Guest Contribution: A different take

My friend Mike over at The Bull Rush (a USF blog) submitted a piece to HailWV.com (probably because they wanted a little more traffic to their site from me) about his take on the Coach In Waiting disaster.

I do allow guest contributions on HailWV.com, granted that it’s not from a Pitt or Syracuse fan… well, maybe I should from them so it can give us a chance to open-fire on those that do nothing more than take up precious air.

Anyway, here’s Mike’s piece after the jump, and if you feel compelled to, visit their site. Funny thing is, they think they have a chance at the Big East Title just because ESPN told them so. Hahaha! So cute, isn’t it?

Mike’s contribution:

"I’ll be honest; I’m not a fan of change. I’m a creature of habit. That’s why I wasn’t exactly jumping up and down when West Virginia announced that they were bringing in Dana Holgorsen as a coach-in-waiting for Bill Stewart’s final year. Didn’t they see the major issues that happened at Florida State the previous few season when Jimbo Fisher was announced the “coach-in-waiting” behind the legendary Bobby Bowden?Admittedly, I’m not at all a fan of either of these teams, but that has no bearing on how I’ve always felt about the whole coach-in-waiting thing. Doesn’t the saying go “never hire your own replacement”? Bowden apparently hadn’t heard that one. But in Stewart’s case it looks like no one even let him know what was happening until Sportscenter broke the news. Now, I realize that they were tired of underachieving and never getting to that 10-win mark, but if you’re that unhappy, just fire him. I won’t call myself a Stewart fan, but I’m definitely not a fan of stringing along a guy because he’s under contract. What good could have come if Stewart had stuck around and spent this entire season while everybody was just looking ahead to next year?Maybe I’m just subconsciously afraid that without Stewart there to lead the Mountaineers to another 9-3 season, West Virginia will once again be the Big East power, meaning USF won’t have a chance at the league title for years to come. Maybe. But I’d like to think I’m a bit more unbiased than that. I won’t deny that Dana Holgorsen will likely make this a very powerful offensive team, and they’ll no doubt be a legitimate challenger for the Big East title for years to come. However, I’m a bit put off by the way Oliver Luck and the rest of the athletics administration went about all this business. I’ll probably never be content with anybody doing a coach-in-waiting deal, because it never seems to work out favorably. I said a few weeks ago that the key to a “coach-in-waiting” is the “waiting” part, as in Luck and Holgorsen should have waited for Stewart to leave on his own terms or do what they could to buy him out. This seemed like more of a forcible resignation, and now both Stewart’s and West Virginia’s reputations have been tarnished. For the sake of the Big East, I hope the Mountaineers can make a quick recovery from this debacle, but for the sake of USF’s chances at a Big East title, I hope that recovery happens after this season is over."

Be afraid, Mike and the rest of USF Nation, be very, very afraid. December 1, 2011 will spell the Bulls’ doom.

But, seriously, thanks to Mike for contributing this piece.