Holtz not looking to leave

When Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino was fired Tuesday night for lying about a motorcycle crash involving another employee, the Razorbacks coaching search began immediately, with USF coach Skip Holtzs name mentioned among the potential candidates.

Holtz is considered a candidate because of his ties to the area, having lived in Fayetteville, Ark. the city the University of Arkansas is located in from seventh grade through high school while his father served as head football coach.

Yet Holtz made a scheduled visit with the media Wednesday morning to say that he is happy as USFs coach and has not been contacted by Arkansas in relation to its coaching vacancy.

I have not talked to anybody from Arkansas, he said. Its flattering to hear your name floating around, but we have a job to do here. I cant control what other people think and what other people say and Im not going to sit here and fret over every time a job opens. I am not looking to leave here.

Holtz was rumored to be a candidate for the North Carolina job in the winter after previous coach Butch Davis was fired. Holtz opted to remain in Tampa then and said he plans on doing the same again.

Im not calling anybody, he said. Im not trying to put my name out there. I want to be the head football coach here. I enjoy it here. I like it here. Fayetteville is a great place. I spent a lot of great years there and I have a lot of great memories and still have a lot of friends back in Fayetteville, but that doesnt have anything to do with who theyre going to hire.

While Holtz insists hes not interested, his wife questioned whether hes even qualified to take over a team that ended last season ranked No. 5 in the country.

Last night, we did a dinner down in Sarasota and I walked in the door at about 10:30 p.m. and my wife, as a way of keeping me humble, said, Why would anybody want to hire you? You were 5-7, he said.