Mike Casazza and Jared Hunt of the Charleston Daily Mail have the details about how West Virginia plans to exit the Big East and enter the Big 12. WVU has already paid $2.5 million of its exit fee to the Big East. The exit fee is supposed to be $5 million, but WVU will presumably have to pay more if it plans to begin play in the Big 12 in 2012, as has been reported.
Casazza also has a note about head football coach Dana Holgorsen:
Safe to say a lot of people are curious how long Dana Holgorsen stays at WVU. I think it’s unfair to be having those conversations already, but people still wonder, and here, where coaches have, throughout football history, wandered, I can understand that. And given Dana’s ties to the Big 12, you might have worried about a return there or a reunion at Texas Tech or Oklahoma State.
Holgorsen’s contract isn’t done yet, but if WVU is in the Big 12, he probably won’t be allowed to leave West Virginia for another school in the conference. Some fans have wondered if Holgorsen might head to a higher-profile program within a few years, but given that the Big 12 is Holgorsen’s old stomping grounds, that might make a departure a bit less likely.
For more on WVU, check out the Smoking Musket.