New Dana Article

[ThunderStruck5]

https://www.si.com/college-football/2019/04/30/dana-holgorsen-houston-west-virginia-recruiting

Lots of good stuff in here. Dana is mostly respectful, but definitely some interesting stuff. Most interesting to me..

- He verbally agreed to go to Houston a week before our bowl game.

- He made a BBQ joint take down WVU memorabilia (That's a real tool bag move)

- Says you can't build a contender out of kids from West Virginia (It's true. Don't see the debate here. No way Dana could have built a contender out of in state kids... But Neal Brown might give it a go..)

PS. I like Dana. I think he's a good coach and a cool figurehead for the school. But I don't think there's a doubt in my mind that we upgraded. Truthfully, I think he knows it, too.

 

[TownesVanZandt]

Don't understand why West Virginia is down on their own state.

Truthfully I think high school football in West Virginia needs investment.
Get the high schools to spend more money and get better coaching and development WVU will be rewarded with better players.

Truthfully people saying WV CANNOT product enough players should be used as motivation.
If it just produces 2-3 more players a year.
That is enough to help WVU.

 

[Op2]

Here's a tidbit from the article. In the 10 year span from 2008 to 2017, the state of WV produced 28 Power 5 Conference players. The city of Houston produced 211.

 

[WVUALLEN]

I thought Dana was no longer WVU coach. Why are we worried about someone no longer a coach at WVU?

 

[TownesVanZandt]

Cougar High is not a P5 school.
So those players in the Houston area aren't going there.
Ed Oliver is the exception to the rule. But they recruited his brother, Tom Herman brought in Corby Meekins to his staff from Oliver's HS and the family is pretty country from Northeast Louisiana so there was some money changing hands.
The Daddy moved back to Louisiana and bought a few new horses and a 45K truck.

 

[WVUALLEN]

Don't understand why West Virginia is down on their own state.

Truthfully I think high school football in West Virginia needs investment.
Get the high schools to spend more money and get better coaching and development WVU will be rewarded with better players.

Truthfully people saying WV CANNOT product enough players should be used as motivation.
If it just produces 2-3 more players a year.
That is enough to help WVU.

You do know WV population is 1.7 million, the state is losing jobs faster than the state is losing money, College grads are leaving the state before the ink dries on their diploma.

Ps the teachers have been on strike in back to back years wanting better pay. Yeah money grows on trees in wv

 

[oceantide83]

Here's a tidbit from the article. In the 10 year span from 2008 to 2017, the state of WV produced 28 Power 5 Conference players. The city of Houston produced 211.

WV could produce hundreds of Power 5 Conference players if they wanted to. All they have to do is get WVU to offer every kid in the state a scholarship to play football. They'd be rollin' in Power 5 Conference players.

 

[oceantide83]

Dana took a step down to a coach at a lower tier school. That tells you all you need to know about Dana and his work ethic.

 

[Rootmaster]

I thought Dana was no longer WVU coach. Why are we worried about someone no longer a coach at WVU?

Because it is fun to talk about a total jackass...which would be Dana Clueless.

 

[TownesVanZandt]

I agree.
He wants the easy way out.

But he didn't mention that Memphis, UCF and USF have the same attachment to their community.
Cougar High might have more success at it but those other schools can claim the same thing.

This is not even mentioning the private schools like SMU and Tulane.
Truthfully think SMU is in a better position and they have deeper pockets than Houston.

 

[oceantide83]

Truthfully think SMU is in a better position and they have deeper pockets than Houston.

But they don't have Dana's drinking buddies.

 

[TownesVanZandt]

SMU was a QB away from playing in the AAC Championship game last year.
Truthfully outplayed Memphis but didn't have a QB.
SMU actually beat Houston. This was with Kendall Briles. Dana is a great offensive coach but I don't think he is that much better than Kendall Briles.

Houston has talent right now on defense that are juniors and seniors.
They have depth on the DL that probably 1/3 of P5 schools wish they had
Wouldn't be surprised if they had a few more players drafted from that defense.


We will see.

Think Dana is a little more conservative like he was in the Big East.
Because he has some elite AAC talent on the defensive side of the ball.
Something he never really had at West Virginia.

