Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Mike Casazza: Burchett helps Holgorsen with many tasks
by Mike Casazza, WVU Beat Writer
West Virginia University football coach Dana Holgorsen. (Tom Hindman/Daily Mail)
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — This is one of those questions that can’t be answered without some time and one that’s nevertheless discussed because there is so much time between now and the resolution. But did Dana Holgorsen, the West Virginia football coach on the verge of his fifth season in charge, spread himself too thin this offseason?
The answer is yes. And no. Mostly no. But it is true he’s now the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, that after Shannon Dawson, who held those titles, moved along to the University of Kentucky. Holgorsen filled that hole on the staff with a defensive line coach and then hired a graduate assistant to replace Dawson.
That’s a lot of ink on one business card, and the business of a head coach has him spinning in different directions all the time as it is.
But the reason Holgorsen hasn’t jeopardized his offense and, by extension, his program is because of that graduate assistant. Michael Burchett, hired away from the school that hired away Dawson, knows the school, the offense and the coach. He had options, too, and options that might have been simpler.
Burchett, 23, could have followed Neal Brown as he made his move from Kentucky’s offensive coordinator to Troy’s head coach. Brown would have trusted Burchett to run quarterback drills in practice, but he’d have to work beneath a quarterbacks coach.
He could have stayed with the Wildcats, paired his bachelor’s degree in mathematical economics with a master’s in business administration and been reunited with Dawson, who was WVU’s coordinator when Burchett was one of the backup quarterbacks in 2011. He would have kept living with his sister in a place a block or so from their brother. He would have been near his girlfriend in Lexington.
He instead picked the Mountaineers, a place he once knew, a place that technically didn’t have an offensive coordinator or a quarterbacks coach. If that situation was a challenge, that challenge was inviting.
“It’s exactly what I was looking for,” Burchett said. “You always kind of play stuff out in your head and you try to figure out how you have to do things, but the coaching business is about getting breaks. A lot about getting started in college coaching is making the right moves, but sometimes things have to happen for you.”
Holgorsen first met Burchett when the quarterback transferred from Kentucky before Holgorsen’s first season. Burchett learned the offense and impressed the coaching staff, but he was impatient and left the Mountaineers following the Orange Bowl season and transferred to Division II Center College, not far from Lexington. He spent a semester there and wound up back at Kentucky to finish his degree.
The Wildcats hired Mark Stoops in December 2012 to be the head coach and he hired Brown. One day, Holgorsen called Burchett and asked if he was interested in coaching. Burchett said he was and Holgorsen lobbied Stoops and Brown to give Burchett a shot. Burchett was a success, because he’s good at this and because the offenses are similar. That familiarity is why the Wildcats hired Dawson and why Holgorsen brought back Burchett this offseason.
It assured Holgorsen he could continue to call plays, something he did with Dawson on the staff, and work with the quarterbacks, which he hadn’t done on his own his first four seasons with the Mountaineers, but that he could also step away at times to do things head coaches do and leave Burchett in charge.
“That’s what was really appealing,” Burchett said. “I know as the head coach and the offensive coordinator, he’s got a lot of duties, so he’d want me drilling the quarterbacks. He told me he trusted me to do that and that’s why he wanted me to come back.”
Burchett can check on grades and meet with quarterbacks when the rules allow. During the summer workouts, which WVU is in the middle of now, the group watches film from spring practice and walks through concepts on the field.
Holgorsen is always around. He has enough experience on the staff to let other assistants do what they want while he coaches the quarterbacks or coordinates offense. Sometimes he has to be somewhere else when a quarterbacks meeting starts, though. Burchett starts and hands the room to the head coach when he enters. No time is wasted.
When practice starts next month, Burchett will run the quarterbacks through the drills as Holgorsen floats around the field. The installation and the live parts belong to Holgorsen, though Burchett can pull quarterbacks aside and counsel them.
“I think if anybody can handle it, it’s him because of his personality,” Burchett said. “He gets after it. He has confidence in himself because he’s been successful everywhere he’s been, so why wouldn’t it be successful now? He’s got great help around him, too. All the assistant coaches are on the same page now. They’ve got some continuity and he doesn’t feel like he has to run to the other side of the building to check on things. That’s what takes a the pressure off him and makes this work.”
