Morgantown, West Virginia – Former West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen’s Houston Cougars have not even played a game in the Big 12 Conference yet and he is already makes excuses.
Holgorsen, who was 61-41 in 8 seasons with the Mountaineers and is 27-20 in 4 seasons at Houston, spoke to the Houston media yesterday and came up with a bunch of excuses why his team won’t be successful in the Big 12.
“From the University of Houston’s perspective, it’s awesome to be a part of it. But you look at it and you go, ‘Woo, that’s going to be pretty challenging.’ So, let’s get to work. We’ve got a lot to do,” he said. “We better be doing things institutionally to give us a chance. That’s real. I know what football needs to look like and we’re going to continue to improve it, continue to make progress when it comes to on-the-field product. Institutionally, we’ve got a lot of work to do.
“Now we need everybody to kind of put their money where their mouth is, so to speak. We’ve been wanting this for a long time, so now’s the time to step up,” Holgorsen added. “There’s just so many things that need to be done. I don’t think people realize what other people have and what we need. I’m not going to be shy when I say that, because I’ve been at three of those institutions and I know what they have and how much work that they put in over the last three decades. We’ve got some catching up to do.”
Holgorsen does have a point. Houston is dead last donations and fundraising in the new Big 12 by a large margin, and competing with other schools in the conference in NIL and recruiting will be extremely challenging if things don’t change quickly.
West Virginia will get its first shot at Holgorsen’s Houston Cougars in the Big 12 on October 12th in Houston.
