COMMENTARY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — On Nov. 29, Dana Holgorsen reassured his boss he wanted to remain the head coach at West Virginia. In the month since he declined a one-year contract extension and entered contract talks with the University of Houston.
MetroNews and the Dominion Post confirmed that over the weekend Houston sought permission from WVU athletics director Shane Lyons to contact Holgorsen. Sources with knowledge of the situation said back-channel talks have been ongoing for a couple weeks.
“Who knows, if the talks with Houston go well, this could happen by 12:01 tomorrow,” a source said.
Some of Holgorsen’s own assistants remain in the dark about their head coach’s intentions. They figure to be in for an anxious 24 hours with regard to the New Year’s Day deadline when Holgorsen’s penalty for leaving WVU dips from $2.5 million to $1 million.
Holgorsen is currently signed through the 2021 season and set to earn $3.8 million, $3.9 million and $4 million over the next three years.
In the runup to the Camping World Bowl, Lyons offered Holgorsen a one-year extension through 2022. But Holgorsen’s agent Trace Armstrong wanted the buyout fully guaranteed — as opposed to the school being on the hook for only 60 percent of the remaining salary should Holgorsen be fired.
An industry source said Armstrong was seeking a buyout befitting “a coach who’s winning 10 or 11 games a year and conference championships.”
Holgorsen owns a 61-41 record over eight seasons, with just two Top-25 finishes so far — a third could be forthcoming though No. 16 West Virginia (8-4) lost its bowl game to Syracuse. Across seven years in the Big 12, only twice have his Mountaineers teams finished higher than fifth place.
As West Virginia raises funds for a Puskar Center renovation at the stadium, Lyons is focused on bricks-and-mortar improvements and wary of expensive buyouts paid to recently fired coaches like Colorado’s Mike McIntyre ($10.3 million), North Carolina’s Larry Fedora ($12 million) and Louisville’s Bobby Petrino ($14.1 million).
If Holgorsen declines Houston’s offer — which figures to be outsized by Group of Five standards — West Virginia remains open to retaining him as head coach. His relationship with Lyons remains tenable and the school does not wish to pony up $7 million to fire him. That buyout would dip to $4.7 million next season.