 

[oceantide83]

He had to get back in the H-Town Mafia.

 

[TownesVanZandt]

The guy who paid for the hire is Tilman Ferettia.
Ferettia's family used to run around with Sam Maceo.
Maceo was known as the Velvet Glove.
Ran all the illegal gambling places in Galveston and actually help create Vegas.

 

[WVUALLEN]

Nobody cares.

 

[TownesVanZandt]

For you to post that twice proves you have some emotional attachment to Dana Holgersen...

Not everyone thinks the same. What is in Dana's head isn't the same as every coach.

The article does say DH's time was nearing an end. Pretty much is saying Dana Holgersen knew he was probably going to get fired and took the first highway out of town.
So if people want to talk about it...
Let them. Won't change what eventually will happen with either WV or Houston.

 

[Rootmaster]

Disagree allen... a lot of us cared before and now that we know the back story about red bull...we care even more. Screw him.

 

[ThunderStruck5]

I thought Dana was no longer WVU coach. Why are we worried about someone no longer a coach at WVU?

No personal disrespect to you, but..

get out of here with this junk. It's an article that very specifically talks about WVU's football team and campus. It even references high school football in the state. He was our coach for 8 years. It's extremely relevant to fans of WVU.

Also, it's May. What is a WVU forum supposed to talk about?

 

[Pitt4Life34]

I thought Dana was no longer WVU coach. Why are we worried about someone no longer a coach at WVU?

Same reason why you idiots care about a QB no longer at WVU

 

[RichardCranium1]

Dana sounds like an insecure douche bag.

Only reason I would hang out with him if he was buying.
I have heard rumors he has a cocaine problem. Do they drug test coaches. I know they do players.
Probably why he ended up at Houston.

 

[spartansstink]

Let's wrap the Dana story line up.

While Dana was here, he was a "good enough" coach. Always "good enough" to win games to keep his job but never enough to really fire up the fan base.

He ran his coaching like he ran everything else - alright, that's "good enough".

But that's the difference between say, a Saban or a Meyer. Never was anything "good enough", not in practice, not in expectations, not in meetings with donors, etc. For them, it is always precision, repetition until perfect, in every facet of the coaching game.

That's the difference... "good enough" versus "never good enough".

Dana's in a place now where "good enough" will probably be good enough. The expectations are lower, he isn't the face of the state but rather just another face in the Houston crowd (the H-Town Posse nonwithstanding) and he can skate by with his Jeff Spicoli outlook to modest success.

Which to him, will be good enough.

 

[sword12]

Dana sounds like an insecure douche bag.

Only reason I would hang out with him if he was buying.
I have heard rumors he has a cocaine problem. Do they drug test coaches. I know they do players.
Probably why he ended up at Houston.

great comment , you are a dick head or just a plain dick

 

[RichardCranium1]

great comment , you are a dick head or just a plain dick

The constant consumption of energy drinks is a sign. Plus his sinuses always look congested. Another sign.
But I am not the only one who has seen it. Heard it from numerous people.
Ends up at Houston after the rumors of Tom Herman using cocaine with Tilman Ferettia came out.

 

[Chazz Michael Michaels]

Dana not only lost 3 bowl games in a row- he was totally unprepared for all 3. The last 2 years in a row, he lost his last 3 games.
He didn’t appear to put in the extra work to get us over the top. He was above average but not more than that.
He’s now running around getting drunk on Fertittas dime in the G5. So be it. HC Brown seems to be willing to put in the extra work. We are in good shape.

 

[TownesVanZandt]

Any coach that is halfway decent wins there.

Every coach who has won there has went on to a bigger job or ended up in the College Football HoF
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Houston_Cougars_head_football_coaches

All coaches who had a 600 winning percentage plus Art Briles.

Bill Meek went to SMU when SMU was one of the bigger schools in the SWC

Bill Yeoman College HoF

Jack Pardee Became HC of Houston Oilers
College HoF

Art Briles went to Baylor

Kevin Sumlin went to A&M

Tom Herman went to Texas

Dana is going to attempt to parlay the job into something bigger
Yeoman is the only coach who ever stayed at UH

 

[SeronimusPratt]

I thought Dana was no longer WVU coach. Why are we worried about someone no longer a coach at WVU?

