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Lyons: Holgorsen deal strikes balance with market, WVU’s budget

West Virginia AD Shane Lyons called coach Dana Holgorsen’s five-year, $18.6 million extension “a very fair contract on both sides.”

 

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Digging into football coach Dana Holgorsen’s five-year, $18.6 million extension, West Virginia athletics director Shane Lyons said the deal struck a balance with the national market while remaining fiscally responsible to the school.

Lyons, appearing Friday on MetroNews “Talkline,” acknowledged some fans lost patience with his pledge to wait until the regular season ended before signing the extension. West Virginia’s 6-0 start had Holgorsen’s name tenuously linked to several vacancies around the country, though sources told MetroNews he was intent on remaining at WVU and other schools hadn’t gauge his interest.

Lyons announced the new contract minutes after the Mountaineers edged Baylor 24-21 last Saturday, clinching the ninth 10-win season in program history.

“I had a lot of social media people that were giving me advice and didn’t like me being methodical about this, but I didn’t want this to be aired in the media,” Lyons said. “I think we ended up where we needed to end up and kept it clean, as opposed to a lot of rumors.”

Holgorsen’s previous contract, negotiated by former AD Oliver Luck, was fully guaranteed and lacked an offset clause —a measure reducing the school’s payout once a fired coach lands a job at another school.

Lyons pushed for an offset clause during recent negotiations, estimating that half the Power 5 head-coaching contracts still include them.

“I wanted that in there — that’s my philosophy. Some of the institutions out there, you see it around the country, where there is no offset,” Lyons said.

“In the old (Holgorsen) contract, there was no offset — you just pay him the money and move on. … It was more weighted toward the coach’s favor as opposed to being fair for both parties. So I tried to bring that back in to negotiations, which I did, and I think we ended up with a very fair contract on both sides.”

While West Virginia’s $90.5 million athletics budget ranked 31st nationally and fifth in the Big 12 during 2015, it spent $87.2 million — and wouldn’t have shown a profit if not for the $4.4 million university subsidy it continues to receive. That makes Lyons unable to write walk-away checks for head coaches on par with LSU, Texas and Oregon.

Under the extension that runs through the 2021 season, WVU would owe Holgorsen more than $11 million for firing him during 2017 and about $8.1 million during the 2018 season. The buyout continues dropping over the final three years of the deal — typically the at-risk portion of a contract — where dismissing Holgorsen would cost West Virginia no more than $6.9 million.

After starting 2016 on the hot seat, Holgorsen steered West Virginia into Big 12 championship contention. He owns a six-year record of 46-30 overall and 22-23 in Big 12 games. Entering the Russell Athletic Bowl on Dec. 28, the Mountaineers — No. 16 in the college playoff rankings and No. 14 in AP — are positioned for their first top-25 finish in any poll since 2011.

“Some of the things happening around the athletic department regarding facilities, and the way we’re recruiting, is starting to pay off,” Lyons said.

Along with the football rejuvenation, West Virginia’s men’s and women’s basketball programs own top 25 rankings and a 16-1 combined record, the undefeated rifle squad is seeking a fifth straight NCAA title, and the women’s soccer team finished as the national runner-up.

“We’re enjoying it, and hopefully we’re making the state very proud of what we’re doing,” Lyons said. ”It’s just a matter of building the right culture. What we’re trying to do here is not talk about our limitations, but talk about our ambitions”





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