The last time West Virginia's Dana Holgorsen coached in the Big 12, he was the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State, so he was not a part of the league's annual Media Day event.
That changed on Tuesday as the second-year leader of the No. 11 Mountaineers met and talked to media covering the mid-western conference for the first time.
"It's good to be here," said Holgorsen. "There's excitement all over the nation. It seems like this is the week that it starts.
"But, it's good to be here in Dallas. It's good to be a part of the Big 12 from a coaching standpoint, player standpoint, administrative standpoint, and a fan-base standpoint. I can assure you everybody in West Virginia is excited about the opportunity that's in front of us."
But, unlike his one-and-only season in the Big East, Holgorsen will be facing a Big 12 slate of contests against teams accustomed to seeing the high-powered offensive attack that he brought with him to Morgantown.
"Yeah, we'll probably put something new out there. I'm not going to tell you what it is. But it's evolved. I mean, obviously eight years in Lubbock working for Coach Leach, the offense was kind of set.
"And I made the decision four years ago to break away from them, to go to the University of Houston. And every time you change a job you gotta look at what your personnel is and you gotta try to tweak some things to fit what your personnel is.
"We tweaked it a little bit at Houston. Went to Oklahoma State. Tweaked it a little bit at Oklahoma State. And last year when we went to West Virginia, we tweaked it a little bit. Specifics would take a couple of days to get into."
One of those tweaks revolved around a returning junior quarterback named Geno Smith.
"He (Smith) progressed and he's got a chance to be pretty good. He stacks up with a lot of the other guys I've had in the past. Ultimately, it's how many games you win and him going into his senior year. He's going to be remembered for how many games you win.
"So, ultimately, he's going to be remembered for how many games he can win, and Geno's got the ability to make everybody else around him better."
Smith's legacy won't be the only one on the line when WVU opens Big 12 play at home against Baylor on Saturday, Sept. 29.
Holgorsen and his staff, made up of assistants with Big 12 coaching in their backgrounds, will be remembered for what they accomplish during the old gold and blue's inaugural campaign.
"There's similarities from a program standpoint. Like I mentioned earlier, I mean, West Virginia's used to winning football games. There's a whole bunch of teams in the Big 12 that are used to winning football games.
"You fill your stadium up because it's important to the fan base. And, everybody in the Big 12 fills their stadium up, because it's important to their fan base. It's an exciting time for everybody."
