Holgorsen a prominent factor in OSU’s current momentum
Published: 9/2/2011 12:27 PM
Last Modified: 9/13/2011 3:47 PM
Dana Holgorsen. CHRIS JACKSON/AP
Several parties get credit for the current state of OSU football. The stadium is a T. Boone Pickens-Mike Holder production. Mike Gundy has become an effective program CEO. Brandon Weeden is the most significant walk-on ever to wear a Cowboy uniform.
Les Miles, Kendall Hunter, Joe DeForest, Larry Fedora, Russell Okung, Joe Wickline, Zac Robinson, Kendall Hunter, Bill Young, Glenn Spencer, Justin Blackmon, Grant Garner, Dez Bryant and many, many more – their fingerprints are all over the OSU football operation.
Because he had a Stillwater address (the Residence Inn) for only 11 months, and because he was a Red Bull-swilling non-conformist, Dana Holgorsen’s contribution probably won’t be displayed on a plaque in Heritage Hall.
Holgorsen did more than install an offense that averaged 44 points and 520 yards per game. He did more than call the plays that made Weeden and Blackmon famous. Holgorsen’s confidence and swagger were instilled in the players who so effectively executed his offense, and the results were spectacular.
With Holgorsen having coordinated one of the two best offenses in school history (the 1988 Gundy-Sanders-Dykes attack being the other), OSU has unprecedented momentum. Weeden and Blackmon are nationally known playmakers, OSU has broken ticket records. The Cowboys enter Saturday’s Louisiana-Lafayette opener with a No. 9 ranking in the AP poll.
Now the head coach at West Virginia, Holgorsen should be remembered fondly by OSU fans. He probably qualifies as having been the most important 11-month man in Cowboy football history.
-- Bill Haisten
Written by
Bill Haisten
Sports Writer
