Mike Leach left Washington State last week to become the new Head Coach at Mississippi State, leaving an opening at Washington State. Dana Holgorsen, who was Leach’s Offensive Coordinator at Texas Tech from 2005-2007, is now the current Head Coach at Houston.
Holgorsen’s Houston Cougars struggled in his first season, finishing 4-8 and 2-6 in the conference. Although he expressed excitement about coaching in Houston, it is not a Power 5 school and he has no chance of winning a National Championship there.
Washington State is currently searching for a new head coach and suddenly Leach protege Dana Holgorsen has become a name that is being mentioned as a possibility. In fact, a plane was tracked leaving Pullman, Washington (where Washington State is located) yesterday, landed in Houston, Texas, stayed there for 2 hours, and then returned to Pullman later in the day. To add to the mystery, the flight details were marked as “BLOCKED” to protect the privacy of the occupants on the plane.
Why would a private plane fly from Pullman, Washington to Houston, Texas for two hours and return the same day unless Dana Holgorsen was somehow involved? Holgorsen seems like an interesting choice, but he does run the very same Air Raid offense as Leach and would make for a seamless transition for Washington State.
If Holgorsen were to leave Houston, he would owe the school $9.1 million in 2020, $7.1 million in 2021, $2.5 million in 2022 and $1 million in 2023.
