Skip Holtz has accepted the head coaching job at Louisiana Tech, the school announced Friday.

Holtz replaces Sonny Dykes, who accepted the job at California earlier this month.

Holtz was fired after three seasons at South Florida, where he was 16-21 overall, 5-16 in Big East play. This past season, the Bulls, picked second in the conference's preseason poll, went 3-9 (1-6 Big East). It was the worst season in USF's 16-year history.

The 48-year-old Holtz came to USF from East Carolina, where he guided the Pirates to a pair of Conference USA championships. He welcomed the challenge of stepping into the Big East and trying to transform the Bulls, but it did not happen.

The Bulls went 8-5 and appeared in a bowl game for the sixth consecutive season three years ago. But a pattern of underachieving that actually began under former coach Jim Leavitt returned in 2011, when USF won four straight to climb into the Top 25 only to drop seven of eight down the stretch and tumble to the bottom of the conference.

Dykes had a 22-15 record with the Bulldogs, improving their victory total each year. The Bulldogs averaged 35.9 points and 452.5 yards per game in his tenure.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.