The Huntington Herald-Dispatch reports that incoming WVU football coach Dana Holgorsen, who was recently asked to leave a West Virginia casino because he was intoxicated, has been associated with "as many as six alcohol-related incidents" in the past half-year.
Well, maybe "reports" isn't the right word. The Herald-Dispatch piece attributes this bit of gossip to "multiple sources with knowledge of the situation," and doesn't use quotes from anyone who's sure about much of anything. That's hardly an open-and-shut case.
But the Wheeling News-Register also reports that a drunken Holgorsen was asked to leave two separate spots in Wheeling, including Wheeling Island Casino, in the past few months. There was no police involvement, and there are, again, no pertinent quotes or named sources anywhere in the article.
As a resident of Morgantown and a native of Wheeling, I heard about the Wheeling casino rumors a while back. But at this point, they probably can't be called much more than rumors.
Still, Holgorsen could soon become a huge P.R. liability for the Mountaineers, if he isn't one already. For example, WVU is currently deciding whether to sell beer at its football games. The jokes just write themselves, although that didn't stop the author of the Huntington story from writing one of his own:
Meanwhile, [WVU AD Oliver] Luck is busy trying to get permission to sell beer inside Mountaineer Field.
And, now, I think I know why.
Maybe, it's so Holgorsen won't have to leave the stadium at halftime.
Ouch. Holgorsen is scheduled to take over for current West Virginia head coach Bill Stewart in 2012, and he's supposed to usher in a new era of dynamic Mountaineer football. That might yet happen, but for now, it's going to be tough for West Virginia to maintain the excitement his hiring generated.
It's been a tough year to be hired as a new coach of an area Big East team. Incoming Pitt head coach Mike Haywood was quickly fired a few months back after he was arrested for domestic battery.
Nothing Holgorsen has been accused of is anywhere near that level - no one claims he's done anything illegal. But I doubt we've heard the last of this. Stay tuned.