What Neal Brown did is amazing, but not every coach leaving for another job is as beloved as he is at Troy.
I can’t think of another situation where a coach left and had they addressed the school publicly that it would have gone as well as it did in Troy.
I have grown so much respect for the folks at Troy through this process. They are a class fan base.
Although WVU has largely a class fanbase in my opinion, I also know we have our share of cretins that would be shouting F-bombs at Holgorsen if he were to attempt what Brown did.
Rodriguez was successful here, and could have been still here today had he chosen to be, ranking right up alongside Nehlen as a WVU legend. But even with the success he had, his decision to leave was met with... well, you know the story. How he handled things was terrible. Had he waited until after the Oklahoma game to announce he was leaving would have been easier to take, but it would not have gone well regardless whenever he left. And addressing the school publicly would not have gone the way it did at Troy for Brown.
I am fine that Holgorsen took out space in the paper to say something. At least he cared enough to not try and burn things down on his way out the door. I consider Holgorsen more of a Mountaineer than I do Rodriguez, and at this point I hope Rodriguez does well and gets at least one more shot to be a head coach somewhere. But I think the letter in the paper was about as good as could be expected. There were certainly those among WVU fans that never like Dana, and never would have if he stayed here 30 years.
