Skip Holtz looks back at it now as “one of the best things that ever happened to” him. Birmingham Stallions fans might feel the same way.

When Louisiana Tech fired Holtz from his post as the head football coach after the 2021 season, he didn’t feel that way. But in the three years since, Holtz has guided the Stallions to a 30-4 record and two USFL championships.

After compiling the United Football League’s best regular-season record at 9-1 in 2024, Birmingham faces the Michigan Panthers in the semifinals of the new spring-football circuit’s playoffs at 2 p.m. CDT Saturday at Protective Stadium. The winner will represent the USFL Conference in the United Football League Championship Game on June 16 in St. Louis.

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“My wife and I look back now at our firing at Louisiana Tech as a blessing,” Holtz said, “because had I still been there, I probably would not have been interested in taking this situation, and it’s turned out to be a great fork in the road and one that I’m really excited about and really feel blessed to have the opportunity to be one of eight coaches that are having the opportunity to do this.”

Holtz said the players made his work with the Stallions “probably one of the best jobs I’ve ever had. Definitely one of the most enjoyable jobs I’ve ever had.”

“Working with these young men, helping them grow and develop, I’ve said a long time the thing that I love about coaching is the development,” Holtz said. “And you’ve got a group of young men who are in this league because they want to play football. They’re not prima donnas; they want film. Everybody makes the same money, and all they want, they want to get better. ‘Coach, help me get better. What do I got to do? How do I do this?’ They’re asking questions, they’re getting on the board, going, ‘Now when they do this, do you want me to do this? I mean, they’re engaged. I walked into my first team meeting and said, ‘There’s three things we got to get done today.’ And everybody’s ripping out notebooks, paper, writing notes, and it was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ like they were so into it and I loved it, and it’s been that way ever since.”

Holtz began his coaching career in 1987 at Florida State, and he’d always worked in college until joining Birmingham. He’s been the head coach at Connecticut, East Carolina, South Florida and Louisiana Tech.

Louisiana Tech had made seven straight bowl appearances when the Bulldogs went 3-9 in 2021 and parted ways with Holtz.

“I was frustrated,” Holtz said. “It felt like we had a lot of success there as we went to, what, seven bowl games in a row. Won six of them in a row. We had a lot of success with a program that had never been to back-to-back bowls, so when I got fired, I felt like it was unfair, felt like it was unjust, and I had a little pity party.

“And I said: You know what? They made their decision. I’m proud of what we accomplished at Louisiana Tech. I’m proud of the success we had, and I don’t want to sit at home and have a pity party.”

That’s when Holtz got a phone call from Brian Woods, who was leading the establishment of a spring league that would provide football programming for FOX based on a revival of the USFL from the 1980s.

“I told my wife I’m going to just go over and just meet with them,” Holtz said. “Let’s see what it’s going to be. I had some opportunities to stay in college, which really didn’t excite me at the time. I felt like I needed a fresh start. I felt like I needed something new. It was, I always say, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. I was ready for something new. I was ready to get out of the college game a little bit with the frustration that I had leaving Louisiana Tech.

“And when I sat down and met with Brian Woods, he sold me on it. I loved the idea of the model, the business plan that FOX had put together, having FOX behind it and everybody with the FOX Corporation, I just thought, ‘You know what? This is something that really excites me.’ I came out of lunch, and I told my wife. She said, ‘How’d your interview go?’ And I said, ‘I took it.’ And she said, ‘You took what?’ And I said, ‘I took the job.’ I said, ‘I’m going to be a coach in the spring league.’ She goes, ‘What team?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know. He didn’t tell me. He said he’d figure that out later.’ I was just excited about getting into professional football.”

The team ended up being the Stallions, the home team of the USFL. The new league played its entire inaugural regular season in Birmingham in 2022, with eight teams mirroring the names of franchises in the old USFL.

The Stallions posted an 8-2 regular-season record, then won two playoff games, including a 33-30 victory over the Philadelphia Stars in the USFL Championship Game.

In 2023, the USFL returned for its second season, with play taking place in four cities. Birmingham remained one of the hubs, hosting the Stallions and New Orleans Breakers. The Stallions posted a 9-1 regular-season record and won the USFL championship again by beating the Pittsburgh Maulers 28-12.

“I was ready for a change,” Holtz said. “I was looking for something that excited me. And like I said, I had three or four people call me once I was released at Louisiana Tech. But none of those excited me to go do Group of 5 football again. I’d been doing that for the last couple of years, and it just didn’t excite me.

“When I meet with (Woods), I thought it was pro ball, it was different, it was a challenge, it was exciting, it was FOX. I thought it was a stable situation and really had a chance to make it. Now when you look back, everybody goes: A spring system hasn’t made it past Game 6 since like the ‘80s. Well, I didn’t know all that then, so that’s probably a good thing. I don’t know if I would have taken it.

“But I haven’t looked back a day yet.”

Between the Stallions’ victory over the Maulers in the USFL Championship Game on July 1, and Birmingham’s season-opening victory over the Arlington Renegades on March 30, the USFL and the XFL merged to create the United Football League with teams playing in eight cities.

The Stallions won their first eight games in the new league to reach 15 victories in a row before falling to the San Antonio Brahmas 18-9 on May 25.

Birmingham came back with a 20-19 victory over Michigan on June 1 and gets a rematch with the Panthers on Saturday to open the postseason.

After last season, Holtz joined the staff of interim coach David Braun at Northwestern as a special assistant. Holtz said he won’t do that this offseason, but he hopes to be back with the Stallions for a second UFL campaign next year.

“I love this job,” Holtz said. “It’s not a job. I love what I’m doing. I come in early. I stay late. But the passion, the interaction with these players, the relationship I’ve built … with these players — they just want to grow. I love it. I love what I’m doing. I will not be taking a job this fall like I did last fall where I went to Northwestern to try to help an interim coach. This will be my 35th game in 14 months and that alone will make you want to retire, going that hard for that long.

“I think what I’d like to do is I’ll get into this offseason, I’ll get my feet on the ground, just spend a little bit of time with my family. … But I can tell you by December, (my wife’s) going to be asking me, ‘When do you go back to work? When does the UFL start again?’

“I’m going to do it as long as I enjoy it, and right now, I’m loving it.”

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.