COMMENTARY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — After 15 spring practices parceled across nearly six weeks, and a spring game conducted beneath grey skies with a sickbay of starters watching from the sideline, Dana Holgorsen half-jokingly summed up Saturday afternoon’s conclusion:
“Glad that’s over with.”
During the healthiest of times, spring football can be a tedious construct, and this was not the healthiest of times for West Virginia. So Holgorsen bid his players temporary adieu.
“We’re pretty anxious to wrap things up,” he said. “I just told the team that the next month is when college football student-athletes need to get away from football a little bit and let their bodies heal, finish academics strong, go spend time with their family and be ready to go in June.”
Coming off a 7-6 season tempered by a Liberty Bowl loss to Texas A&M, the Mountaineers must replace one prized piece and a few other noteworthy ones. Yet overall, the roster is deeper than any time during Holgorsen’s first four laps. Those 16 returning starters—and two more respected specialists—are typical of a team hungry to make a leap.
Whether this upperclassmen-heavy team enjoys such gains next fall most certainly will determine whether Holgorsen merits an extension on a contract that expires after the 2017 season. (Yes, that’s three full football years away, but still a narrow window by today’s Power Five coaching standards.) While Holgorsen’s former boss might have been inclined to offer at least a one-year add-on, new athletics director Shane Lyons hasn’t rushed such a move during his first 80 days.
Appropriate caution, to be sure, considering Holgorsen was coaching for his job last season. And despite the feel-better storylines of Kevin White’s monstrous efforts and Josh Lambert’s game-winning kicks, West Virginia still hasn’t won a bowl game in three seasons and owns an 18-20 record through that span.
It’s time to see what the first WVU roster entirely recruited under Holgorsen’s watch can accomplish. Saturday’s Gold-Blue game, played out before a few thousand spectators and without many of the key returnees, was hardly indicative of what Georgia Southern will spy to open the season.
“We’re a far cry from where I hope to be come Sept. 1 when we start playing games,” Holgorsen said. “I was pleased with the amount of work that we got done, and I think we’re going to be a pretty good football team come September.”
Pretty good should be the starting point for 2015’s expectations. The offense carries uncertainties but the defense aspires to compensate. And those five Big 12 road games are mitigated by a not-so-scary nonconference lineup that includes Liberty and Maryland.
Will another seven wins suffice, or should fans expect the Mountaineers to remain a factor in the league title hunt throughout November? Come next season, we can debate the merits of progress and what represents “pretty good” relative to the history of West Virginia football. For now, though, it’s time to rest and recharge.