HOLGORSEN ON GOTTLIEB SHOW
June 15, 2011 04:56 PM | General
West Virginia University’s new football coach Dana Holgorsen spent 7 ½ minutes on the Doug Gottlieb Show on ESPN Radio Tuesday afternoon. Holgorsen and Gottlieb discussed several topics, including the evolution of Mountaineer quarterback Geno Smith.
“He’s poised,” said Holgorsen. “He’s a little more accurate than I thought he’d be. His body language is tremendous. The kid really likes to play football. He has a lot of bounce to him and he’s about 6-3 ½ - he’s got good size, good feet; he’s athletic; he’s poised in the pocket and he’s probably a little more accurate than I thought he was. He got a lot better from a mental standpoint, too, but he’s just got to keep improving.”
Holgorsen believes Smith is capable of putting up similar numbers to his two previous quarterbacks Brandon Weeden at Oklahoma State and Case Keenum at Houston.
“I think he’s on track,” Holgorsen said. “He’s still young. He’s only been here for two years. He’s not like that old guy I coached at Oklahoma State last year Brandon Weeden. Brandon was pretty poised himself but his skills just had to get better. Geno’s skills are pretty good. He just needs a little more experience and a little more maturity.”
Holgorsen touched on other topics with Gottlieb:
On how he first met WVU Director of Athletics Oliver Luck … “He was around the University of Houston facility a lot because he was running the Houston Dynamo, which were using our practice facilities so Oliver and Kevin Sumlin became pretty good friends. He met me when I was at Houston and then he kind of followed me through the year last year when we were at Oklahoma State.”
On how he was able to maintain his focus the last few weeks … “I get in the office and get around the kids and make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing in the off-season when it comes to academics, when it comes to making sure they’re doing the right things in the weight room and continually getting to know the offensive and defensive guys and our personnel in general. I’m just putting my head down and continuing to work.”
On the people he called when the decision was made to elevate him to head coach last Friday … “I talked to so many different people over the last week that I forget. Mike Leach is a good friend of mine and I bounced a lot of ideas off of him. Hal Mumme is a good friend of mine and I bounced a lot of ideas off of him. Kevin Sumlin is a good friend of mine and I bounced a lot of ideas off of him, so those three guys were right up there. I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for Oliver and we communicated a lot as well.”
On the biggest adjustment to becoming a head football coach … “The whole thing has to be about unity. That’s the only way you can win a championship. Last year’s team at Oklahoma State their players were extremely close, our coaching staff was extremely close and we played together really, really well. My message to those guys was keep pressing forward. We’re going to be united as a coaching staff, we are going to be united as players, we are going to be united as administrators and our fans are all going to be on the same page and we’re going to do our best to win a championship.”
On the players’ response to his Tuesday team meeting … “I think they’re excited about just being able to play. Kids are resilient and nothing is really going to change for them. Every one of those kids is going to have the same position coach they had in the spring and every one of the schemes that they did will remain the same from the spring. Their day to day stuff hasn’t changed.”
“He’s poised,” said Holgorsen. “He’s a little more accurate than I thought he’d be. His body language is tremendous. The kid really likes to play football. He has a lot of bounce to him and he’s about 6-3 ½ - he’s got good size, good feet; he’s athletic; he’s poised in the pocket and he’s probably a little more accurate than I thought he was. He got a lot better from a mental standpoint, too, but he’s just got to keep improving.”
Holgorsen believes Smith is capable of putting up similar numbers to his two previous quarterbacks Brandon Weeden at Oklahoma State and Case Keenum at Houston.
“I think he’s on track,” Holgorsen said. “He’s still young. He’s only been here for two years. He’s not like that old guy I coached at Oklahoma State last year Brandon Weeden. Brandon was pretty poised himself but his skills just had to get better. Geno’s skills are pretty good. He just needs a little more experience and a little more maturity.”
Holgorsen touched on other topics with Gottlieb:
On how he first met WVU Director of Athletics Oliver Luck … “He was around the University of Houston facility a lot because he was running the Houston Dynamo, which were using our practice facilities so Oliver and Kevin Sumlin became pretty good friends. He met me when I was at Houston and then he kind of followed me through the year last year when we were at Oklahoma State.”
On how he was able to maintain his focus the last few weeks … “I get in the office and get around the kids and make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to be doing in the off-season when it comes to academics, when it comes to making sure they’re doing the right things in the weight room and continually getting to know the offensive and defensive guys and our personnel in general. I’m just putting my head down and continuing to work.”
On the people he called when the decision was made to elevate him to head coach last Friday … “I talked to so many different people over the last week that I forget. Mike Leach is a good friend of mine and I bounced a lot of ideas off of him. Hal Mumme is a good friend of mine and I bounced a lot of ideas off of him. Kevin Sumlin is a good friend of mine and I bounced a lot of ideas off of him, so those three guys were right up there. I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for Oliver and we communicated a lot as well.”
On the biggest adjustment to becoming a head football coach … “The whole thing has to be about unity. That’s the only way you can win a championship. Last year’s team at Oklahoma State their players were extremely close, our coaching staff was extremely close and we played together really, really well. My message to those guys was keep pressing forward. We’re going to be united as a coaching staff, we are going to be united as players, we are going to be united as administrators and our fans are all going to be on the same page and we’re going to do our best to win a championship.”
On the players’ response to his Tuesday team meeting … “I think they’re excited about just being able to play. Kids are resilient and nothing is really going to change for them. Every one of those kids is going to have the same position coach they had in the spring and every one of the schemes that they did will remain the same from the spring. Their day to day stuff hasn’t changed.”
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