If you thought you knew what was going on with the West Virginia coaching transition – well, you don’t. Check this out – it’s a must-read. Apparently, contrary to Bill Stewart’s recent comments that he didn’t know Dana Holgorsen and wasn’t a willing participant in WVU’s plan to ease Holgorsen into the head coaching job, Stewart actually went to Texas with WVU athletic director Oliver Luck to speak to Holgorsen about Luck’s plan:
It wasn’t an operation carried out solely by athletic director Oliver Luck. No, the pursuit of Holgorsen, who was named the Mountaineers’ head coach in waiting Wednesday, had been in the works in an official capacity for over a month and Stewart knew exactly what was going on.
On Thursday Dec. 9, Stewart even took a trip to Houston and, with Luck, met with Holgorsen at a hotel there to talk about the transition …
Luck confirmed today that on Nov. 14, the day after West Virginia played – and defeated – Cincinnati at home, he made Stewart aware that a change was imminent no matter how the remainder of the season was to play out.
So, um, what? We had been led to believe that Stewart had been in the dark about this, but apparently it has been in the works for a very long time. The article also reports that Luck asked Stewart to tell offensive coordinator Jeff Muller and offensive line coach Dave Johnson that they would lose their jobs after this season, and Stewart agreed, but did not do so. Johnson only found out what was going on when he called Luck yesterday.
This very weird report makes clear that Stewart isn’t the innocent victim he has appeared to be throughout this process. Either that, or someone who’s talking to the Post-Gazette is trying very, very hard to make him look bad.