Coming off a 10-win regular season last fall, while most staffs are digging in their heels and gearing up for another successful year, Dana Holgorsen's staff lost three assistant coaches that decided to head elsewhere.
An article today from West Virginia's 247 Sports page notes that Holgo has had a total of 28 assistant coaches on staff since arriving in Morgantown as head coach in December of 2010. That's enough guys to fill over three full staffs with nine assistants!
With Jake Spavital back on the Mountaineer staff after a few seasons away (first at Texas A&M and then at Cal) Holgo has relinquished play calling duties to his trusted confidant. That leaves him with some newfound time on his hands, and Holgo told 247 that he plans to use that extra time focusing on ways to retain his coaching staff.
"It's making the families feel better, making the families feel like they're a part of what we doing, making assistant coaches accountable for what we want to do and building an environment they want to be a part of."
Holgo also talked about spending some more time on his "unofficial list" of coaches he's got his eye on in the event that he does lose an assistant.
"I'm trying to get ahead on who we hire, so I'm looking now to try to find replacements for guys. It's going to happen in the profession, especially if you have success. But I'm able to spend more time on it and develop an unofficial list of guys I think would be good fits."
"I think we've got good stability right now. I think we've got a collection of guys who are excited about being here. I think it's showing in recruiting. You're always going to lose guys, but you try to minimize that to increase stability as much as you possibly can."
Head here to read more, including a thought on why so many former Mountaineer assistants have opted to leave (hint: It's likely contract related).