- See more at: http://www.charlestondailymail.com/article/20150617/DM03/150619325/1309#sthash.3u5uPx2T.dpuf
Mike Casazza: Burchett helps Holgorsen with many tasks
by Mike Casazza, WVU Beat Writer
West Virginia University football coach Dana Holgorsen. (Tom Hindman/Daily Mail)
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — This is one of those questions that can’t be answered without some time and one that’s nevertheless discussed because there is so much time between now and the resolution. But did Dana Holgorsen, the West Virginia football coach on the verge of his fifth season in charge, spread himself too thin this offseason?
The answer is yes. And no. Mostly no. But it is true he’s now the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, that after Shannon Dawson, who held those titles, moved along to the University of Kentucky. Holgorsen filled that hole on the staff with a defensive line coach and then hired a graduate assistant to replace Dawson.
That’s a lot of ink on one business card, and the business of a head coach has him spinning in different directions all the time as it is.
But the reason Holgorsen hasn’t jeopardized his offense and, by extension, his program is because of that graduate assistant. Michael Burchett, hired away from the school that hired away Dawson, knows the school, the offense and the coach. He had options, too, and options that might have been simpler.
Burchett, 23, could have followed Neal Brown as he made his move from Kentucky’s offensive coordinator to Troy’s head coach. Brown would have trusted Burchett to run quarterback drills in practice, but he’d have to work beneath a quarterbacks coach.
He could have stayed with the Wildcats, paired his bachelor’s degree in mathematical economics with a master’s in business administration and been reunited with Dawson, who was WVU’s coordinator when Burchett was one of the backup quarterbacks in 2011. He would have kept living with his sister in a place a block or so from their brother. He would have been near his girlfriend in Lexington.
He instead picked the Mountaineers, a place he once knew, a place that technically didn’t have an offensive coordinator or a quarterbacks coach. If that situation was a challenge, that challenge was inviting.
“It’s exactly what I was looking for,” Burchett said. “You always kind of play stuff out in your head and you try to figure out how you have to do things, but the coaching business is about getting breaks. A lot about getting started in college coaching is making the right moves, but sometimes things have to happen for you.”
Holgorsen first met Burchett when the quarterback transferred from Kentucky before Holgorsen’s first season. Burchett learned the offense and impressed the coaching staff, but he was impatient and left the Mountaineers following the Orange Bowl season and transferred to Division II Center College, not far from Lexington. He spent a semester there and wound up back at Kentucky to finish his degree.
The Wildcats hired Mark Stoops in December 2012 to be the head coach and he hired Brown. One day, Holgorsen called Burchett and asked if he was interested in coaching. Burchett said he was and Holgorsen lobbied Stoops and Brown to give Burchett a shot. Burchett was a success, because he’s good at this and because the offenses are similar. That familiarity is why the Wildcats hired Dawson and why Holgorsen brought back Burchett this offseason.
It assured Holgorsen he could continue to call plays, something he did with Dawson on the staff, and work with the quarterbacks, which he hadn’t done on his own his first four seasons with the Mountaineers, but that he could also step away at times to do things head coaches do and leave Burchett in charge.
“That’s what was really appealing,” Burchett said. “I know as the head coach and the offensive coordinator, he’s got a lot of duties, so he’d want me drilling the quarterbacks. He told me he trusted me to do that and that’s why he wanted me to come back.”
Burchett can check on grades and meet with quarterbacks when the rules allow. During the summer workouts, which WVU is in the middle of now, the group watches film from spring practice and walks through concepts on the field.
Holgorsen is always around. He has enough experience on the staff to let other assistants do what they want while he coaches the quarterbacks or coordinates offense. Sometimes he has to be somewhere else when a quarterbacks meeting starts, though. Burchett starts and hands the room to the head coach when he enters. No time is wasted.
When practice starts next month, Burchett will run the quarterbacks through the drills as Holgorsen floats around the field. The installation and the live parts belong to Holgorsen, though Burchett can pull quarterbacks aside and counsel them.
“I think if anybody can handle it, it’s him because of his personality,” Burchett said. “He gets after it. He has confidence in himself because he’s been successful everywhere he’s been, so why wouldn’t it be successful now? He’s got great help around him, too. All the assistant coaches are on the same page now. They’ve got some continuity and he doesn’t feel like he has to run to the other side of the building to check on things. That’s what takes a the pressure off him and makes this work.”
- See more at: http://www.charlestondailymail.com/article/20150617/DM03/150619325/1309#sthash.3u5uPx2T.dpuf
