West Virginia casino update: Dana Holgorsen learned a valuable lesson today

Oliver Luck has reviewed the facts, and has determined that yes, in his professional judgment as West Virginia athletic director, "inappropriate behavior did occur" last week when offensive coordinator and head coach-in-waiting Dana Holgorsen was allegedly tossed from a local casino at 3 a.m. In an official statement released this afternoon, Luck said he and Holgorsen's other direct boss, current head coach Bill Stewart, have "have made it clear, and will reiterate, that our coaches and staff are representing the University and the state at all times" and "take this matter very seriously." And that's all he's going to have to say about that.

As for Captain Holgo, he now realizes that, for a man in his new position, the spotlight —�and in this case, the security cameras —�are always on. From his half of the statement:

"I learned a valuable lesson from this incident. As a football coach, I am always in the public eye and I have to hold myself to a higher standard, which is what I ask our players to do. I'm sorry that this incident has put the University and the football program in a difficult position. I will not put myself in that situation again."

He will now slink back to his hotel room and go straight to bed with no room service.

The really interesting question here isn't whether Holgorsen will ever put himself in that situation again —�avoiding small-town casinos can't be that difficult, even ones with a dog track —�but whether he's ever been in that situation before: Rumors began swirling almost immediately after the web woke up to the news of Holgorsen's ejection this morning that he had been involved in a similar incident at another West Virginia casino last month. Which should make things really interesting this season when an announcer slips after an aggressive call and refers to him as a "riverboat gambler."

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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