I guess we'll find out next season if Holt is for real or a poser. This will be year #4 and injuries, Hazells players, etc will no longer be an excuse. If the secondary plays as poorly as it did this year, then the common denominator is coaching.
Personally, I believe the last two seasons tell us exactly what we have in Holt, someone who yells a lot on the sideline but doesn't communicate well with his players. The secondary and defense in general has regressed over the past two seasons.
Here's an example of what happened in his third year at Washington as DC in 2011:
"While
2011 saw the emergence of sophomore quarterback
Keith Price and improvement on offense, the Huskies were ranked near the bottom in the conference and nationally on defense (of 120 FBS teams: 106th in yards allowed, 108th in points allowed, 116th in passing yards allowed)."
His defensive stats by year as DC. See a pattern???
2009 390 ypg 240 passing 149 rushing 26 ppg Washington
2010 384 ypg 194 passing 190 rushing 30 ppg Washington
2011 453 ypg 285 passing 169 rushing 36 ppg Washington
2013 339 ypg 178 passing 161 rushing 25 ppg WKU
2014 509 ypg 289 passing 220 rushing 40 ppg WKU
2015 404 ypg 240 passing 164 rushing 26 ppg WKU
2016 344 ypg 280 passing 97 rushing 25 ppg WKU
2017 376 ypg 243 passing 133 rushing 20 ppg Purdue
2018 452 ypg 285 passing 167 rushing 30 ppg Purdue
2019 436 ypg 244 passing 192 rushing 31 ppg Purdue
Prior to him arriving at WKU:
2011 374 ypg 239 passing 135 rushing 25 ppg
2012 348 ypg 210 passing 138 rushing 26 ppg
After he left WKU:
2017 377 ypg 206 passing 170 rushing 27 ppg
2018 422 ypg 249 passing 174 rushing 28 ppg
2019 337 ypg 200 passing 137 rushing 20 ppg