Did this coach get screwed??

cloverleaf · Mar 17, 2014

After Rich Rodriguez left West Virginia for "greener pastures", long time assistant Bill Stewart was promoted to head coach. During Stewart's three seasons as head coach, his teams went 9-4, 9-4 and 9-4. He won 27 games and lost just 12 and was fired for his efforts.

Enter hotshot offensive guru Dana Holgersen as the next big thing. Holgersen has gone 21-16 during his three years as head man including 4-8 last season.

Looks to me like Coach Steward got screwed. I'm sure there are other examples...welcome your comments.

uke1:

CoachCB · Mar 17, 2014

West Virginia has always thought they were better than they actually are. Stewart probably reached his pinnacle there, but wouldn't have gone 4-8! Holgersen seems to be the Offensive equivalent of Will Muschamp (a Defensive "guru").

GoSooners · Mar 17, 2014

I'm not much of a Dana Holgerson fan. In fact I said a couple years ago that I thought he would be there for 3-4 years max before getting the axe. But Stewart wasn't any better. The 9-4 records sound good until you consider how pitifully easy a schedule WV had in what was the weakest BCS conference in the country. Plus you have to consider that Holgerson has had to deal with bigger fish to fry since moving to the Big 12. If WV keeps Holgerson around after this year they might possibly have some future success with the 25th ranked recruiting class he brought in for 2013. But the classes before that were #47 and #48. So it's going to be hard to make a big dent in the Big 12 with those classes unless Holgerson does something miraculous. And he doesn't look like a miracle worker. A drunk maybe...But not a miracle worker.

cloverleaf · Mar 17, 2014

I may have Holgersen confused with someone else but wasn't he throw out of a West Virginia casino a year or so back for being too drunk and disruptive? I believe it was him but not positive.

CoachCB · Mar 18, 2014

cloverleaf said:
I may have Holgersen confused with someone else but wasn't he throw out of a West Virginia casino a year or so back for being too drunk and disruptive? I believe it was him but not positive.

Yes. He's a drunk!

rolltide · Mar 18, 2014

as GS said it's not like Stewart was putting together any tremendous wins. the big east sucked and they could have put their mountain man mascot on the sidelines and won 8 games. I think holgy is a decent coach for a drunk and he's been snagging a lot of the top local pittsburgh talent which rarely used to happen. snagging the two best western PA running backs since Arrington played (Shell and Henry) he's really pillaged Pitt offensive talent in the past year and I think he's got wvu headed in the right direction...just a heck of a step up in talent b/w big least and big 12/10/7 or however many teams are in there now. not to mention the travel obligations they now have..

GoSooners · Mar 18, 2014

I think we'll find out this year just how good of a coach Holgersen is. WV has a little more going for them this season than their previous two in the Big 12. By now they've been to all of the conference stadiums, and know pretty much what to expect out of each team. The biggest thing going for them over the previous seasons is they have a little better depth at each position. Which is a must-have in the Big 12 with the hurry up offenses. WV actually wasn't that far off last year. With the exception of Baylor, all of their games in conference were pretty competitive. But by the time they got to the end of the season they were a pretty easy "bet against" team because of their overall depth. They SHOULD hold their form a little better this year. And a pretty strong non-conference schedule should help prepare them for Big 12 play. There's not many excuses this year. They are still a good enough recruiting team to beat half of the 10 teams in the Big 12. But Holgersen will have to be more decisive of what he wants to do on offense. It was a total clusterfuck the first year they were in the Big 12. He had QB problems and a still leaky defense last year. But hiring Tom Bradley to coach the defense this season was a good get for him. If Holgersen makes it past this season, he has some pretty darn good classes coming in 2015-16. Right now I'll give him credit, he's a pretty good recruiter.

MackDonald · Mar 19, 2014

CoachCB said:
Yes. He's a drunk!

Not all that bad Coach........Big difference between being a drunk and an alcoholic.....a drunk doesn't go to those stupid meetings....
Word was that the beverages he was drinking at that casino were Christian in nature......Can't understand why they threw him-out.