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WVU Debacle

Posted by Chip Patterson

The soap opera in Morgantown took another turn for the worst late Monday night/early Tuesday morning when a Pittsburgh-based sports writer told KDKA-FM that West Virginia head coach Bill Stewart suggested that the writer "dig up dirt" on future replacement Dana Holgorsen back in December.

Colin Dunlap, of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was a guest on Chris Mueller's late night radio show on 93.7 The Fan (CBS Radio - Pittsburgh). As you will see from the excerpts below, Dunlap said that Stewart called him on December 18, three days after Holgorsen was hired by West Virginia as offensive coordinator and awarded the "coach-in-waiting" title.

(You can listen to the audio here, via KDKA-FM, Sports By Brooks)
“It was actually my birthday, December 18, it was the day he (Stewart) was going to the bowl game because I distinctly remember there was a coaches convention in Pittsburgh with high school coaches. He was (then) flying from Pittsburgh down to Orlando to the bowl game for pre-prep work..“

” … He (Stewart) tried to flame-throw the guy (Holgorsen) in December by calling me and at least one other reporter because the reporter and I discussed it. He said, ‘can you get the word ’scumbag’ tattooed on the front of the sports page?’

“‘(Stewart said) you need to dig up this dirt. You need to get it out on this guy.’ And I said, ‘hey man, I’m not a part of some witch hunt.’” “… If you want to go look at my cell phone records you can, I don’t need to hide from it. The conversation happened the day he (Stewart) was driving to the airport from the high school coaches convention in Pittsburgh. He was on his way to Orlando. Dave McMichael (West Virginia assistant coach) was in the car with him. The conversation happened.”
This is obviously one of the pieces that led to all the "Benedict Arnold" talk that began on Sunday night. For Stewart to reach out like that to a sports writer who primarily covers the Mountaineers' chief rival is dancing with the devil and walking her home. Unfortunately, we can only assume the reaction from this will either be a full denial from Stewart or some swift action from West Virginia.

The school began an internal investigation into leaks from within the football program after Chuck Landon's damning article of Holgorsen included what the university called "blatant inaccuracies." While this reported phone conversation did not lead to any successful "dirt," it does not look good for Stewart (or anyone connected with him) that he was trying to get bad press on Holgorsen as far back as December.

Buckle in folks, Morgantown: 26501 is just heating up. Keep checking in back here at the Eye on College Football for the response from Stewart and/or West Virginia.
 
Am I the only one who has an unpleasant physical reaction to seeing "Pittsnoggle" or "Gansey?"
 
tos said:
Am I the only one who has an unpleasant physical reaction to seeing "Pittsnoggle" or "Gansey?"
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crappedmypants.jpg
 
tos said:
Am I the only one who has an unpleasant physical reaction to seeing "Pittsnoggle" or "Gansey?"
Click to expand...

I have an unpleasant reaction to anything Beilein, Gansey, Prosser etc from that game. I was sitting 8th row behind the bench and saw plus heard stuff from one of the worst coached games in Wake Forest history.

From SP letting Levy shoot the "T's" & seeing CP3 & Taron plead to go shoot them, to our defense playing no helpside and watching Gansey give a head fake & go right down the lane for dunks & layups. [ meanwhile E & Ellis had their back turned ]. To Beilein changing up his defense to where they met us outside the top of the key & we couldn't get the ball past the hash mark in the second half.

To SP during a time out in the second half, calling a play for Big E, only to have Ellis tap SP on the shoulder and tell him Big E was not in the game and was on the bench.

Sheesh
 
Add me to the list of people who thought this thread was referring to the worst sports day of my life.
 
Looks like you stumbled your way to the truth on the second try...

Story was never that Dana likes to drink and go to casinos that get pissed if you win too much money or if you don't bet enough... it was always this.

Good Christian man (TM) Bill Stewart trying to get dirt dug up on the guy that is to take his job in order to keep his job as head coach.

Bill Stewart, the man who said (paraphrase) "If I'm not getting the job done, you won't have to tell to me to go."...doesn't want to go even after he's been told in the most uncertain of terms that he's not getting the job done.
 
Best of luck to Brown. I bet he blows up next year in this offense. Well, at least he'll have the chance to.
 
I didn't realize Holgrenson (or whatever his name is) rocked the sweet bald long haircut. That shit is tight!
 
This was a monumentally stupid set-up from the beginning; it's really no surprise that it didn't work out.

I mean it's one thing to hire a coach in waiting when a legendary coach is getting up there in age and will retiring shortly. It helps maintain momentum and maintain consistency throughout the transition; however, to pretty clearly fire your coach but then have him work along side his replacement for more than a year, well that's just not too smart and has clearly damaged the program, probably more so than just firing Stewart outright and immediately.
 
TBR said:
This was a monumentally stupid set-up from the beginning; it's really no surprise that it didn't work out.

I mean it's one thing to hire a coach in waiting when a legendary coach is getting up there in age and will retiring shortly. It helps maintain momentum and maintain consistency throughout the transition; however, to pretty clearly fire your coach but then have him work along side his replacement for more than a year, well that's just not too smart and has clearly damaged the program, probably more so than just firing Stewart outright and immediately.
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How has it damaged the program? They haven't played a game since last season. Recruiting seems to be going better than in recent seasons.

Stewart was given a terrible extension by the previous AD that made it expensive to fire him after last season. I would imagine after this coming season he would have been moved upstairs into a gladhanding role, so as to again avoid paying his buyout.

Since with this report and investigation they could probably have established cause, I imagine the negotiations for his resignation are much more favorable to the university than they would have been when they wanted to hire Holgorsen.

WVU doesn't print money like Ohio State or Florida. I thought the arrangement was a creative way to deal with a problem. The offense was the big problem with WVU football the last two years (at least), along with generally poor player development and game day decision making, and recruiting. Those fall under the categories of offensive coordinator and head coach, respectively. It was clear WVU was going nowhere fast under Stewart, but couldn't afford to can him. I imagine WVU expected that Stewart would handle the situation more professionally and with respect for the opportunity he got at WVU that he would never have gotten anywhere else. But that didn't happen, and now he's gone, and his departure I imagine will cost the university next to nothing.
 
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KanhojiAngre said:
How has it damaged the program? They haven't played a game since last season.

Stewart was given a terrible extension by the previous AD that made it expensive to fire him after last season. I would imagine after this coming season he would have been moved upstairs into a gladhanding role, so as to again avoid paying his buyout.

Since with this report and investigation they could probably have established cause, I imagine the negotiations for his resignation are much more favorable to the university than they would have been when they wanted to hire Holgorsen.

WVU doesn't print money like Ohio State or Florida. I thought the arrangement was a creative way to deal with a problem. The offense was the big problem with WVU football the last two years (at least), along with generally poor player development and game day decision making, and recruiting. Those fall under the categories of offensive coordinator and head coach, respectively. It was clear WVU was going nowhere fast under Stewart, but couldn't afford to can him. I imagine WVU expected that Stewart would handle the situation more professionally and with respect for the opportunity he got at WVU that he would never have gotten anywhere else. But that didn't happen, and now he's gone, and his departure I imagine will cost the university next to nothing.
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Well said. WVU got rid of a bad coach. This is a nice gain for them. I hate WVU but the transition from Rich Rod to Stewart was painful to watch as a football fan.
 
Holgerson's a damn good coach. Had success on the field everywhere he's been. You just have to hope he doesn't screw up monumentally off the field.
 
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