Holgorsen loves coaching football but it's not without challenges

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West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen admits that sometimes he has to pinch himself just to make sure he’s awake because of where he’s at in his career.

“It’s pretty special,” he said.

The once 5-foot-10, self-described slow wide receiver prospect from Iowa worked his way onto a roster due to his love and desire for the game.

“I wasn’t a very good football player but I loved the game of football,” he said.

Holgorsen then did the same to advance up the ranks of the college football coaching ladder from Valdosta State, to Mississippi College, to Wingate before getting an opportunity at the power five level with Texas Tech and his mentor Mike Leach which he would eventually parlay into several more stops before landing his first head job in Morgantown.

Now in his eighth season atop the West Virginia football program, Holgorsen has seen his share of challenges as he’s adjusted to his surroundings. From a conference shift moving to the Big 12 to the challenges of calling plays and serving as the head coach to letting that responsibility go.

But perhaps none has been as challenging as one aspect.

That being how to manage and workaround the food situations during the course of in-home visits. While amusing on the surface, it certainly isn’t any laughing matter as Holgorsen can attest to.

“I always tell the assistant coaches ‘look you’ve got to give me some heads up if there is a meal, is there not a meal. Try not to have a meal because that’s going to make it last four hours instead of an hour’,” Holgorsen said.

He found himself on the wrong side of that during the in-home visit with 2017 prospect Alec Sinkfield. The South Florida running back prospect’s home-visit was being handled by an unnamed new assistant coach on the staff and the information wasn’t relayed whether a meal would be provided.

So Holgorsen, who hadn’t eaten all day, elected to take advantage of the South Florida cuisine and partake in some Cuban cuisine at around 4 p.m. ahead of the 5: 30 p.m. stop.

Turns out it wasn’t necessary.

When Holgorsen arrived at the house, immediately the smell of food hit his nose as a house full of family greeted him inside. It was a group of people that the head man referred to as ‘wonderful.’

But then the issue at hand cropped up and Holgorsen moved to the kitchen to see what was being cooked when he made an attempt to make his own plate.

Not happening.

“You go sit down,” he was told. “Yes Ma’am,” he replied.

“I sit down and start sweating because I know what’s going to happen,” he added.

And once the food arrived Holgorsen described it as a “20-course” meal. And although he was already stuffed from the meal earlier, there was no other option.

“I just start going to town on that thing,” he said.

The effort wasn’t in vain however as Sinkfield did sign with West Virginia and is now in the mix to see a role on this year’s team after redshirting last season. Still coaching is full of challenges, some of them a little more filling than the others.

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