Looks like Dana Holgerson is taking his talents to the AAC, specifically the talent of a high powered offense, good first halves.... which both ultimately get trumped in the 2nd half by better coaching adjustments from the other team and poor late game management...
Houston Dana 2.0
- Thread starter Obialo1kanobe
- Start date
I noticed a tweet this morning from a wvu fan laughing at him leaving the Big XII and packed stadiums to go to half empty AAC venues. Another person then tweeted, "then he must have really wanted out of Morgantown to do that for about the same money"
Last edited:
I don't fault WVU fans for being a little salty with Dana, but I might warn against prematurely dancing on his career in Houston. Its game four.
Yes he did want out of Morgantown. They would not give him a contract extension... so yes same money, fewer guaranteed years tenure
Very true... it was more a shot as a frustrated fan who gets tired of seeing 4th quarter leads get pissed away. I have no animosity towards Dana, I wish him the best. I also think it was better for both Dana and WVU to part ways. Sometimes a fresh start is what is needed for everyone.
Plus he won’t have to water his lawn until 2025.
Funny how you couldn't stop hearing how amazing Dana was when he first got hired by wvu...now they're saying how terrible or at least, overrated he is.
He's a good offensive coach. He is a terrible head coach/game manager
Got the same salary or thereabouts that he received at WVU. But his salary is more than double that of his predecessor at UH, Major Applewhite. Also, he got more than double $$$ for his assistant coaches than Applewhite had.
Just wonder if there are nearby casinos in the Houston area where Holgy can go and get "sheet faced" and let off steam from his latest loss on the field like he did at the Cross Lanes Casino in good ole West by God??
They will do the same with this new guy up there. He is great now after their big victory over power house NC State. Give it a bit and the new guy will be looking to coach at Sam Houston State. They need to be more than Alabama does. Can you imagine having to live and coach in morgantown?
God it’s going to be awful for him. He’s only going to earn $19 million dollars in 6 years and this is where the poor man has to live.
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/3906-Westlake-Dr_Morgantown_WV_26508_M42205-21498
Hence when its ever asked if a head coach would actually go down a level in college sports, they'll be the punchline.
Just so I am clear on the inferences here- Huntington is a better place to live than Morgantown, correct?
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/27694260/uh-holgorsen-quit-19-redshirts
I'm dropping the link to this (one of many) stories about the Red Shirts at University of Houston.
This could have some incredible implications across college football; I will be interested to see how this ultimately plays out with the NCAA.
The Star Senior QB decides to play in 4 games …. season not going as intended, decides to sit out, redshirt, and return next year to Houston with a better team around him (or so he claims). Strange.
I'm dropping the link to this (one of many) stories about the Red Shirts at University of Houston.
This could have some incredible implications across college football; I will be interested to see how this ultimately plays out with the NCAA.
The Star Senior QB decides to play in 4 games …. season not going as intended, decides to sit out, redshirt, and return next year to Houston with a better team around him (or so he claims). Strange.
From what I just heard on the radio, if he does redshirt, Holgerson's son would then be the starting QB. I have NOT verified this.
That is correct. This whole transfer portal/4 game redshirt stuff is amazing. This kid basically didn't like how the year was going, so quit, and now gets another year.
If I'm one of his teammates, i dont know how i feel about him giving up on the year and then coming back. I lose MY chance at a good year and do not get another year of eligibility. Unless of course Holgerson's son saves the day. Which I doubt. I'm not sure if i welcome the kid back with open arms next year.
I never said that, but it is. So, no you are not being clear. I never said that.
I said Huntington was a better town than Morgantown and I will say it again. No way I would want to live in one of those shacks on a hillside up there. Huntington downtown area FAR exceeds Morgantown
Aside: Greg White went from Marshall to the University of Charleston.
Who? Where?
P5 to G5 ia far different than Mid major to lesser known but still mid major.
If we are talking about the University of Charleston in WV, then that is not a mid-major. They are Division 2. Mid-majors are non Power 5 FBS programs in football and smaller Division I programs in basketball.
