Dana Holgorsen’s run at West Virginia keeps looking like a bigger missed opportunity every time his coaching path takes another turn.
Last weekend, Matt Rhule relieved Holgorsen of his duties as Nebraska’s offensive coordinator, marking the second time he’s been fired since leaving WVU after the 2018 season. That latest move puts even more attention on the choices Holgorsen made near the end of his time in Morgantown, when the whole thing could have played out very differently.
Holgorsen had spent the years leading into 2018 aiming at that season as the one when West Virginia could finally break through in the Big 12. At the time, the sport was still operating in a much different world, before the transfer portal and NIL changed how quickly teams could reload. The idea was simple: stockpile veteran talent, lean on experience, and try to squeeze out a conference title and more.
For a while, it looked like the plan was working. West Virginia got off to an unbeaten start and climbed as high as No. 6 in the country.
Then came the collapse at Oklahoma State, the shootout loss to Oklahoma, and the bowl defeat to Syracuse. Holgorsen did not fly back with the team and eventually finalized a deal to leave for Houston.
He once summed up the reality of coaching this way: "In this profession, you’ve got to take some gambles."
Holgorsen was talking about the jumps from Texas Tech to Houston to call plays and from Oklahoma State to the West Virginia head coaching job. But there was another gamble baked into that WVU run: not building enough of a young foundation behind Will Grier and the rest of that veteran group. That decision left him exposed when the 2018 season slipped away.
By the end of that year, the signs were hard to miss. West Virginia had fallen short of expectations, and there didn’t appear to be much room to keep the success going in 2019. The Mountaineers were not going to hand him an extension, so moving on made sense, and at the time, stepping down to the Group of Six for a fresh start fit the moment.
What happened next is impossible to know. If West Virginia had held on against one of the two Oklahoma schools and reached the Big 12 championship game, Holgorsen almost certainly would have been back in 2019. How much longer he would have stayed beyond that, though, is something nobody can answer.
Holgorsen told TCU reporters later that he had no regrets about how things ended at WVU. Still, it’s hard not to think he’d change a thing or two if he could.
In Other News...
Rich Rodriguez Just Put West Virginia's Defensive Concerns In Focus
Rich Rodriguez used his 10th coaches show of the 2026 season to put a spotlight on where West Virginia stands after the loss to Texas Tech, and the picture was not limited to the scoreboard. He talked through injury updates for Amare Grayson and Jacob Bradford, looked ahead to Kansas, and spent time on the defensive issues that have been nagging the Mountaineers, especially the way deep passes have exposed them. Rodriguez also pointed to the broader challenge of keeping a roster steady in a season shaped by turnover, saying the answer has to include simplification.
The defensive conversation carried beyond scheme and into mindset, which is where the concern gets sharper for West Virginia. Rodriguez said the team has to clean up the mental side as much as the physical execution, even as he noted progress from Taron Francis and Keon Hutchins. With mid-season assistant coach firings becoming a talking point across college football, Rodriguez also addressed the reality of constant change around the sport, but for the Mountaineers the immediate question is whether the defense can settle in quickly enough to give them a chance against Kansas. [Read more 🡒]
Zac Alley Sends A Clear Message As WVU Defense Faces Heat
West Virginias defense has spent enough time under the microscope that every rough series seems to spark a fresh wave of outside noise, and defensive coordinator Zac Alley is making it clear how he wants his players to handle it. Alley said he takes responsibility for the units performance, but he also wants his group to stay locked in on the people inside the building rather than letting social media shape how they see themselves.
There was at least a small sign of progress against Texas Tech, when the Mountaineers settled in after a shaky start and turned in a better second half with multiple stops. For a defense that has been trying to steady itself through a difficult stretch, the message from Alley is as much about mindset as it is about scheme, and the next step is proving those adjustments can hold up when the pressure builds again. [Read more 🡒]
Rich Rodriguez Sends A Message WVU Fans Need To Hear
Following West Virginias recent loss to Texas Tech, the frustration spilled quickly onto social media, where some fans went beyond criticism and into personal attacks on players and coaches. Rich Rodriguez used his radio show to draw a clear line, reminding the fanbase that disappointment is part of the deal but that it does not need to become personal, especially when the people inside the program already know the standard they are falling short of.
Rodriguezs message landed in a week when the broader conversation around online behavior was already getting louder in Morgantown, with mens basketball coach Ross Hodge also pointing to the damage harsh criticism can do to players and recruits. For West Virginia, it is a familiar tension in a passionate fan base: the expectations are real, the results matter, and the challenge is keeping accountability from turning into something that pushes people away. [Read more 🡒]