Colleges

UF assistant Holliday leaves for West Va.

By ANTONYA ENGLISH, Times Staff Writer
Published January 11, 2008

GAINESVILLE - Three weeks after he applied for the vacant head coaching position at West Virginia, Florida associate head coach John "Doc" Holliday is joining the West Virginia staff in a different capacity.

Holliday, 50, resigned Thursday and is expected to join West Virginia as an associate head coach, recruiting coordinator and tight ends/fullbacks coach.

A native of Hurricane, W.Va., Holliday coached at West Virginia from 1979-99. Under Urban Meyer the past three seasons, he was in charge of Florida's safeties and was the primary recruiter for the South Florida area.

Holliday was thought to be among the leading candidates to take over the head coaching position left by Rich Rodriguez, but interim coach Bill Stewart was given the job.

BULL AVOIDS FELONY CHARGE: Prosecutors have dropped the felony grand theft charge that was brought against USF senior defensive end Woody George in August. Court records show that prosecutors did not pursue the charge at arraignment after it was shown that George had paid full restitution for a missing parking boot he removed from his car; the same records show that USF's Parking and Transportation Services approved of the charge being dropped.

DRAFT DECLARATIONS: Vanderbilt's Earl Bennett, the leading receiver in SEC history with 236 catches in three seasons, will leave early for the NFL draft. ... Illinois' Rashard Mendenhall will leave early after rushing for a school-record 1,681 yards. ... One of Clemson's leading tacklers, junior defensive end Phillip Merling, will leave early. ... Three Tennessee players will return: offensive linemen Anthony Parker and Ramon Foster and punter Britton Colquitt. ... West Virginia's Darius Reynaud, who tied a school record with 12 TD catches, will leave early. ... Oklahoma's second-leading receiver, Malcolm Kelly, will leave early.

McFADDEN HANDCUFFED, RELEASED: Arkansas running back Darren McFadden, the Heisman runnerup, was handcuffed by police then released without charges after being involved in a "pretty rowdy scene" at a piano bar in Little Rock. His mother said he was trying to protect his younger brother, Daryl.

Times staff writer Greg Auman contributed to this report, which used information from Times wires.

[Last modified January 10, 2008, 22:06:11]