New Attitude
April 20, 2008 11:14 AM | General
April 20, 2008
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| Doc Holliday |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Doc Holliday has been around the block a few times after leaving West Virginia’s program in 1999 to become associate head coach at North Carolina State. Since then he also spent three years on Urban Meyer’s staff at Florida including the Gators’ national championship season in 2006.
In the meantime, West Virginia hasn’t been sitting back idly during Holliday’s time away. The athletic department has made a significant investment in the football program and guys like Holliday, Steve Dunlap and Dave Lockwood that have been away for a while have certainly taken notice.
“I think what they’ve done with the facilities are unbelievable,” Holliday told Tony Caridi during Saturday’s spring game broadcast. “I hadn’t been back in nine years and to walk into those end zone suites - we were in there Friday night for the Blue Jean Ball and it’s just a tremendous facility. We’ve got some kids up here from Florida and all over … as a matter of fact the father of one of the kids is actually helping build the facility at Florida. They are really impressed with what the administration has done as far as facilities are concerned and they continue to get better.”
The dynamics at West Virginia have also changed dramatically since Holliday last coached the Mountaineers in 1999. The program has a considerably much bigger national profile due to television exposure and recent bowl game success. West Virginia’s recruiting program has grown with that success as well.
“The exposure they have gotten with the ESPN games, the Friday night games and of course the BCS games going to two of the last three years and actually winning those games there is no doubt (that makes it easier),” Holliday said. “But recruiting has always been tough. We’re battling the Penn States, the Floridas and the Miamis but you know what, there are plenty of great kids out there.”
Holliday is in charge of West Virginia’s recruiting efforts and he says this coaching staff works harder than any he has been on when it comes to evaluating prospects.
“There are plenty of great kids out there and there are plenty of great kids that want to play for the Mountaineers,” Holliday said. “The great thing about this staff, which is as good a staff as I have ever been involved with, is we’ve got nine guys that love to recruit. Coach Stewart loves to recruit. We are working extremely hard at it so we’re not going to have any issues getting 12, 15 or 20 great kids in here.”
On Saturday there was a large contingent of prospects in town to watch West Virginia’s Gold-Spring Game. Having such a large turnout of fans for what was essentially a practice is tangible proof that Mountaineer football remains alive and well in the Mountain State.
“It’s great to see the crowd that is out here today. It’s unbelievable,” Holliday said. “If we can get the guys committed that we have here (this weekend), hell, we can start working on sophomores. We’ve got a good crew in here. There is a lot of excitement and we’ve got some kids that are close so we’re real excited.”
In addition to recruiting, Holliday is heavily involved in the Mountaineer offense coaching the tight ends/fullbacks. The veteran assistant believes he may have found a good one in converted wide receiver Will Johnson.
“No. 1 he’s got athletic ability. I’m tickled to death with him,” Holliday said. “He gives us what we want at that H position because it creates match-up issues for the defense. They don’t know if we’re going to be in two backs; they don’t know if he’s going to be at the tight end position or flexed out in a four-wide set.
“Our ultimate goal is to have two Will Johnsons - either at fullback or tight end and have four wides. We talk about recruiting that H position or tight end-fullback type guy and he’s the perfect guy we’re looking for,” Holliday said.
Johnson and converted quarterback Bradley Starks to wide receiver could be the right recipe to keep defenses from selling out on the run this fall.
“Anytime as a defensive coach you’re taking an extra defensive back or a linebacker out of the game when you have an extra receiver in there,” Holliday said. “When (Johnson) is in there if you get him matched up on a linebacker it creates an issue for them. They don’t know if he’s a tight end or a fullback.”
Of course the object is to make West Virginia’s offensive attack a little less one-dimensional.
“There comes a time when you get too many of them in the box and you’ve got to be able to throw it over somebody’s head,” Holliday explained. “We’ve worked on some things this spring throwing it vertically down the field but you’ve got to do what these kids can do. When we get back here in the fall we’ll really evaluate what we did this spring and we’ll have them ready to go.”
Meanwhile, Holliday says it will be important for veteran players like Pat White and Ryan Stanchek to get the team ready during the developmental season.
“I think you’ve got the Pat Whites and some offensive linemen that have been around and are going to be seniors that are going to have to take great leadership roles this summer. They are actually the coaches on the field this summer,” Holliday said. “It’s different than it used to be years ago. Now the strength coaches have them, working with them and doing specific drills that is catered to the same type of things we’re doing with them.”
