As initially hinted by us on Twitter late Tuesday, WVU Head Coach-in-Waiting Dana Holgorsen was allegedly involved in an incident at the Mardi Gras Casino (formerly Tri-State Racetrack) last week. The event, which was said to have happened around 3 am on Wednesday morning, involved Holgorsen reportedly becoming unruly and being escorted out of the building.
Multiple sources told the Charleston Daily Mail Holgorsen was removed from Mardi Gras Casino & Resort after 3 a.m. May 18. Holgorsen had been at a Mountaineer Athletic Club function earlier in the day in Logan before spending the evening at the casino with other university representatives.
Holgorsen's behavior allegedly reached a point that necessitated involvement from on-site security, sources said. Holgorsen was escorted out of the casino with the episode caught on surveillance. University representatives who were with Holgorsen were said to have then intervened. No arrest was made.
The story, which is being reported on by the Charleston Daily Mail's Mike Casazza, necessitated a terse statement issued by WVU's Michael Fragale, the assistant athletic director for communications:
Athletic director Oliver Luck and head coach Bill Stewart have been made aware of the alleged incident. Once they have all the facts, they will deal with it appropriately.
Regardless of the eventual outcome, the fact that the University felt compelled to issue a statement late into the night does not paint a rosy picture of the incident.
We will have updates as they are made available.
UPDATE: The Big East has been forced to cancel today's meeting of athletic directors due to Oliver Luck returning to Morgantown to deal with the Holgorsen situation.
Wednesday morning’s Big East athletic directors meeting at the league’s spring meetings was cancelled because some of the league’s ADs, including West Virginia’s Oliver Luck, had to return back to their schools earlier than expected.
UPDATE #2: Mike Casazza says something involving someone from some source will potentially maybe possibly happen today.
Re: Holgorsen - I'm told WVU will have a comment, of some form, from some forum, that advances/updates situation before end of the day.
UPDATE #3: This isn't the first such incident involving Holgorsen since he's been at WVU.
Source within Lottery Commission informs that Holgorsen was involved in nearly identical incident at Wheeling Island Casino last month.
Just as happened last week, no police arrest, but asked to leave. Holgorsen complied.
Our original tweets from last night have been moved to after the jump...
Hearing WVU just sent the Associated Press a statement about an incident last week involving Holgorsen that was described as "terse."
Received a flurry of texts and messages last weekend RE: Holgorsen, but nothing rose above rumor. This statement may change that.
Paraphrasing statement: WVU is aware of incident involving Holgorsen, looking into the situation, no further comment at this time.