![]() I know he’s saying the right things when I’m not around.” So if I’m not here, he’s the most important guy in the room. “Doug’s my associate head coach and my defense coordinator. ![]() “Whoever your guy is, you’ve got to empower him and be able to trust him to do things,” Holgorsen said in an interview before practice. The head coach ponied up a seven-figure salary last year to keep the coach he refers to as “my guy.” This bowl game against Louisiana is a chance at redemption, an opportunity to send 2022 out on a good note after a 7-5 regular season.įor now, Holgorsen doesn’t have to worry about Belk leaving the Cougars. The Houston team, including Belk’s once-stingy defense, had also taken a step back from 2021, when it went 12-2 and finished 17 th in the nation. 12, one of his mentors, Mike Leach, the man he coached under for seven years at Texas Tech University, died following complications from a heart condition. It’s been a lousy couple of weeks for Holgorsen. Do owners care? Read nowįinally, about 30 minutes in, the energetic Belk is engaged at midfield in a conversation with his boss, Cougars’ head coach Dana Holgorsen. Related Story Black NFL coordinators are ready for head coaching jobs. Next he’s standing around the 40-yard line, chatting up other assistants. Then he’s slinging spirals so tight some of his defensive players can’t hold on to the passes. One minute he’s leading the defensive backs in a press-the-receiver drill. He’s one of an elite group of minority coaches in a program that has played a role in four Black coaches receiving Division I head-coaching jobs in the last two years, including three at heavily resourced Power 5 schools.īelk’s defensive unit at Houston has a lot of fanciful names – “Third Ward Defense” and “Sack Ave.” But on this day Belk is focused on the details of how to protect its own end zone against the University of Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns in the Independence Bowl on Dec. – On the practice field inside Independence Stadium here, it’s clear that Doug Belk, the defensive coordinator for the University of Houston Cougars, is a young coach on a fast track, with the potential to reach the top of a profession that’s been immensely difficult for minorities to crack.īelk, 35, also has an advantage that wasn’t available to older Black assistant coaches. ![]() Sidelined is a season-long look at the NFL’s lack of diversity in coaches and team executives.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |