Bill Stewart welcomed his successor Dana Holgorsen with a handshake, a “Flying WV” lapel pin and a smile.
Holgorsen was officially introduced by Stewart and WVU Athletic Director Oliver Luck as the Mountaineers’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the 2011 season. The 39-year-old will take over as West Virginia’s 33rd head football coach after Stewart steps down following next season.
It wasn’t long after that the newest addition of the West Virginia football coaching staff denounced any possibility of internal conflict during the transition season.
“If I thought it would be a problem, I wouldn’t be here,” Holgorsen said. “I’m not concerned with that.
“If everybody’s on the same page, you have a chance to win football games. If I come to work and there’s people fighting each other, then we’re not going to win games. We know that if we’re all on the same page then we have a chance to win.”
Stewart and Luck also said they expect no problems with the addition of Holgorsen.
“The direction of the West Virginia football is good. It’s in great hands, and it will continue to be in great hands,” Stewart said. “With (WVU defensive coordinator) Jeff Casteel and Dana Holgorsen, it’s going to be a very exciting 2011.”
Holgorsen will be paid $800,000 in 2011 and his salary will increase to $1.4 million when he takes over as head coach in 2012. Until then, he said he will learn how the program operates under Stewart and become familiar with recruiting areas along the East coast. The coach said his primary recruiting area is Houston, but he has also recruited parts of Florida.
Holgorsen is considered one of the best offensive coordinators in the country and produced the country’s most productive offense at Oklahoma State this season. His 2009 offense at Houston was ranked second in the country while he has also coached at Texas Tech.
The opportunity to become a head coach in BCS program was ultimately too good of an opportunity to pass up, Holgorsen said.
“I’ve been in four different places in the last five years – I’m tired of moving,” he said. “If I wanted to stay an offensive coordinator only, I would have stayed where I was at. (Becoming a head coach) has always been my goal in this profession. I think I have a pretty good idea how to do it.”
Holgorsen has not been introduced to the team, saying “we’ll keep them in suspense,” but did meet West Virginia head men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins.
“I was pretty jacked to meet him,” Holgorsen said. “He’s a piece of work.”
Holgorsen said he will meet with the current WVU offensive assistant coaches when selecting his offensive staff.
Once he takes over as head coach, Holgorsen will hand play calling duties to an offensive coordinator, although he said he will stay “extremely, extremely involved.”
“When you get the opportunity to hire a couple guys, you can’t just hire your best friends,” he said. “You have to see what you need. There’s a lot of things that go into it.”
After leaving Morgantown Wednesday evening, Holgorsen will fly directing to San Antonio to prepare the Cowboys for their Alamo Bowl matchup against Arizona Dec. 29.