The thinking here takes place a few steps outside of the box that ordinarily contains thoughts on this matter, but you probably know this is nothing new. Nevertheless, there was one prevailing thought yesterday, and even in the weeks before Dana Holgorsen and Oliver Luck signed Holgorsen’s contract.

WVU President Jim Clements needs to draw up a new contract for his athletic director and include a buyout. If WVU is to ask Holgorsen to commit time to the program and finances if he leaves, it’s only right to ask the same of the gentleman who runs the entire operation and who WVU cannot afford to lose without compensation.

Salary is just one part and it doesn’t always cancel out ambition. People have left good jobs with big salaries many times before. Suppose one day Luck does that. Suppose he had just done it and left for Stanford.

Remember, too, that Clements himself offered up the University of Texas, which has an athletic director with a salary in excess of $1 million, as one school that will likely need an athletic director in the next few years and might look at Luck.

Clements can’t allow Luck to go without money coming back to the Mountaineers. Not with the enormous raise to $775,000 he just accepted, not with the money and philosophy WVU has already sunk into the move into the Big 12.

A buyout doesn’t staple Luck to WVU, but it makes sure WVU has some money to use to replace Luck – and WVU would have to spend to hire a new Luck just like it would have to spend to hire a new Holgorsen.