RJ Young
FOX Sports National College Football Analyst
Skip Holtz doesn’t simply stand out because he has coached the Birmingham Stallions to three consecutive league championships — two in the former USFL and one in the current UFL — but that he has produced two MVPs at quarterback over that same span.
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Heading into the 2025 UFL season, Holtz is reunited with the first quarterback he accomplished both feats with, former FIU star Alex McGough. Holtz first laid eyes on McGough during his time coaching at Louisiana Tech.
In one start against Holtz’s Bulldogs, McGough completed 29 of 44 passes for 263 passing yards and two touchdowns. In another, he completed 25 of 44 passes for 281 passing yards with three scores and one interception. Those performances made such an impression on Holtz that he selected McGough with the first overall pick in the inaugural 2022 USFL Draft.
An injury sidelined McGough earlier that year, but he became one of a handful of players who personify what the UFL has come to mean in the United States — a place where players can continue to play at a high level, often times in hopes of finding a way back to the NFL. McGough got a shot with the Green Bay Packers after leading the Stallions to their second USFL Championship in 2023, passing for 2,105 yards and 23 touchdowns that season.
After two years in Green Bay, McGough is back to lead the Stallions, and Holtz could not be more excited to have the 29-year-old leading his team this season.
“In Year 1, everybody was a rookie,” Holtz said. “In Year 2, we had some second-year players and some rookies. Well, now you have some third- and fourth-year players that are in your system, and I think that’s where you really see the growth of football players when they have 100 percent understanding.
“With Alex being in Year 3, I’m not just coaching the big picture anymore — I’m coaching the details.”
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The Stallions’ offensive scheme is clear to McGough, and he has taken on more responsibility to teach its nuances to players who are returning and brand new.
“I’ll give little tidbits of advice even before I call the play [and] after I call the play, to certain people, just so we are on the same page,” McGough said. “You’re always gonna have a new guy here and there and maybe help those guys along the way. I think it helps you know that most of these receivers that I’ve been with are either in Year 1 or 2.”
McGough won’t lack weapons in the passing game. With players like former Clemson star Amari Rodgers, Texas A&M consensus All-American Jace Sternberger and 2023 USFL Championship Game MVP Deon Cain, his job will be once again to get the ball to playmakers in space. McGough is also mobile enough to extend plays and provide a kickstart to Holtz’s rushing attack.
In Year 4, the Stallions are the runaway favorite to win the UFL title (+190) and many expect them to only get stronger as new players become acclimated to playing in a league with less than a month of training camp and no bye weeks. There’s not just a standard for winning that the Stallions aim to maintain — Birmingham is 32-4 under Holtz — but one for developing.
Holtz’s last director of player personnel and general manager, Zach Potter, is now the GM at Sacramento State. After a year as co-offensive coordinator for Birmingham, Philip Montgomery is now offensive coordinator at Virginia Tech. Defensive line coach Bill Johnson, who won a college football national championship at LSU and a Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints, won the inaugural UFL title alongside Holtz before joining the Chicago Bears this year.
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What’s more, former Stallions kicker Brandon Aubrey was named an All-Pro and earned Pro Bowl honors in his first two seasons with the Dallas Cowboys.
Perhaps another coach might feel pressure to continue this run of success and win a fourth consecutive championship in a burgeoning dynasty, but that is not what drives Holtz.
“Don’t get me wrong, we’re here to win,” Holtz said. “But we’re here to win the next game — and we want to win it — [by] getting better in the process. I don’t feel a huge amount of pressure. … Do I want to win four? Heck yeah. Are we trying to? Heck yeah. We’re trying to win every game we play, but I don’t sit up in front of this team and say our [only] goal is to win a championship.”
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast “The Number One College Football Show.” Follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Young and subscribe to “The RJ Young Show” on YouTube.
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