“What are you trying to fight a head coach for?” Gideon recalled Brown telling him.
All Gideon could remember is Holgorsen’s part, as Oklahoma State’s offensive coordinator, in a 33-16 win over the Longhorns the previous season.
“Well, that guy beat our tail,” Gideon said. “He shouldn’t be watching us.”
“(Blake) didn’t really understand that at one point I was going to try and hire him someday,” Holgorsen said to laughter as he told the story to the General Assembly at the recent Texas High School Coaches Association convention.
Later, Gideon relayed the encounter to his dad, Steve, a longtime Texas high school football coach.
“I know you want to get into coaching,” Steve told the younger Gideon. “I’ll tell you one guy that is never going to hire you — Dana Holgorsen.”
Fast-forward eight years. When Holgorsen began to assemble his coaching staff at Houston, one of his calls was to … Blake Gideon.
“I respected the way he played, the way he coached,” Holgorsen said.
Was it an uncomfortable job interview? Did he try to ignore the incident? No chance Holgorsen was going to let him forget.
“Dana knew,” said Gideon, who was hired as UH’s special-teams coordinator and nickels coach. “He recited that story immediately. He knew who it was and all that.”
It was that passion Holgorsen found appealing. He wanted to add Gideon to his staff.
I would love to see it.