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WVU facing Holgorsen for first time

By Bob Hertzel for The Observer-Reporter newsroom@observer-Reporter.Com 5 min read
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Associated Press

A 4-1 start has taken some of the heat off West Virginia head coach Neal Brown.

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Associated Press

Houston coach Dana Holgorsen left West Virginia for the big city and big money. He faces the Mountaineers for the first time Thursday night.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va – As West Virginia dug into Houston week, it did so under a microscope that is far more powerful than what was envisioned when the schedule was announced following the expansion of the Big 12.

At that time, the spotlight of this game was supposed to focus solely on the meeting of WVU’s Neal Brown and his predecessor as coach, Dana Holgorsen.

Neither team was expected to be very good, WVU famously being picked 14th and last in the Big 12’s preseason poll, but it would get some pizzazz by being played on national television on a Thursday night and having the last two WVU head coaches go at one another.

On the surface, it was a PR man’s dream, although it would, many believed, not be both Brown and Holgorsen playing for their jobs, seeking a football version of the reality show “Survivor.”

“I know a lot is going to be made about West Virginia playing Dana,” Brown said early in his presentation, laying it out there on the table. “I get it.”

He also understands that Dana is a dividing figure in Mountaineers history. He came in controversially, brought in by former athletic director Oliver Luck because he felt he would be able to handle the transition to Big 12 play from the Big East better than Bill Stewart.

He would be a “coach-in-waiting” for a year, but that never reached fruition. Before the season, Holgorsen was named the head coach in a soap opera-ish set of circumstances that were bitter at the end.

His start was controversial with an incident at a casino that had Mountaineer fans wondering what they had gotten into, but he won 10 games, including a 70-33 upset of No. 14 Clemson in the Orange Bowl.

But as time went on, Holgorsen never fit the Mountaineer mold. He was looking more for big city lights and eventually left for Houston, going down from a Power 5 school to a Group of 5 school, earning Power 5 money.

Now, he is bringing another team into the Big 12, but there is talk he’s in trouble, although he defied such talk in March saying to The Athletic:

“We won 20 games in two years. We won bowl games in back-to-back years. I have five years on my contract with a f-ing impossible buyout … So there ain’t no f-ing hot seat in my mind. There just ain’t.”

But he’s off to a 2-3 start with a difficult overtime loss to crosstown Rice and its quarterback, J.T. Daniels, last year’s WVU season-opening starter, and getting whomped by TCU, a team WVU beat.

Brown understands why this game could be made personal between him and Dana, but he says there’s no substance to that.

“I get it, but I think he did a good job here,” Brown said. “I’m reminded of him every time I drive into this parking lot and see a picture of him and the Orange Bowl team.”

But there are more than seven degrees of separation now.

“Malachi Ruffin is the only guy we have who played under his staff and I think we have three guys recruited by the previous staff,” Brown said.

In fact, Brown noted, it’s about equal because Houston has four of WVU former players, including the Mountaineers’ one-time starting tailback, Tony Mathis, and a hot commodity in wide receiver Sam Brown, who has transferred there.

“Tony Mathis did everything we asked him to do, made solid contributions, graduated and did a good job on and off the field here. I wish them the best,” Brown said.

Sam Brown already has 34 receptions in 518 yards, averaging 15 yards per reception.

“We knew when we recruited him he was going to be a really good player. I probably just didn’t do a very good job handling him,” Neal Brown continued.

“I hope he has a great season … just not Thursday night.”

More important, a far bigger story than the coaching faceoff with the fact that WVU enters the game standing at 4-1 and edging on breaking into the Top 25.

“If this game had happened sooner, the buildup would have been a little bigger,” Brown said. “When Dana comes back here for the first time, I think that will be a little bit bigger deal. Time heals a lot of things.

“It would probably be perceived a little differently if we had a lot of guys who were here when he was, but we don’t.”

This game has a different light cast on it than the coaching.

“This is going to be a thing nationally,” Brown said. “There’s only a couple of games on television on a Thursday night. There’s no ill will from anyone in this building going down there.

“This is just about us continuing to get better. I know, people say that’s just coachspeak, but we’re on this winning streak and haven’t really played a three-phase game yet. We’ve been handcuffed a little, handcuffed offensively (by injuries) and now our skill guys are the healthiest they’ve been. Our quarterbacks are continuing to mature, so I think we’re on the verge of playing some good offensive football.”

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