Dana Holgorsen Addresses WVU Departure at TCU Introduction: ‘I Had Reasons’

Dana Holgorsen will likely forever go down as one of the most polarizing figures in WVU sports history, and it doesn’t sound like that’s changing any time soon. Holgorsen even found a way to talk about West Virginia while meeting with the TCU media for the first time on Thursday.

As part of his answer to a question asking if he regrets leaving WVU for Houston since his tenure with Cougars resulted in him being fired after the 2023 season, Holgorsen detailed his career journey and reflected back on his West Virginia departure.

“In this profession, you’ve got to take some gambles. When Sonny (Dykes) and I were at (Texas) Tech, we were there together for six years and he had to leave to advance his career. He left to go to Arizona to advance his career. I stayed for two more years and then I had to leave to go to Houston. Kevin Sumlin just got the Houston job and offered me the OC job and I took a pay cut for the same reason Sonny when to Arizona. We were co-coordinators at Tech, but we all know that we weren’t calling the plays. That belonged to Mr. Mike Leach. You had to get away to grow. I did that and two years later I’m at Oklahoma State and three years later I’m at West Virginia, so the gamble paid off. I did it again six years ago when I was at West Virginia in the Big 12 and left to go to Houston.”

He then finally got to why he left WVU. “I had reasons why I did that. I had been at West Virginia for eight years and was very successful. But there was a couple of things that I was concerned about that made me do that. I do not regret that. You look at what happened at Houston. I mean, we were 4-8 in the first year in the Big 12 I guess that’s not good enough. But a couple years prior to that in the American, which is why I went there, we won 20 games in two years. We had some success and I don’t regret that either.”

So Holgorsen had his “reasons” and doesn’t regret his divorce with WVU despite not enjoying the success he envisioned with Houston. Holgorsen will now embark on his latest Big 12 chapter as part of the TCU staff as a consultant.

The 52-year-old Holgorsen finished his Houston tenure with a 31-28 record in five seasons. Houston went 4-8 in 2023, the program’s first year in the Big 12 Conference. One of those four wins was over WVU.

After eight years at West Virginia, Holgorsen left the Mountaineers following the 2018 season to take over a then budding Group of 5 Houston program with the thought he would help guide the Cougars through an eventual transition into a major conference.

Dana Holgorsen led WVU to a 61-41 overall record, two 10-win seasons and an Orange Bowl trophy. Holgorsen did compliment the people within the West Virginia program when he talked about the death of former Mountaineer offensive lineman Dale Wolfley in October.

For a related story, WV Sports Now’s Mike Asti put Holgorsen’s overall West Virginia tenure in its proper perspective leading up to his matchup with WVU during the 2023 season.