A bad hire, in retrospect

WVU's football problems today go back to hiring Holgorsen, not Neal Brown

• by Bob Hertzel For the Exponent Telegram  
•  

 MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) — Eleven years and a month later, West Virginia is still paying the price for athletic director Oliver Luck’s decision to replace Bill Stewart with Dana Holgorsen as head football coach.

Whether or not replacing Stewart was the right thing to do can be argued both ways, but what can’t be argued is that WVU found its way into the Big 12 as the Big East was crumbling around it because Stewart lifted the Mountaineers from the ashes of the 2007 upset loss to Pitt that was followed by the unexpected resignation of coach Rich Rodriguez.

Not only did Stewart take charge as interim coach, put Humpty Dumpty back together again and inspire them with one of the all-time great locker-room talks that sent them out to beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, but then strung together three nine-win seasons in succession.

Any student of recent history knows that since Stewart, WVU has had only two nine-win seasons, a pair of 10-win years authored by Holgorsen, the first in his first year.

He managed only one other 10-win season in the next six years.

Certainly, as athletic director, Luck had the right to push Stewart out the door and get his own man in, although he certainly could have done it with far less drama and without the ensuing mess.It all resulted from Luck allowing Stewart to either resign as head coach or stay for one more year with Holgorsen as offensive coordinator and head coach in waiting.That could only be an unworkable situation.

For financial reasons, Luck wanted Stewart to resign while for the same reasons Stewart wouldn’t.Then, after Holgorsen’s hire, a story broke that the coach had been ejected from a casino, said to be drunk. That turned into more of mess when it was reported the story had been leaked to media by Stewart or his wife, Karen.

The university looked into the matter and Luck, in a statement, said “ ... the University has not substantiated any allegations of wrong doing on the part of Coach Stewart and his wife, Karen Stewart.”So why did Luck, along with WVU President Jim Clements, make the move in the first place?

I didn’t believe we had an opportunity to win a national championship with the direction of the program,” Luck said following the 2010 season. “At the end of the day, results matter. And we weren’t getting the results.“I want our Mountaineer program and expect us to compete at the highest levels.

”Even though WVU had never in its history won a national championship. Rodriguez had brought it to the brink of playing for the title when he lost to Pitt. Two decades earlier Don Nehlen lost a game that would have given them the national crown they sought when the Mountaineers lost to Notre Dame in the 1988 Fiesta Bowl.

But thinking you would get there by just getting rid of someone who you felt couldn’t win it didn’t make a lot of sense unless you had someone in mind proven to be of the quality to go after that first championship.Holgersen had never been a head coach.Luck also knew what lie ahead, which was the jump up in class to the Big 12, and he felt that Holgorsen, with his Air Raid offense as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State and his knowledge of the league was the right man for the job.

It looked good when he won 10 games that first year, capping it off beating Clemson, 70-33, in the Orange Bowl.But after three years,

Holgorsen’s record was just 21-17 as compared to Stewart’s three-year mark (plus the Oklahoma upset) of 28-12. Holgorsen, coaching one year in the Big East and two in the Big 12, had a conference record of 11-14 while Stewart’s Big East Conference record over three years was 15-6.In fact, no WVU coach in history won more games than Stewart in his first three years.

Don Nehlen went 24-12 and Bobby Bowden 23-11, and they both are in the Hall of Fame.In his final season, 2010, Stewart tied for the Big East championship.

What’s more, Holgorsen inherited a gold mine of talent from Stewart.

Here are the players he inherited:Tavon Austin, Geno Smith, Stedman Bailey, Bruce Irvin, Darwin Cook, Shawn Alston, Tyler Bitancurt, Doug Rigg, Najee Goode, Jeff Braun, Don Barclay, Will Clarke, Josh Jenkins, Keith Tandy, Terrance Garvin and Julian Miller.

Compare that to what Holgorsen left behind for Neal Brown after he jumped to Houston.

Luck’s move to Holgorsen failed to produce a national championship. It failed to produce a Big 12 championship. And while Stewart’s signature victory was over Oklahoma, Holgorsen failed to ever beat the Sooners.

We, of course, don’t know what course WVU would have taken had Luck stayed with Stewart but we do know that Holgorsen did not fulfill the expectations Luck held for him when he made the hire.Had Luck gone in a different direction; had he championed an experienced, proven head coach in replacing Stewart, would WVU been able to carry on the momentum it built in the wake of the Pitt disaster under Stewart?

We will never know, but what we do know is that WVU right now is not where Luck would have had it nor is it where current athletic director Shane Lyons wants it to be.

It is unfair to judge Neal Brown on his first three seasons, considering the COVID situation and turmoil created in college football through the changes in the transfer rules and the NIL decision, but this becomes a crucial season in his reign.

As Big 12 Media Day approaches on Wednesday and Thursday, there is much optimism in the changes Brown has made from last year in his coaching staff and personnel, but this has to result in major on-field improvements or Lyons will be facing pressure to make a coaching change.


See More at: www.wvnews.com/sports/wvu/wvus-football-...f4-f33ff4697af8.html

There were a LOT of WVU fans that were quick to throw Bill Stewart under the bus. And I've honestly relished in seeing what's happened to the football program as a result. I love karma; the belief it makes people eventually pay keeps me going. WVU is still paying. But Brown is definitely no improvement. He finally manages to recuit a couple stragglers and fans wet themselves?

I agree. Brown knows football. he has some good recruits the last 2 years. hopefully they will hire someone that can take that talent and move forward with it.

This year is make or break, although, I heard Lyons say after last year, he has this year and next to prove himself