is the best atmosphere to foster learning and creating a competitive football team, so we don’t wake up Saturday morning and, ‘Whoa, I’m not ready for this.’ We get after it in practice. We tackle in practice.”
In addition to Xs and Os, Holt figures to bring a burst of energy to a defense that allowed school-worst totals of 38.6 points per game and 451.8 yards per game. During his introductory press conference that lasted a little under half an hour, Holt’s gravely voice frequently escalated as he talked excitedly about the future at Washington, and he looked at times like he was having a hard time staying in his chair. He also said the word awesome at least 13 times.
And as for last year’s defensive stats?
“We better improve,” he said. “That’s not good enough. We need to get those numbers down to be successful in the Pac-10 … The bottom line is we can’t give up big, easy plays over our head, easy cheap touchdowns, stuff like that, and we have to get the ball back for these guys.”
Holt is the sixth person hired away from USC by Sarkisian along with Demetrice Martin, Washington’s new defensive backs coach who was a grad assistant at USC, strength coaches Ivan Lewis and Charr Gahagan, director of football operations Dennis Slutak, and director of player personnel Jared Blank.
But while Washington now figures to have similarities to USC, Sarkisian said he’s not trying to be his former boss or mirror his former program.
“I can’t try to be Pete Carroll, I have to be Steve Sarkisian,” he said. “I have to take some things that we did at SC and incorporate them with the things that I like, but we can’t try to be USC North, and we’re not going to be. We’re going to be the University of Washington, I’m going to be Steve Sarkisian, Nick is going to be Nick Holt.”
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on UW sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com/huskiesblog
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