Holgorsen to add three to Mountaineer coaching staff

West Virginia head football coach Dana Holgorsen will add Lonnie Galloway to his offensive staff for the 2013 season, according to Mike Casazza of the Charleston Daily Mail.

Galloway is expected to become WVU’s wide receivers coach after returning to Morgantown after two seasons at Wake Forest, and offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson will become quarterbacks coach.

Dawson fills the void Jake Spavital left after departing for Texas A&M.

Galloway was WVU’s wide receivers coach with Bill Stewart and is a notorious recruiter responsible for bringing both Tavon Austin and Bruce Irvin to Morgantown.

As for the defensive staff, Tony Gibson – a longtime Rich Rodriguez assistant at WVU (2001-07), Michigan (2008-10) and Arizona (2012) – was hired by Holgorsen to step in on the defensive staff, according to multiple reports. Gibson served as the secondary in all his years with Rodriguez. He spent 2011 at Pitt with current WVU defensive coordinator Keith Patterson.

Finally, Brian Mitchell is the last piece in this coaching puzzle. The former East Carolina defensive coordinator implemented the 3-4 defense at ECU. Mitchell, who played three seasons in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons and Dallas Cowboys, had other coaching stints with his alma mater BYU and Texas Tech.

Spavital Bolts for Texas A&M

Sources confirmed with The Daily Athenaeum Friday that West Virginia quarterbacks coach Jake Spavital accepted a position with Texas A&M to be the Aggies’ quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator.

Spavital, who has been with Dana Holgorsen and West Virginia for the last two seasons, worked for Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin as a graduate assistant in 2009 at Houston.

Spavital, in his first career assistant job at WVU, coached quarterback Geno Smith to an all-Big East Conference selection in 2011, as well as a 2012 Discover Orange Bowl MVP performance. He will now go from coaching Geno Smith to Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel.

Dunlap ousted after 22 years at WVU

Longtime West Virginia assistant coach Steve Dunlap was dismissed by WVU head coach Dana Holgorsen.

Dunlap served 22 years on the West Virginia coaching staff in two separate stints in Morgantown.

Dunlap, who played at West Virginia from 1975-78, returned to his alma mater to coach in 1984, when he started out as an inside linebackers coach.

Promoted to defensive coordinator in 1991, he remained in that position until 2000. He later returned to join Bill Stewart’s staff.

Dunlap served primarily as an outside linebacker coach and special teams coordinator for the 2012 season.

Dunlap joins former cornerbacks coach Daron Roberts as the two defensive coaches not returning.