It has been a little more than one month since Dana Holgorsen was named the head football coach at West Virginia University. His abrupt promotion from offensive coordinator to head coach has had the Mountaineer nation buzzing with anticipation ever since.
To this point in his career, Holgorsen has never been a head coach, and his duties have been limited to no more than making sure his offenses score points.
As his resume shows, he has certainly done a phenomenal job at that.
But, it's how he handles times like these, the metaphorical bleeding WVU has experienced the last two weeks, that will show whether Holgorsen has what it takes to manage not just an offense, but an entire team.
It's mid-July, and the WVU football team has been in the college football spotlight repeatedly over the last two weeks. Unfortunately, the press has not been about the Mountaineers' BCS chances.
On July 8, WVU first came under fire from the NCAA because of failure to monitor the activities of their graduate assistants.
Although these violations occurred under former coaches Rich Rodriguez and Bill Stewart, the NCAA agreed to the self-imposed penalties WVU leveled on its program – the loss of three scholarships over the next two seasons, a reduction in hours spent on football-related activity by 23 percent and the elimination of two staff positions.
Four days later, redshirt sophomore linebacker Branko Busick was charged with armed robbery after he allegedly entered a Morgantown apartment complex, demanded money from a man and then struck him repeatedly with a pistol.
Days later Busick was linked to a previous, unrelated assault and robbery dating back to June.
Busick's dismissal marks the second Mountaineer to be dismissed from the team following a weapons charge.
On May 3, WVU defensive lineman Jorge Wright was dismissed from the team by Stewart after he was pulled over by Morgantown police and charged with carrying a deadly weapon without a license and possession of a controlled substance.
As if dealing with these issues as a rookie head coach wasn't tough enough, things get even tougher.
The following day, WVU athletic trainer Dave Kerns announced WVU starting left guard Josh Jenkins will miss the 2011-12 season due an upcoming surgery to stabilize his left knee.
Jenkins has started 24 games for West Virginia and was set to play a key role in protecting preseason all-Big East Conference quarterback Geno Smith, who is expected to spend a lot of time in the pocket this season.
Jenkins was first injured in the Mountaineers Spring Game on April 29.
Speaking of the Mountaineers' Spring Game, the Dominion Post reported last week that WVU raked in a school-best $100,881 from the April scrimmage, after seeing record attendance despite doubling ticket prices.
In previous years, WVU has donated 100 percent of all proceeds from the game to the WVU Children's Hospital.
Despite record profit, this year marks the first time since 1984 the WVU athletic department did not donate all proceeds to the Children's Hospital.
In fact, the $25,000 donation from this year is the lowest contribution since 2007.
At this point in his young career, Holgorsen has much more to deal with than route combinations and pass protection schemes.
These issues, and how he deals with them, will determine if Holgorsen has what it takes to handle the multitude of duties D-I coaches deal with on a regular basis.
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