Same reason why you idiots care about a QB no longer at WVU

Who?

 

[MichiganHerd]

wvu is pretty much a stepping stone for up and coming coaches. Michigan used them as such, and has had great success with one of them. Houston is likely hoping for similar results.

 

[doneagain]

wvu is pretty much a stepping stone for up and coming coaches. Michigan used them as such, and has had great success with one of them. Houston is likely hoping for similar results.

Very few schools aren’t viewed as stepping stone schools. It largely depends on how you look at it. LSU was a steppingstone for Saban to go to the NFL. I don’t think anyone views LSU as a bad job, but Saban viewed the NFL as a better opportunity. If you were head coach at Marshall and were offered the Michigan job, what would you do? Or vice versa? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 

[doneagain]

Dana wants to stay up late and sleep in. He doesn’t want to live at work. He wants big money but wants to be anonymous. He wants the fans engaged but doesn’t want to attend fundraisers. He wants elite recruits but only goes after the easier, safe bet targets as was evidenced by the comments from the elite OL talent coming out of WV this past recruiting cycle. He wants the school to sell itself so he doesn’t have to so he can just do an 8 hour day broken up by taking hour long leisurely walks around campus. He believes for the most part he can just out game plan most opponents and doesn’t bother to use all his allotted practices for bowls. He wants complete autonomy and no one is allowed to question his methods. He wants the right to call out the fans for not being all in 1000% of the time, but he never completely bought in, himself. He wants to use excuses for not achieving like saying you can’t beat Oklahoma at WVU, yet the previous 2 games against Oklahoma prior to Dana arriving WVU was 2-0, once in Norman and once in the Fiesta Bowl.

That said, I liked Dana. I wanted him to succeed and hoped prior to this past season he was ready to take the next step and begin competing for conference titles annually.

After this past year, I knew in my heart we had peaked under Dana, and when he left, I was actually somewhat relieved though you never know if the administration will blow the next hire or not. So far on the surface, it looks like they hired the right guy.

 

[ThunderStruck5]

Dana wants to stay up late and sleep in. He doesn’t want to live at work. He wants big money but wants to be anonymous. He wants the fans engaged but doesn’t want to attend fundraisers. He wants elite recruits but only goes after the easier, safe bet targets as was evidenced by the comments from the elite OL talent coming out of WV this past recruiting cycle. He wants the school to sell itself so he doesn’t have to so he can just do an 8 hour day broken up by taking hour long leisurely walks around campus. He believes for the most part he can just out game plan most opponents and doesn’t bother to use all his allotted practices for bowls. He wants complete autonomy and no one is allowed to question his methods. He wants the right to call out the fans for not being all in 1000% of the time, but he never completely bought in, himself. He wants to use excuses for not achieving like saying you can’t beat Oklahoma at WVU, yet the previous 2 games against Oklahoma prior to Dana arriving WVU was 2-0, once in Norman and once in the Fiesta Bowl.

That said, I liked Dana. I wanted him to succeed and hoped prior to this past season he was ready to take the next step and begin competing for conference titles annually.

After this past year, I knew in my heart we had peaked under Dana, and when he left, I was actually somewhat relieved though you never know if the administration will blow the next hire or not. So far on the surface, it looks like they hired the right guy.

Great Post.

 

[sg44gold]

This explains several things.
One, Dana’s divorce.
Two, why Dana struggled with recruiting. As much as people want to destroy religion lately, there are large segments of our society that are still deeply religious. They are in NO hurry to turn their sons over to an aging playboy. Especially one that looks more like Willy Wonka than Magnum PI.
And Three, why Dana loves Houston. Houston is a “town.” I know, I lived there. In fact, it is a pirate town. Galveston, an old pirate port, is only a stones throw away. Yes, it has been invaded by Northerners, but Houston still allows its Stars to burn BRIGHT and it also allows them to flame out in spectacular fashion.

This should be a great show. I can’t wait.

 

[WVUALLEN]

No personal disrespect to you, but..

get out of here with this junk. It's an article that very specifically talks about WVU's football team and campus. It even references high school football in the state. He was our coach for 8 years. It's extremely relevant to fans of WVU.

