If you have ever heard Tony Caridi call a West Virginia game, you’ve probably heard him say, “It’s a great day to be a Mountaineer.”
On Saturday, Caridi should have said, “It’s an embarrassing day to be a Mountaineer.”
WVU football, once the pride of the Big East and a tough opponent in BCS Bowl games, went to Lawrence, Kan., and allowed the Jayhawks to snap a 27-game Big 12 losing streak, 31-19.
So what’s going on at WVU? The Mountaineers are young and lack a real threat at quarterback — even if Clint Trickett and Ford Childress were healthy. The defense is light years better than last year’s unit, but even this group is not Big 12 ready.
Dana Holgorsen is in just his third season with WVU, but the program has backslid into mediocrity. He inherited a team that had the ability to knock off some of the nation’s best on any given weekend.
Now the Mountaineers are painful to watch and even when they play well WVU finds a way to lose (see Texas 2013, Oklahoma 2012 and TCU 2012).
The Red Bull-guzzling coach was an odd hire when AD Oliver Luck took Holgorsen from Oklahoma State and made him the heir apparent for Bill Stewart. His tenure got an early start and he benefitted from the talent that remained and WVU won the Big East and crushed Clemson in the Orange Bowl.
But not much else has gone right since.
Saturday’s loss at Kansas is probably the lowest the WVU program has been since losing to Temple in 2001.
Holgorsen basically summed up what every Mountaineer fan is thinking today. “I guess this would be an all-time low,” he was quoted as saying on West Virginia MetroNews.
The low points keep adding up, especially in Holgorsen’s past two seasons. Among those moments are the 38-14 loss to Syracuse in the Pinstripe Bowl, 49-14 loss at Texas Tech and the 73-42 loss at Baylor.
Is the time right to stop the madness in Morgantown? I believe a coach deserves five years before you make a change, but I’m starting to wonder if WVU can survive two more years with Holgorsen dishing out blame to everyone and displaying an arrogant attitude that has worn thin with the fans. Watching him denigrate his players on the sideline has gotten old as well.
There are still Holgorsen fans, but the support is starting to fade. Even former WVU start Pat White has publicly expressed his displeasure in Holgorsen. In the end, it only matters what Luck thinks about the direction of the program. If the Mountaineers close the season with a loss to Iowa State and finish 4-8, Luck may start thinking about a replacement — even if Holgorsen will get a payout of $10 or $11 million.
Hey Ollie, here are a few folks you may want to call: Jim Tressel, Chad Morris or even Rich Rodriguez.
