Dana Holgorsen, Coach of the W. Virginia Team That Thrashed Clemson, 70-33, In Orange Bowl, Grew Up In Mt. Pleasant, IA. His Next Stop Is Big 12

The first-year coach of the West Virginia football team that rolled up 589 yards and scored a record 70 points in last night's Orange Bowl is an Iowan.

He's Dana Holgorsen, who wound up a banner 10-3 first season with the Mountaineers in a 70-33 thumping of Clemson.

In the photo at the top of the column, Holgorsen, 40, is shown having Gatorade poured on him by his triumphant players in the final seconds of the game. [AP photo courtesy of The Monitor].

Holgorsen, a native of Mt. Pleasant, IA, graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School in 1989 and Iowa Wesleyan College in Mt. Pleasant in 1993.

He was a three-year letterman as a wide receiver at Iowa Wesleyan, finishing his career No. 5 on the school’s all-time receiving yards list with 1,711 yards and sixth in all-time receptions with 145.

Holgorsen had to survive some controversy [more on that later in this column] before being named West Virginia's coach last June 10, and is earning $1.4 million.

That figures to be enough to support Holgorsen and his children McClayne, 13; Logan, 11 and Karlyn, 8, who are pictured with him at the right [courtesy of the West Virginia communications office].

There is no wife shown, so I'm assuming she's out of the picture in more ways than one.

Holgorsen had been recruited to Iowa Wesleyan by coach Hal Mumme and offensive coordinator Mike Leach, both of whom he would coach with later in their careers.

“Growing up in Mt. Pleasant back in the 80s, a town of about 7,000 people, a job like this seemed unattainable,” Holgorsen told the publicity people at West Virginia. “I remember watching coach [Don] Nehlen’s [West Virginia] teams in the late 80s, back in that run in ’88 and ’89, when I was a junior and senior in high school, and he set the standard for what it’s like here on and off the field, and I look forward to living up to those standards as well."

Well, Holgorsen sure showed a huge Orange Bowl crowd and an ESPN TV audience a wild-eyed offense last night.

He kept using a play that he later said he "found at Colorado School of Mines."

However, there is no stint listed for him at Colorado School of Mines, a university in Golden, Colo., in his resume. So maybe he was joking to the ESPN announcers after the game about that.

But there were coaching stops as staffs at Valdosta State, Mississippi College, Wingate, Texas tech, Houston and Oklahoma State.

Holgorsen actually moved to West Virginia on Dec. 22, 2010 as the team's offensive coordinator. Wikipedia writes, "At that time, athletic director Oliver Luck also announced that Holgorsen would replace Bill Stewart as head coach in 2012, saying he didn't think Stewart was capable of leading the Mountaineers to a national championship.

"The relationship between Stewart and Holgorsen was strained from the start, and finally came to a head when Colin Dunlap, a reporter from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette claimed Stewart had asked him and another reporter from the Charleston Gazette to dig up negative information about Holgorsen. While Luck was unable to substantiate the reporters' claims, he decided that Stewart had become too much of a distraction and forced Stewart's resignation on June 10.

"Luck had anticipated that the coach-in-waiting arrangement might not work as originally planned. Holgorsen's contract stated that his salary would be prorated at $1.4 million for the remainder of the season should he become head coach before 2012. In addition, the $250,000 annual bonus applied to the head coaching salary would begin a year early, resulting in an additional $2 million over the six-year period addressed by his contract."

Whatever, now Holgorsen's offenses will be a problem for defenses at Iowa State and the other defenses in the Big 12 Conference.

West Virginia finished its stay in the Big East last night and will be heading to the Big 12 next fall.

I'd say he has a bright future.