Grooming the gridiron

As head coach of ECU's football team since 2004, Skip Holtz has led the Pirates to three bowl games and one conference championship. However, while leading his team to success on the field, Holtz hopes to lead his players to success off the field.

Since the beginning of his coaching career at ECU, Holtz has had what is called the "clean cut policy" where players who have beards must have them closely trimmed. Players must not be able to pull or tug on their beards. Holtz came up with this policy because, to him, appearance is highly important.

"I think there's more than playing football. I think there's an obligation to represent the university with our image socially, academically as well as athletically," said Holtz.

Holtz started this regulation as the head coach at Connecticut, and his staff at ECU supports it. With his regulation, Holtz hopes "to enhance the image of what people think of an ECU player."

Antonio Allison, a defensive line for the Pirates, agrees with his coach's policy.

"It's a good way to show Pirate fans our appearance as students preparing for the future instead of just football players," Allison said. "Athletes are human, too. Also, because as athletes we are not only representing ourselves, but we are representing ECU's football program."

Fullback and tight end Kevin Gidrey also agrees with the policy but doesn't think it affects him.

"The coach wants us all to look like one and play like one. To some guys, it's OK, and to others, it's ridiculous. Personally, I don't have a problem with my beard, so it doesn't affect me too much," said Gidrey.

Holtz is serious about policy enforcement.

"It's something we have to stay on top of constantly," he said. "I'm more strict with it in season than out of season. If a player does not follow the policy, then they won't be a part of the team."

Allison said, like in most organizations, if you don't follow the rules, you get in trouble.

"Whatever the boss says goes," he said. "They check facial hair every Thursday or two days before a game to see who needs to clean up or not. The next day, the coaches bring clippers and the players that did not follow instructions, the coaches will have another player clean them up."

The "clean cut policy" goes beyond just facial hair, though. There are also rules regarding headphones and hair length. When traveling, players can use headphones, but when they step off the plane or bus, they have to take the headphones off.

"The hair policy Coach Holtz brought to the team is for the players that have long hair," Allison said. "The hair has to be trimmed down to where it is not covering the name plate on the back of our jerseys. I am not really sure why that policy was enforced other than it not being a great appearance on the field because we do not have our names on the back of our jerseys unless we make a bowl game appearance."

Holtz clarifies why there are different regulations for the team.

"There's a lot of team regulations because with 120 players, you can't have a team without rules and regulations," said Holtz.

With his regulations, Holtz has made an impact on his players.

"I learned a lot from the policy," Allison said. "It has given me some pointers for when I graduate from ECU as a communication major and I step into the world where I get a job that is required to maintain a good appearance."

He said people look to him to be a good role model for children and notice his more-professional appearance.

However, Gidrey has a different opinion about the policy.

"I don't think it has helped or hurt," he said. "I know when it's time to play ball, we are going to play ball regardless of what we look like."

Despite what the players think, Holtz hopes to teach his team something that will stay with them long after their football careers at ECU.

"Your appearance is important like life, like a job interview," Holtz said. "They represent ECU today, they'll represent a company tomorrow."

This writer can be contacted at news@theeastcarolinian.com.