HOLGRENSON...HEY, HEY, HEY, GOODBYE.

West Virginia football is shell 0f it's former . From top to bottom the Mountaineer spirit is dead. What happened?Is it reality that WVU can not compete in recruiting top prospects in the Big 12? Is the team improperly built to compete in the big 12? Is Holgrenson just a bum? Has the culture of blue collar toughness so essential to the Mountaineer lore gone? Sadly, you can probably answer yes to all these questions.
The decline of the football program can be directly traced to the actions of 2 people, former A.D. Oliver Luck and Head coach Dana Holgrenson. Let's start with Oliver Luck. Under Luck's tenior the landscape of college football went through an unnecessary overhaul. Football programs greedy practice's saw universities nationwide trade practicality and tradition for profits. The bowl Coalition system in place at the time handed out, "automatic bids," too the 
NCAA"s top 4 bowls to only the most prestigious conference's. Right about 2012, the NCAA was due to re-asses the BCS system and which conferences would get qualifying bids. West Virginia found itself on the precipice in the Big East. The Big East, originally a basketball conference, had grown into one of the best football conferences in the nation in the mid 90's.  The conference was pillaged however, by the ACC in a scramble for big t.v. money. National powerhouse programs Miami, Boston College, Pitt, Syracuse, and VA Tech all left the Big East and made the ACC much more attractive. Note, all of those programs were local universities with whom WVU had great rivalry. This was Oliver's Luck moment. If he could position WVU into the ACC our most treasured death-games against Pitt and Va Tech would be continued, and WVU assured a real shot at a national title if we won the conference. The only team that stood in our way Louisville. HA! Louisville, they just became a div 1 program like 5 years before. They own no major bowl victories. WVU had just went through a tremendous run winning a Sugar, Fiesta, and Orange. No other program in the BCS era could claim that. Not to mention program history, there's no comparison. WVU was a perrinal contender for the Big East crown every year. We owned old Southern conference titles. WVU had two undefeated regular seasons and played outright for the national championship once. Louisville could not touch this pedigree. What could'a went wrong? I woke up one morning and the scroll across ESPN reads, Louisville to join ACC. That was a huge loss. was there some personality conflict between Luck and the ACC? Whatever the reason this was a time for vision and leadership. Luck offered neither.
So after being left out of the ACC fan behavior becomes the sacrificial goat why we didn't get in the conference. No doubt that may have played a part in the decision but I still believe the real reasons were mired in instability at the position of the universities president being embroiled in an scandal giving un-earned degrees to politically connected students and, an still unknown beef with AD Luck himself.
Dana Holgrenson, well what can I say? I believe the best illustration I can offer is to let the stats speak for themselves. First here is the season ending records for the 10 years prior to Holg's appearance.
2002:Coach Rich Rodriguez, record 9-4 L/Continental tire bowl
2003: Coach R.R., record 8-5/ L Gator bowl
2004: Coach R.R. record 8-4/L Gator bowl
2005: Coach R.R. record 11-1/ W Sugar bowl
2006: Coach R.R record 11-2/ W Gator bowl
2007: Coach(regular season, R.R., Post season Bill Stewart) record 11-2/W Fiesta Bowl
2008 : Coach Bill Stewart, record 9-4/W Minieke Car Care bowl
2009: Coach B.S. record 9-4/ L Gator bowl
2010: coach B.S. record 9-4/ LChamps sports bowl
2011: Coach Dana Holgrenson. record 10-3/ W Orange bowl
(note: the 2011 season was a roster still filled with Rich Rodriguez's recruits and had mostly been coached by Bill Stewart. Not to mention, the team was also littered with future NFL players Geno Smith, Tavon Austin, and Stedman Bailey.)
2012: Beginning of Holgrenson era. Record 7-6/ L Yankee Pin Stripe bowl
2013: Holg's. record 4-8
2014:Holg's/7-6/ bowl-who care's?
2015: Holg's 7-5/ Bowl: yet to be determined.

I am at a lost why WVU continues to run thier athletic programs as if it was 1950! Quite simply the university will not let loose a rotten apple when it's found. Mediocrity is the standard. Gale Catlett is the best example of this institutional philosophy. Catlett has a superficial dominant wvu career record of 439-281. On the surface that look's outstanding but, a closer look of his tournament record displays a very different picture. NCAA Tournament record 7-11, 0 final fours, 0 championships. How does this apply in Holgrensosn's case? Simply, mediocrity is acceptable. So long as the program wins 7 games and goes to the, "toilet"bowl, then the program made profit and that's all that matters. 
The West Virginia fan base has always understood that WVU is in an stressed position when recruiting. It just isn't realistic to think WVU can land 20 top 100 recruits every year. Offensive talent can be lacking but, defense is the cornerstone. The program has to exploit those aspects of the game where hard work will beat talent that doesn't work hard every time. A strong defense and running game, blue collar down and dirty work in the trenches used to define WVU. Under Holgrenson's watch the defense has fallen off the planet. I won't rant how detrimental to the program Joe Deforest has been, I've covered that issue before. Deforest is a bum, he killed the defense that was number 3 in the nation when he took over and turned them into a joke. I don't care if WVU scores 50 points a game if they still give up 51!
The Facts: Most point's given up ever, 10/06/13, 73-42 loss at baylor.(also big 12 record!)
In 2015 we lost games by 40,(TCU) 44,(Oklahoma) and 62(baylor). In 2014 the defense almost appeared to becoming effective, only giving up 40+ points twice. 45(Oklahoma) 45(Texas A&M).
2013, 73(Baylor), 47(Texas), and 52(Iowa St.) Wow, 2012 might have been the worst defensive in 100+ years of WVU football. Losses of 49,55,39,55,50, and 38, plus win's were They gave up 45, and 63 points. Even Holg's 2011 orange bowl campaigns saw the defense give up 47, 38, and 39 points. 2010, the year prior to Holg's taking control the defense never gave up more than 23 points all year. #3 in the nation. Bill Stewart, the man Holgernson replaced only gave up 30 or more points 3 times in 3 seasons, and he never gave up 40, EVER! I am pretty sure WVU never, NEVER, gave up 40+ points more than 2 or 3 times in the entire history of the program prior to the Holgrenson era. WVU was truly the beast of the east. Opponents feared coming into Mountaineer Stadium. Opposing teams knew when they walked into the stadium not only did they have to fight one of the most fearsome crowds in the nation but, the staunch and rough WVU defense could produce a poll shifting upset every Saturday. Can anyone really say that Mountaineer Field is feared today? 
I implore all fans of a great and storied program, rise, yell, make you voice known. We don't want this flip haired, over rated, just say it BUM, run out of town, Screw this miserable bowl in Phoenix that no one is going too. Fire Holgrenson Today. Stop day dreaming that we can compete 2 time zones away from home and REALLY start petitioning the ACC, or the Big 10 for admittance or, to hell with it go independent. The new playoff system give a chance for any undefeated team to make it to the national championship. And let's be realistic, the playoff system will only expand providing more opportunities foe any competitive team a shot a NCAA title. WVU ran it's own profitable t.v. and radio network before we can do it again. WVU is inferior to the rest of the big 12 but playing out of your time zone is always bad. If you don't believe me look at the regular season records of the Pittsburgh Steelers on the west coast. They haven't won a game on Pacific time in 20 years! Why would anyone think a team could play half their schedule 1-2 time zones away and be competitive? It's a joke.
Mounty fan's, I lament, I grieve for a tradition lost and not in sight of the near future. West Virginia may never win a national title but, there was a time when the fan base could hope. Right now there is no hope, and under this coach, in this conference there never will be. WVU football R.I.P