Dana Holgorsen could have been head coach at Southern Miss

Oliver Luck hired Dana Holgorsen to be coach in waiting at West Virignia on December 22, 2010...and we all know the rest. By all accounts this has been a home run hire for Oliver Luck...but was if it wasn't...

Did you know that a week before hiring Holgorsen, Oliver Luck offered the same "coach in waiting" position to Mike Haywood? Haywood was just completing a highly successful second season as head coach at Miami (Ohio) when Luck called and offered him the future reigns of the West Virginia football team. 

As luck would have it (yeah, I did that), Pitt called Haywood within minutes of Luck's call and Haywood chose the Pitt job. 

So (work with me on this one), if Haywood had accepted Luck's offer and hence Dana not left Oklahoma State after the 2010 season and remained offensive coordinator for the 2011 season with Weeden and Blackmon (and others) we have to assume several programs would have rolled out the red carpet for him after the 2011 season. Perhaps he would have gotten the nod at Southern Miss to replace Larry Fedora (another highly successful offensive coordinator coming from Oklahoma State). Anyone think the Southern Miss fan base wishes they had Holgo on the sidelines in Hattiesburg right now?

"Sometimes it's better to be Lucky than to be good."

Tip of the cap to Mark Inabinett of AL.com for reporting the story as relayed by Haywood.