Meet Dan Holgersen
Meet Dan Holgersen
It was a huge coup when the University of Houston lured their new head coach from West Virginia University, and he talks about his team and where his concerns are in some of the difficulties in the latest recruiting and transfer rules.
John Granato:
So this is a tough one because I don’t want you to compare it (to West Virginia), but what’s the talent level here at the University of Houston? What did you walk into here?
Dana Holgorsen:
It’s very similar to when I walked into West Virginia. Honestly, there’s not a whole lot of difference in that football and with the University of Houston, with Central Florida, with Memphis, with Cincinnati, and with South Florida football. I mean it’s, it’s good football, you know, so it’s just a very similar situation. I think Houston recruited pretty well coming off that, that Peach Bowl, you know, when coach Herman was here the first time. I’m looking at some seniors on our, on our roster, like D’Eriq King and, and Josh Jones and Patrick Carr, Keith Corbin, uh, Courtney Lark. We have seniors due to the success that Tom had when we first got here. I think we got some depth issues just like I had at West Virginia when I first got there. And I think that’s what our goal is, is to make sure that we do a great job with recruiting on not just filling roster spots, but by getting the best local talent, we can get, and I feel like we can recruit against anybody here.
Lance Zierlein:
So the big concern used to be with heavily recruiting JUCO guys, and you relied too heavily on JUCO you’re not building from within.
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Dana Holgorsen:
I think everyone’s different and you have to figure out what your needs are. We got a corner in Damarion Williams that is going to be a starting corner for us. He’s got a redshirt year, but he’s going to start so we get two good years out of him. Kyle Porter’s a grad transfer, but we’re getting two years out of him so, you know, he’s a smart kid that picks up things very well. Gio Pancotti from Episcopal is a grad transfer that has two years. So I view those guys no differently as a safer JUCO guy.
John Granato:
We’ve talked about your recruiting class before and the fact you’re never ranked as a top recruiting school, but nobody ever takes into consideration all the transfers that you bring in.
Dana Holgorsen:
Yeah. They don’t count that, which I don’t care. I mean, I’m not one that’s ever really worried about what the recruiting rankings are. There are specific places there that need to dominate recruiting rankings, and their jobs depend on it, and we’re not one of them. The bottom line is you get guys that want to be at your place, and you get guys that want to develop into contributors and doing whatever they can do to be able to help the teams win. I was always very frustrated on signing day. And I’ve always been at a place, whether it was Texas Tech, University of Houston, Oklahoma State, West Virginia, where we were going to lose guys on signing days to some of these, quote-unquote more high profile places.
Raheel Ramzanali: Are there any recommendations you would make to the NCAA about fixing the transfer portal? (College football’s offseason is now dominated by transfers and the NCAA’s transfer portal.
Starting Oct. 15, 2018 student-athletes were allowed to enter their names into a transfer portal, which will enable schools to initiate contact with them. While a player entering their name in the transfer portal does not mean a player intends to transfer, the portal’s presence has given athletes options they didn’t have before. Athletes can pursue and talk to other schools without restriction, all the while remaining enrolled at their present school.)
Dana Holgorsen:
There’s continuous talk about immediate eligibility, and I think if we get to the point where there’s immediate eligibility, we’re going to have some issues. What I’m concerned about is guys are going to enter that portal, and they’re not going to have anywhere to go.
Lance Zierlein: You’re giving a generation of players a chance to say, I’m not going to fight through the adversity, or if things get a little tough I’m onto the next, right, I’m onto the next program if you make me upset. And that’s the way it’s going to be.
Dana Holgorsen:
Yeah, and some of that happens right now. We had one guy in the portal since I’ve been here, you know, so, you know, I think Houston is a place that people are going to want to be at, and they’re going to want to stay. I’ve got a coaching staff that cares about the guys. You know, I don’t see a lot of that right here right now. Obviously, it’s happening across the country. I worry about our youth and the young kids in general and having a copout mentality of just leaving when things get tough. Things are tough in college football; it’s hard to be a student-athlete. There’s a lot of time restraints that are involved with it and a lot of pressure and, um, you know it’s a hard gig. Heck, if it were easy, there’d be a whole lot of people out there doing it, you know? But if there’s immediate eligibility at stake, then I worry about guys just like fleeing real quick. And that’s going to ruin a lot of people’s careers because there’s going to be a lot of places that they think they can go to and then those spots are not going to become available.