Dana Holgorsen Talks Mike Leach, NIL/Recruiting, and Big 12 on Finebaum Show

STILLWATER – Dana Holgorsen made an appearance earlier this week on the Paul Finebaum Radio Show. As usual, Holgorsen had some interesting things to say. Now back in the Big 12, I understand that at the spring coaches meetings he now sits with Mike Gundy and the coaches that follow the dean of Big 12 coaches. It makes sense as the two get along well and see eye-to-eye on many things. 

Texas Tech Athletics

Leach in his glory days at Texas Tech. Quarterback Graham Harrell (6) is also on the podium.

Of course, back in the day Holgorsen was aligned with basically one coach and one only. His mentor Mike Leach. In fact, when Holgorsen was hired by Gundy, Leach came to visit that spring and the two stayed out so late that one bar keep in town just gave then the keys and told them to lock up when they were done. 

“He gave me my first job and I was working directly with Coach Leach when he took me to Texas Tech,” Hologorsen said of his long and lasting relationship with Leach. “He’s been as influential in my life obviously, but he’s been pretty instrumental in changing the course of high school football, college football, and even in the NFL. The outpouring of support you know at that service (Leach’s memorial), social media, and to all of us that knew him was appropriate. He will be missed as this season starts. He was the pioneer of the air raid offense. He held true to the very end and kept things simple.”

Perhaps, the most ironic of things Holgorsen said about Leach in the interview on the Finebaum Show was how Texas Tech announced they added Leach to Kliff Kingsbury going into the Tech Football Hall of Fame this fall. Just guess which game they chose to induct the pair.

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Holgorsen admits that coaching at Tech on the day that Mike Leach goes in their Hall of Fame will be difficult.

“You know Texas Tech is going to put him in the Hall of Fame there and Kliff Kingsbury and they picked the Houston game to do it,” Holgorsen said. “I’m going to be on the other sideline when they do it and I think that is probably going to put me in a dark spot briefly when they do it. I’ll have to hurry up and get out of it.”

This week I picked Houston to go 7-5 and 4-5 in the Big 12 this season. Yes, I have them losing that game at Tech and also losing Nov. 18 when they host Gundy and the Cowboys at TDECU Stadium on the UH campus. 

Holgorsen talked about the history of the Cougars finally making it back into the Big 12. In 1995 when the University of Texas and athletic director Deloss Dodds and Oklahoma and athletic director Donnie Duncan cooked up the Big 12 as a solution to conference realignment for the Big Eight and the Southwest Conference, Houston was left out. Holgorsen pointed out those were the day of UH with the run and shoot offense and Andre Ware winning a Heisman and Houston beating Texas and Texas A&M, games they were not supposed to win. In basketball, it was Phi Slmma Jamma and still more athletic success for UH. The Cougars were left out. Holgorsen said the school’s athletics went into a coma, but has come back and is ready for re-entry into Power Five football and athletics.

“We’re breaking records in season tickets and fund raising and all that stuff, so there are a lot of positive things happening at the University of Houston,” Holgorsen said. “I did it at West Virginia (jumped into the Big 12 in 2012) and we did it well, won a lot of games, but it doesn’t happen overnight.

“There are still things that take time,”he continued. “The benefit for us at Houston is it isn’t overnight. This has been two years in making and I’d say 80 percent of our roster has been recruited by my staff and I with the idea that we were going into the Big 12. That is a big jump. It will be beneficial and I think we will be competitive.”

I know that Holgorsen has a target on his back. Houston hired him and paid him well to help bring them into the Big 12 and be competitive from the get-go.

Pat Kinnison - Chief Photographer

Holgorsen and Gundy on the same sideline. They worked together well.

Remember, I said Holgorsen and Gundy see eye-to-eye on many things. You can start with NIL and the NCAA Transfer Portal. Gundy has told me that he appreciates Holgorsen’s views on those and his willingness to speak up on those issues, although both coaches admit their discussions in Big 12 Spring Meetings do little to accomplish changes and solutions. 

“I’m for NIL and I’m for kids getting paid, but when they did that and combined the transfer portal, that opened up the flood gates,” Holgorsen said getting as serious as you will hear him in interviews. “That is what’s hard to deal with. It’s the non stop recruiting, the unlimited visits, and spending lots of money on players they are never going to get. I’m not complaining because everybody has the same problems. I do fear there is going to be some burnout, not just head coaches, or assistants, but support staff. Not only do you have to recruit new kids but you have to recruit your own team. I’ve never been through anything like when that last transfer portal window opened up after spring. That’s absurd!”

I’m trying to remember the word Gundy used for that late transfer portal window. It may have been a little stronger than absurd. If he wasn’t on television and radio, I guarantee Holgorsen’s vocabulary on that would have been different.

Welcome back to the Big 12 Dana Holgorsen!