The backpedaling for Dana Holgorsen began Wednesday.
It was only a matter of time.
The West Virginia coach on Monday said this about the recruiting trail: "You lie in recruiting a bunch. That's just kind of part of it. You become a salesman." Naturally, the backlash wasn't pretty, and the potential backlash in recruiting could have been even uglier.
On Wednesday, Holgorsen framed the ill-advised comments in context, but still admitted he didn't make the point well.
"At my press conference on Monday, I was speaking with a group of our beat reporters, and the subject of the NCAA legislation concerning unlimited meals and its impact on recruiting was brought up," the statement read. "In a lighthearted moment, I made a comment in jest that was meant to imply that the unlimited meals will be an important selling point with recruits and that all coaches will have to be salesmen on this matter. I further implied that the best way for recruits to understand what really is occurring on a campus is by having them talk to the current student-athletes. I used a poor choice of words in explaining this position."
West Virginia not only released a clarification from Holgorsen, it posted the statement on its official website, as well.
When recruits begin making more official visits to West Virginia this winter, Holgorsen will get some idea of whether rival coaches have planted negative seeds in their minds about Holgorsen's honesty.
More than likely, he'll eventually have to repeat that explanation often enough to know it by heart.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread.*
