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Big 12 Media Days: Houston coach Dana Holgorsen Discusses Return to Big 12

The University of Houston is entering its first season in the Big 12, but the Cougars are led by a coach with extensive history in the conference.

Randall Sweet

John E. Hoover / AllSooners
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ARLINGTON, TX — Dana Holgorsen spent 16 years coaching in the Big 12, with stops at Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and most notably West Virginia. 

"The last four years have been a little different for me, being in the American Conference," Holgorsen said on Tuesday. "It really makes you appreciate a conference like the Big 12... This has been a dream come true for a lot of Cougars for a long time and we're excited about being in the Big 12."

The longtime Mountaineers head coach was back at the conference's media days this week as the head coach of the Houston Cougars, a job which he has held since leaving West Virginia in 2019. 

In 2022-23, Holgorsen led Houston to an 8-5 record, taking down the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl. Over the offseason, however, the Cougars lost veteran quarterback Clayton Tune, speedy wideout KeSean Carter and fifth-year running back Ta'Zhawn Henry to graduation and star wide receiver Nathaniel Dell to the NFL Draft. 

"(Replacing Dell, Henry and Carter) is the one thing I'm pretty comfortable with," Holgorsen said. "Dell was pretty special. Third round draft pick, dynamic player. He kind of took the ball from other people a lot. I don't know if we're going to have the one guy with 1500 yards, but we've got three starters returning with Matt Golden, who's a special player, Joseph Manjack who was a contributor in five games last year and Sam Brown made some big plays."

Houston may have found its replacement for Tune as well, with former Texas Tech QB Donovan Smith transferring in. 

"I've been very impressed with Donovan, he's played a lot of ball," Holgorsen said. "We lost a very seasoned quarterback in Clayton Tune... The expectations are high for Donovan... He's got the upper hand right now based on 21 games of experience."

The Cougars will look to prove their doubters wrong this season, as they joined UCF as the only Big 12 teams without a representative on the 2023 Media Preseason Football Team. Houston was also picked to finish 12th in the conference in the Big 12 Football Media Preseason Poll.

"42 spots on our roster this year are new," Holgorsen said about his team. "Every year is different, every team is different." 

Senior linebacker Hasaan Hypolite, senior offensive lineman Jack Freeman, junior defensive lineman Nelson Ceaser and junior offensive lineman Patrick Paul accompanied Holgorsen to Arlington, TX for Big 12 Media Days. 

"Everybody is excited," Holgorsen said. "No one is going to celebrate. We're going to roll our sleeves up collectively."

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Randall Sweet
RANDALL SWEET

Randall is a recruiting analyst and staff writer at AllSooners focusing primarily on OU Football and the recruiting trail. Working as a journalist, Randall has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and high school sports across the state. A 2022 University of Oklahoma graduate, Randall hails from Lubbock, TX. While in college, Sweet wrote for the OU Daily in addition to working with Sooner Sports Pad and OU Nightly. Following his time at OU, Sweet served as the Communications Coordinator at Visit Oklahoma City before leaving to join the team at AllSooners. The West Texas native has bylines in the Norman Transcript and is a Staff Writer for Inside the Thunder. Randall holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. 

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