We were the last games for the Louisville and WV coaches... cool...
One thing to remember is that WVUs endowment is incredibly small ~500 mill, while Houston's is almost double that. While endowments != directly correlate to football money, it does mean something.
You COULD argue that Holgorsen went to a much richer school
….yes richer in many ways:
Reasons why Holgorsen left WV for Houston : Money and Texas Area Talent and More
With info gleaned from SBNATION
>Holgorsen and UH have an agreement in place on a five-year, $20 million deal that appears to make Holgorsen the highest-paid coach at any non-power conference school ever.
>In Holgorsen, Houston had a candidate who badly wanted to be in the Cougars’ city, sources said, having had success in and near Texas before.
>Houston is a key talent hub in a top recruiting state. It produces a heaping handful of four-stars every year, and occasionally a generational talent like UH’s Ed Oliver.
>Relatively, Houston can have a more favorable talent situation in the AAC than West Virginia can in the Big 12.//
Holgorsen was and is an up and coming offensive guru. From an assistant position at Miss. St. and assistant and OC at Houston before becoming HC at WV. I did a little research and he's also returning because of billionaire Tillman Feritta who is the biggest of the Houston Football Booster Club who is investing in athletics but specifically in the football program (we should have this problem; an individual with very large pockets filled with green things that provide interest to fans all around Texas.
Why Houston Wanted Him Back
During his two-year tenure with the Cougars, Holgorsen's offenses posted earth-shattering numbers, accounting for 563 yards of total offense per game, passing for 433.7 yards per game and totaling more than 42.2 points per game. His offense ranked No. 3 in total offense in 2008 with a duo of freshmen quarterbacks and No. 1 in 2009 behind the arm of Heisman finalist and All-Conference quarterback Case Keenum. In 2008–2009, Case Keenum, led the nation in total offense totaling 403.2 yards per game as a sophomore and 416.4 yards his junior season.
Plus his winning years at WV.
Additionally, Houston doesn't have its head in the sand. It wants to be larger more important so it's going to be. All Holgorsen has to do now is WIN more than eight games a year – if he doesn't he's going to be out like Applewhite. I think DH is headed to the NFL someday but like I said if he doesn't win there's always someone else up and coming. Part of being a HC at a major university is living with the specter of being fired at the whim of the dollar.
at any time