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West Virginia Suffering From Buyer's Remorse Makes Coaching Change

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You know why there are so many things cluttering the checkout counters at the supermarket? Its because people are suckers for the impulse buy. They are making a killing by selling sodas, candy, magazines, gum and whatever else they can think of. Its all junk that you and I don't need buy we buy it anyway because its right there in front of us as we're paying the bill. For me it the 20oz bottle of Dr. Pepper. I'm gonna grab one just about every time and then when I get to my car I'm gonna ask why I paid almost two bucks for it when I could have got a Big Gulp at 7-11 for less than a buck. Ah...the pain of buyer's remorse. That pretty much sums up how West Virginia is feeling about Bill Stewart right now. 

The Mountaineer's barely let the sun set on West Virginia's upset win over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl before they promoted Stewart from interim to head coach. The rest of the sports world was scratching their heads because West Virginia, while on the cusp of returning to national prominence, had just hired a head coach whose previous record was 8-25 based solely on the emotion of an upset win in a bowl game. It was the college football version of the impulse buy.

Of course remorse was to follow as Stewart never got West Virginia back to a BCS bowl and the school saw a drop off in season ticket sales. For three consecutive seasons Stewart's teams have produced 9-4 records and the last two have ended with losses in the Gator Bowl and Champ Sports Bowl. A relationship that began through the elation of victory minus the foresight and logic to look at track records and long term projections is now ending in bitterness and division. 

Dana Holgorsen was brought on staff following the 2010 season as the new offensive coordinator and given the "head coach in waiting" title as he was set to replace the embattled Steward in 2012. Again, as the majority of the sports world scratched their head trying to figure out how this marriage would work West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck was certain the two could coexist for one season. He couldn't have been more wrong!

Immediately Stewart tried to hire reporters to dig up dirt on Holgorsen and tension filled the football offices. The end result is Stewart out and Holgorsen in. The announcement was officially made Friday night at a press conference in which Stewart did not speak. Now the question is, did the Mountaineers just make another impulse buy?

Stewart was tabbed to make 900K this season and Holgorsen 500K. Now they will pay whatever the cost was to compensate Stewart for being canned plus Holgorsen's contract contains a clause that pays him two million should be become the head coach before the 2011 season. He's cashing in and West Virginia is paying out. Is the reward going to be worth the payout? Oliver Luck certainly hopes so. However, he's just gone "all in" on a guy who has no head coaching experience and was just tossed from a local casino for being plastered. Yep, we're all waiting to see how this works out.