As far as the topic goes, people are lying to themselves if they say Holgorsen looked at WVU and UH on merits alone and chose Houston over the Mountaineers. He knew Gee and Lyons wanted him out of Morgantown and would not give him a contract extension with a bigger buyout at the time. He would have had to win in 2019 to even begin talks for a new contract after a lackluster 2018 season and he knew that wasn’t likely for him after losing so much talent to graduation. He made the safe call and took the guaranteed $20 million at one of the better Group of 5 programs and in a city he was a big fan of.
Lot of factors besides basketball in White's decision to leave for the UC job. First of all he lived there while he worked at MU. Had his family there, including a small child (or children). Secondly, his wife is a MD and had a pretty good practice there from my understanding. Heck, she was probably making as making as much, if not more, $$$$ than Greg was getting at Marshall. In retrospect its worked out in the long run for both White and Marshall, IMO.
You’re fooling yourself, but that’s your choice. He left for a guaranteed $20 million contract in a city he liked because he was very likely going to be done in Morgantown after 2019 anyways.
With everything else even, very few people would turn down a school with an athletic department generating $102,000,000 for one making $55,000,000, especially when the former is in a Power Conference. It’s not logical.
I take it you've never visited some of the housing developments in the Cheat Lake area...........multi million dollar homes with acreage and great scenery. I'd say that area exceeds any other housing developments anywhere else in our state.
We’re not talking about just selecting a place to live. Ask any coach that is an alpha personality and wants to coach at the highest level, and they’re not going to Houston. It was smart financially for Holgorsen and I’m not going to blame him for that, but unless he absolutely dominates the AAC it’s going to be tough for him to get another Power 5 head coaching job.
Your extreme dislike for WVU negatively affects your judgment.
Your claim is that he left due to getting $20 million guaranteed at Houston and the high likelihood that he would be fired from wvu after this season.
Well, let's bring some logic in this:
He would have been paid $3.7 million by wvu in 2019. You claimed he would have been fired after this season, in which case, he would have been guaranteed $4.68 million more by NOT working in both 2020 and 2021. In other words, assuming he got fired after this season, he would have been paid $8.4 million by wvu for coaching just THIS season. That leaves him $11.6 million short of his Houston contract with two years to go even after taking two years to do whatever the hell he wanted.
For the sake of the discussion, let's say he takes a head coaching gig at a similar level of Houston's after sitting out two years. He will make $8.5 in 2022 and 2023 at Houston . . .and the nature of the beast has pushed coaching salaries higher every year, so there is a chance he would have ended up getting even more in those years had he waited until 2022 to go somewhere.
So with that $8.5 million along with the $8.4 million from wvu, he is at nearly $17 million for three years of work. What's better - five years at $20 million or three years at $17 million? I'll take the latter, especially considering waiting to coach until 2022 would likely mean even higher salaries by that point.
Considering Houston (Texas) has no state income tax and the far better living in Houston than in morganhole, he made the wise decision, and his status at wvu had absolutely nothing to do with it.
Face it - your school and city it is in are shitholes. Nobody with a real option of going elsewhere wants to stay.
Like the rest of the state, morganhole is a dump.
I doubt that Dana was facing being fired after this season. What he wanted was a 6 year contract extension and an increase in his buyout clause in the event he ever did get fired. He knew going into those talks that Houston would offer him a 6 year contract at the same salary he was getting at WVU. Lyons and the administration weren't willing to meet his terms so they parted company amicably. It's as simple as that.
Dana is happy being at Houston, and WVU hired what many view as the next rising star of the college coaching world. It's a win-win situation for both parties.
As for "morganhole" being a dump - I wouldn't want to live in the old downtown area, but the outskirts and surrounding area are booming with new housing developments, modern townhouses and condominiums being built. It's a fast growing small city and it looks different every time I drive around up there. One thing that DOES need done is to upgrade the road system to handle modern day traffic.......traffic up there is a nightmare, especially when 29,000 students are in town.
Last edited:
Like MU, wvu is merely a stepping stone for any alpha male. wvu has its positives but it can't compete with prestige level programs and cities the rest of the US has.
I'll give motgantown Cheat Lake, beautiful area.
Huntington has its positives as well.
But MU is not a stepping stone to a better position. Pruett stepped out of it. Snyder stepped in it. Not sure what Doc is doing, but looks like he's on a treadmill. He's not going anywhere.
George Chaump to Navy
Donnan to Georgia
Parish to Kansas State
Pruett had Houston turned it down
Similar threads
