Texas Tech football: Breaking down the candidates for head coach
Dana Holgorsen – West Virginia head coach
If you want a coach with experience running a program, familiarity with Texas Tech and who runs the “Air Raid”, West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen checks every box. That’s why he would be by far the most popular hire Hocutt could make.
But would Tech be able to pry Holgorsen out of Morgantown for what would be at best a lateral move? After all, he’s had a successful run at WVU taking the Mountaineers to four-consecutive bowls and building a consistent top-20 program.
Still, there are some rumblings that the marriage between Holgorsen and West Virginia may be less than blissful. After failing to even reach the Big 12 title game this year despite having what many believe is the best Mountaineer team of his tenure, some in Morgantown are questioning whether he will ever be able to get the Mountaineers to the top of the heap.
He has never been fully embraced by the fan base for multiple reasons. His ascension to the throne played out like a storyline from Game of Thrones and his civil war with long-time popular WVU assistant turned head coach Bill Stewart left the Mountaineer fan base divided much the way the Texas Tech fan base was divided following the Mike Leach scandal.
Holgorsen has also failed to get over the hump in Morgantown. He’s never taken his team to the conference title game despite entering the 2012 season with a top-5 team and having a Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback this year.
Regardless, his 61-40 record since 2011 is far better than Kingsbury’s 35-40 mark over the past six years. Many Texas Tech fans will want Mike Leach to return but that is not likely to happen. The next closest option would be Holgorsen who was a key assistant under Leach at Tech from 2000-2007.
But Tech is not the only school showing interest in Dana Holgorsen. Colorado is reportedly another school that might be looking to pry Holgorsen out of Appalachia. That could be an enticing option for a coach looking for an easier path to a conference title than the round-robin format of the Big 12.
Kirby Hocutt will certainly explore this option. This would be the best-case scenario for the Red Raiders because Holgorsen checks every box and would be a very popular hire with ties to the Leach era which would help pacify those that did not want Kingsbury to be fired.