Stallions coach: âYouâre growing or youâre dyingâ

The Birmingham Stallions repeated as the USFL’s champions on Saturday night by not trying to defend their 2022 title.

The Stallions defeated the Pittsburgh Maulers 28-12 in the 2023 USFL Championship Game on Saturday night in Canton, Ohio.

“We had an opening team meeting this year, and we talked about that last year was over,” Birmingham coach Skip Holtz said after the championship game. “This is a new football team, and if we were going to win it, we were going to earn it. That we weren’t protecting a damn thing. We were going to go earn something. And we weren’t trying to sit on our heels and try and protect success. We were trying to build it. I believe either you’re growing or you’re dying. We didn’t want to just protect it. We didn’t want to protect something; we wanted to earn something. And the way these guys brought in together, their attitudes, their work ethic – I wasn’t real popular putting them in pads and pushing them the way I did. But, I tell you what, they answered the call. …

“The teams that are going to win something are the teams that are playing their best at the end of the year. Our goal was not to win the championship. That was not our opening-meeting goal. Our opening goal was: I don’t know how good we can be, but let’s make sure we’re as good as we can be, and let’s just keep getting better every week.

“The goal of this football team was 1-0. I was asked from the media yesterday: ‘What in the world? How have you done it? How have you gone 20-3?’ This was our team meeting before the game today. I said, ‘We didn’t try to go 20-3. We tried to win one game at a time, and every time we’ve taken the field, we’ve just tried to win one game.”

The Stallions posted a 9-1 record in the 2022 regular season, then won two playoff games, including topping the Philadelphia Stars 33-30 in last year’s USFL Championship Game.

Birmingham had an 8-2 regular-season mark in 2023, then defeated the New Orleans Breakers 47-22 to earn the South Division’s spot in the USFL Championship Game.

That makes the Stallions 21-3 in the USFL’s two seasons. None of the other seven franchises has lost fewer than nine games over that span.

“It is rare air to be able to win two championships back-to-back in professional sports,” Holtz said. “It is rare air, and I think what these guys did is really special.”

The USFL has not announced its plans for the 2024 season, although season tickets for the Stallions are on sale. In 2022, the USFL played its entire regular season in Birmingham, moving to Canton for the postseason because of the arrival of the World Games in the Magic City. In 2023, the USFL placed two teams in each of four cities, with the Stallions sharing Birmingham with the Breakers.

For Birmingham to win three consecutive USFL championships, Holtz expects the attempt will come with a different set of players. He’s hoping all his current crew receive NFL opportunities when training camps open later this month.

“I don’t want to see any of them go,” Holtz said. “I’d love to have them all back. But that’s all part of this league. That’s why we do it. That’s why I say a football team has a life expectancy of one year, especially in this league because a lot of these guys are going to get the opportunities to go move on, and I’m going to cheer like crazy for them and hope they make it big.”

Birmingham and the Stallions will celebrate the championship with a parade on Sunday.

The parade will begin at 2:30 p.m. CDT Sunday at Protective Stadium and conclude at Birmingham City Hall. The route from the stadium to city hall will follow Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard to Rev. Abraham Woods Jr. Boulevard to 20th Street.

There’ll be a championship-trophy presentation, appearances by Holtz and Stallions players and T-shirt giveaways.

“The people have been phenomenal,” Holtz said about Birmingham’s support of the team. “The number of people wearing Stallions shirts, Stallions hats, the number of texts I got – not just from people in Birmingham, but from people all over the country that are following and supporting this team – is a real testament to the USFL and FOX and the way that they’re doing this whole thing.

“Mayor (Randall) Woodfin’s been unbelievable. Everybody in the city’s been great. The home crowd last weekend was absolutely phenomenal. Last year, we didn’t get the chance to close the season out, but I know one of the things that Mayor Woodfin wanted to do was some form of celebration with the city while the players are still here, and we’ll land tomorrow and have the opportunity to go do that. But I think Birmingham has been what an unbelievable match. As big as football is in the South, as big as it is in the state of Alabama – high school football, college football, and now the state of Alabama has a professional team, and they are supporting it, and it’s been awesome to see and to be a part of.”

The Stallions had five players from Alabama high schools and colleges on their roster this season:

· Wide receiver Myron Mitchell (Jasper, UAB)

· Wide receiver Peyton Ramzy (Bessemer Academy, Tuskegee)

· Running back Bo Scarbrough (Northridge, Alabama)

· Wide receiver Austin Watkins (UAB)

· Wide receiver Marlon Williams (McGill-Toolen)

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