Also, it's May. What is a WVU forum supposed to talk about?

He's no longer our coach. Post the future not the past.

 

[WVUALLEN]

Same reason why you idiots care about a QB no longer at WVU

Whaaa whaa wan, cry elsewhere.

 

[ThunderStruck5]

He's no longer our coach. Post the future not the past.

Yep. From here on out, only things directly regarding people currently employed by WVU will be spoken about on this forum. If i see a damn thing about Pat White or Major Harris or Will Grier, I'm done.

 

[WVU enginEER]

Don't understand why West Virginia is down on their own state.

Truthfully I think high school football in West Virginia needs investment.
Get the high schools to spend more money and get better coaching and development WVU will be rewarded with better players.

Truthfully people saying WV CANNOT product enough players should be used as motivation.
If it just produces 2-3 more players a year.
That is enough to help WVU.

The problem is not the kids, it's the school teacher coach want-a-be's that need upgrading. Need serious coaches, not the ones who wear dirty sweat pants and a faded tee-shirt to class to teach cause they coach football or girls softball.

 

[TownesVanZandt]

This explains several things.
One, Dana’s divorce.
Two, why Dana struggled with recruiting. As much as people want to destroy religion lately, there are large segments of our society that are still deeply religious. They are in NO hurry to turn their sons over to an aging playboy. Especially one that looks more like Willy Wonka than Magnum PI.
And Three, why Dana loves Houston. Houston is a “town.” I know, I lived there. In fact, it is a pirate town. Galveston, an old pirate port, is only a stones throw away. Yes, it has been invaded by Northerners, but Houston still allows its Stars to burn BRIGHT and it also allows them to flame out in spectacular fashion.

This should be a great show. I can’t wait.

Willy Wonka on crack more like it.

Houston has swag. It is the city of gold teeth, candy paint and purple drank.

This stuff is foreign to Dana. He has coaches on his staff who understand Southeast Texas and South Louisiana.
The city has always been us Vs rest of Texas and us vs the world.

Dana is more of a figurehead. These people will love him if he wins and stays.
Kelvin Sampson is doing it. Pretty much putting a bunch of Houston and South Louisiana recruits together.

I do care what sport you are talking about.
This is where the most talented athletes come from.

 

[spartansstink]

The problem is not the kids, it's the school teacher coach want-a-be's that need upgrading. Need serious coaches, not the ones who wear dirty sweat pants and a faded tee-shirt to class to teach cause they coach football or girls softball.

I agree with you on part of this. We have too many of those kinds of coaches - guys wearing XL shirts on 2 or 3 XL bodies who ruin kids academically worse than they do athletically.

I disagree with you on part also. The HISD has about as many students just in their district as WV does in the entire state (@ 215K vs. 250k). Yet, I've read somewhere that just in the recent past the HISD has put out over 200 DI prospects while WV has put out around 30 during the same time period. I feel this is has occurred because the HISD has a far larger "diverse" student population than WV. It might sound a little racist, and if I offend anyone reading this I don't really care, but there isn't much call for slow, overweight, white boys on DI program rosters.

 

[Darth_VadEER]

I thought Dana was no longer WVU coach. Why are we worried about someone no longer a coach at WVU?

Speak for yourself....I enjoyed reading the article.

 

[TownesVanZandt]

Houston hasn't really maximized its talent.
Certain schools in Houston have good history like Lamar, Westfield and Madison.
As a whole the better schools are in Galveston, Montgomery and Fort Bend Counties.

The best school right now is Galena Park North Shore it is not apart of HISD.
North Shore is a beast in football and basketball.
They have the #1 player in Zach Evans among other highly touted prospects for the next few years.

It comes down to coaching plus coaching outside of football.
7v7 really changed the landscape in Houston. Now these recruits are getting private coaching outside of their high school.
At the high school level. Even at the smaller high schools you have coaches who played at the college level. Even if it is at a NAIA or JUCO level.
But the players that don't meet the requirements to get their teaching credentials become private coaches.

The amount of private coaching in Texas went from a few to 5-6,000 in just a 5-10 year period.

 

[Darth_VadEER]

I only grazed the article, but it appeared Dana was running late for a major commitment...

I do not respect that.