Osage Roost
General Forum => General Discussion => Topic started by: West Augusta on December 14, 2010, 02:01:57 PM
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By BILL HAISTEN World Sports Writer - 12/14/2010
Published: 12/14/2010
Last Modified: 12/14/2010 1:57 PM
Multiple sources have told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen has agreed to become West Virginia’s offensive coordinator and head coach-designate.
Under terms of the agreement – apparently forged between Holgorsen and West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck – Holgorsen reportedly would succeed Bill Stewart as the Mountaineers’ head coach following the 2011 season.
During the weekend, the Post-Gazette had described Holgorsen as the “leading candidate” for another Big East Conference job – the University of Pittsburgh’s head-coaching position. But by Monday afternoon, the Post-Gazette reported that the Holgorsen-Pitt possibility had dissolved and that Holgorsen had been contacted by a “high-ranking official” from West Virginia.
The Post-Gazette reports today that Holgorsen is expected to receive a six-year contract and that the deal “is expected to be finalized by the end of this week.”
Reportedly, Holgorsen would be paid an amount more than $500,000 in 2011 and then about $2 million per season as the head coach. Holgorsen makes $360,000 at OSU.
Attempts to contact Holgorsen have been unsuccessful and there has been no official announcement from Oklahoma State. A source in Stillwater said that Holgorsen is in his office today, game-planning for the 16th-ranked Cowboys’ Dec. 29 Alamo Bowl meeting with Arizona.
This afternoon, OSU coach Mike Gundy acknowledged that West Virginia had expressed interest in Holgorsen.
During his only season at OSU, Holgorsen coached the Cowboys to national rankings of No. 1 in total offense (538 yards per game), No. 2 in passing (355-yard average) and No. 3 in scoring (44.9-point average).
It is not yet known whether Holgorsen will be on the sideline for the Alamo Bowl.
From the start, Holgorsen-OSU seemed to have the potential of being a short-term relationship. During his 11 months in Stillwater, Holgorsen has resided not in a house or apartment, but in a hotel suite.
Last month, Holgorsen was asked about his goal to become a head coach.
“Yeah, I’ve got those aspirations,” he replied.
At West Virginia, Stewart became the interim head coach after Rich Rodriguez accepted the Michigan job in December 2007. Following the Mountaineers’ triumph over Oklahoma in the January 2008 Fiesta Bowl, the “interim” label was stripped and Stewart was given West Virginia’s top job.
Through three seasons as the head coach, the 58-year-old Stewart has a 28-11 record – the second-best victory total by any West Virginia coach through three seasons.
If the Mountaineers prevail over North Carolina State in the Dec. 28 Champs Sports Bowl, West Virginia will close the 2010 season with a 10-3 mark. Although the head-coaching transition would not occur until after the 2011 season, Luck apparently will have hired Holgorsen to replace a 10-win coach. Luck reportedly has been alarmed by a decline in attendance at West Virginia.
Holgorsen, a 39-year-old native of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, played small-college wide receiver at Iowa Wesleyan. Among his coaches were Hal Mumme and Mike Leach, each of whom later became nationally renowned as successful practitioners of the spread passing attack.
Recalling his entrance into the coaching profession, Holgorsen said, “(Mumme and Leach) were coaching down at South Georgia. I didn’t have anything else to do, so I drove down there and started coaching with those guys. ... It worked out. They didn’t fire me. I kept getting jobs.”
Holgorsen was on Leach's Texas Tech staff from 2000-07. He was co-offensive coordinator in 2005-07, then became Houston’s offensive coordinator for two seasons.
In his six seasons as an offensive coordinator, Holgorsen's spread attack has never ranked worse than third nationally in passing yards and sixth in total offense. In 2009, as Houston led the nation in scoring, total offense and passing yards, the Cowboys slipped to 70th in total offense and 56th in scoring. The Dez Bryant suspension and injuries sustained by quarterback Zac Robinson and running back Kendall Hunter had weakened the OSU offense.
On Jan. 15, only three days after indicating that he would remain in control of the Oklahoma State offense, Gundy hired Holgorsen. Working with a first-year starter at quarterback (Brandon Weeden), four new line starters and a mostly unproven group of receivers, Holgorsen’s 2010 Cowboy offense broke several school records for total yards and passing.
Weeden was voted the All-Big 12 quarterback, while Hunter (1,516 rushing yards) and wide receiver Justin Blackmon became consensus All-Americans. With 102 catches for 1,665 yards and 18 touchdown receptions, Blackmon captured the Biletnikoff Award, given annually to the best receiver in college football.
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Yes sir! That should be a good hire!
Mike
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You guys will definitely move the ball up and down the field. I love a wide open offense.
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What makes this whole deal soooooo sweet is that we stole him away from Pitt. *lol*
We really don't like pitt and they don't like us.
A wide open offense is where we came from. It will be fun to get back there