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Bunch of weird stuff going on up here past two days.
Now why in the world would Holiday interview for the head coaches job then take the associate head coach job? The same position he held at Flordia. Unless Stewart is a genius and is amounting one heck fire of assistant coaching staff. Inside info has it that WVU is using Stewart to keep the players on the team that where on the fence about entering in to the draft early. So after they cant turn back then the guy they wanted will get the job. Stewart has one of the most dumb contracts ever signed by a head coach. All it said was $800,000 a year for the next 5 years. No buyout or no fees owed to him or to the school if he leaves or is fired. No incentives no nothing. Im hearing Stewart will not be head coach for long. Anywhere from two weeks to 1 year. Who knows it's just strange to me that Holliday would show up after being turned down last week.
WVU's Stewart announces 3 new coaches (2:51 pm)
Dave Hickman
Staff writer
MORGANTOWN -- Steve Dunlap is, indeed, coming to West Virginia as part of Bill Stewart’s new football coaching staff.
Doc Holliday should follow soon, but the paperwork just isn’t done.
Charlie Taaffe? Well, that’s still a bit of a question mark.
During a Friday afternoon teleconference in which he did not field questions, Stewart announced the hiring of Dunlap, David Lockwood and Chris Beatty. The school was expected to follow with an official release.
The announcement, though, left several questions unanswered. And at the top of the list are those regarding Holliday and Taaffe.
The Holliday issue appears only to be one of timing. A source within the university said that Holliday will be hired as the team’s associate head coach and recruiting coordinator and will coach the team’s fullbacks and tight ends, but that it can’t be announced until all the paperwork has been completed. But Holliday has already resigned his position as the associate head coach at Florida.
The Taaffe matter is a bit more complicated. Sources indicate that Stewart is committed to Taaffe as his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach and that Taaffe has at least agreed in principal to make the move.
However, when the Gazette on Thursday morning revealed that Taaffe, Dunlap, Holliday and Lockwood were in the process of being hired by West Virginia, the story struck a nerve in Canada, where Taaffe just completed his first season as the coach of the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cat. Officials with the team scurried to find out what was happening and denied that Taaffe was leaving the team. Taaffe himself issued a rather vague statement, one which never denied his interest or intentions, but instead only clarified that he had not yet signed a contract.
The most reliable information indicates that Taaffe is trying to sort out the mess with team officials, who insist that his contract does not have an escape clause and that he is bound to the team for the next two years. Taaffe’s future at West Virginia appears tied to whether or not that can be accomplished.
As for the coaches that were announced and the one that appears forthcoming, here is the list:
-- Dunlap, who was once WVU’s all-time leading tackler and spent almost two decades at the school as an assistant coach under Don Nehlen, is returning as assistant head coach and safeties coach. Dunlap, who left WVU in 2001 when former coach Rich Rodriguez fired him, has since had stops as the defensive coordinator at Syracuse, an assistant at North Carolina State and last season as the defensive coordinator at Marshall.
-- Lockwood, a former WVU defensive back who spent one year as a Nehlen assistant in 2000, comes from Kentucky and will be the team’s secondary coach. Lockwood was formerly the defensive coordinator at Minnesota.
-- Chris Beatty will coach West Virginia’s running backs and slot receivers. Beatty spent last season at Northern Illinois and is the only member of the staff announced so far without West Virginia or WVU connections.
-- Holliday, like Dunlap a Hurricane native and former Mountaineer linebacker, will return as associate head coach, the same title he has held the past two seasons at Florida. Holliday will also serve as recruiting coordinator and coach the tight ends and fullbacks.
The new additions to the staff join defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel and defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich, who were the only Rodriguez assistants who remained on the staff.
The Mountaineers still have to hire most of the offensive staff. Assuming Holliday comes, that leaves an offensive coordinator, line coach and wide receivers coach.
Now why in the world would Holiday interview for the head coaches job then take the associate head coach job? The same position he held at Flordia. Unless Stewart is a genius and is amounting one heck fire of assistant coaching staff. Inside info has it that WVU is using Stewart to keep the players on the team that where on the fence about entering in to the draft early. So after they cant turn back then the guy they wanted will get the job. Stewart has one of the most dumb contracts ever signed by a head coach. All it said was $800,000 a year for the next 5 years. No buyout or no fees owed to him or to the school if he leaves or is fired. No incentives no nothing. Im hearing Stewart will not be head coach for long. Anywhere from two weeks to 1 year. Who knows it's just strange to me that Holliday would show up after being turned down last week.
WVU's Stewart announces 3 new coaches (2:51 pm)
Dave Hickman
Staff writer
MORGANTOWN -- Steve Dunlap is, indeed, coming to West Virginia as part of Bill Stewart’s new football coaching staff.
Doc Holliday should follow soon, but the paperwork just isn’t done.
Charlie Taaffe? Well, that’s still a bit of a question mark.
During a Friday afternoon teleconference in which he did not field questions, Stewart announced the hiring of Dunlap, David Lockwood and Chris Beatty. The school was expected to follow with an official release.
The announcement, though, left several questions unanswered. And at the top of the list are those regarding Holliday and Taaffe.
The Holliday issue appears only to be one of timing. A source within the university said that Holliday will be hired as the team’s associate head coach and recruiting coordinator and will coach the team’s fullbacks and tight ends, but that it can’t be announced until all the paperwork has been completed. But Holliday has already resigned his position as the associate head coach at Florida.
The Taaffe matter is a bit more complicated. Sources indicate that Stewart is committed to Taaffe as his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach and that Taaffe has at least agreed in principal to make the move.
However, when the Gazette on Thursday morning revealed that Taaffe, Dunlap, Holliday and Lockwood were in the process of being hired by West Virginia, the story struck a nerve in Canada, where Taaffe just completed his first season as the coach of the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cat. Officials with the team scurried to find out what was happening and denied that Taaffe was leaving the team. Taaffe himself issued a rather vague statement, one which never denied his interest or intentions, but instead only clarified that he had not yet signed a contract.
The most reliable information indicates that Taaffe is trying to sort out the mess with team officials, who insist that his contract does not have an escape clause and that he is bound to the team for the next two years. Taaffe’s future at West Virginia appears tied to whether or not that can be accomplished.
As for the coaches that were announced and the one that appears forthcoming, here is the list:
-- Dunlap, who was once WVU’s all-time leading tackler and spent almost two decades at the school as an assistant coach under Don Nehlen, is returning as assistant head coach and safeties coach. Dunlap, who left WVU in 2001 when former coach Rich Rodriguez fired him, has since had stops as the defensive coordinator at Syracuse, an assistant at North Carolina State and last season as the defensive coordinator at Marshall.
-- Lockwood, a former WVU defensive back who spent one year as a Nehlen assistant in 2000, comes from Kentucky and will be the team’s secondary coach. Lockwood was formerly the defensive coordinator at Minnesota.
-- Chris Beatty will coach West Virginia’s running backs and slot receivers. Beatty spent last season at Northern Illinois and is the only member of the staff announced so far without West Virginia or WVU connections.
-- Holliday, like Dunlap a Hurricane native and former Mountaineer linebacker, will return as associate head coach, the same title he has held the past two seasons at Florida. Holliday will also serve as recruiting coordinator and coach the tight ends and fullbacks.
The new additions to the staff join defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel and defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich, who were the only Rodriguez assistants who remained on the staff.
The Mountaineers still have to hire most of the offensive staff. Assuming Holliday comes, that leaves an offensive coordinator, line coach and wide receivers coach.
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