Should everything continue downhill through background checks and human resources and the possibility another program swoops in and offers a bigger or better deal, Joe Wickline will reunite with Dana Holgorsen and be West Virginia’s next offensive coordinator.

This has been in the works for a few weeks now, and Wickline was on campus not long after he was dismissed at Texas last month. Before two years with the Longhorns, Wickline was at Oklahoma State for nine years, one of which was highly successful with Holgorsen as the offensive coordinator. The two had some fun together. That would include the diamond backfield, which, as Holgorsen once told me, was created with Wickline before that 2010 season.

There’s going to be some skepticism here, and I get that. Texas was not a juggernaut the past two seasons, when Wickline was the co-coordinator, and he and the other co-coordinator were fired last month. Also: WVU has an offensive line coach.

Let’s start with the latter: So? WVU just did two seasons with two defensive line coaches — three of them, in total. Also, Ron Crook’s job is not in jeopardy. I suppose if he got upset about this and wanted to leave, the Parkersburg native who explained to me in November that one reason he took this job was so his kids could know their grandparents and aunts and uncles could look for and find a job. It’s January, though, and that’s a risk. Ditto running backs coach JaJuan Seider and receivers coach Lonnie Galloway, who, sure, might be miffed about Holgorsen hiring an offensive coordinator and not promoting one or the other or both.

But the plan is to have them all come back and work with and work under Wickline.

The former: Wickline’s one of the best offensive line coaches in the country. Overall, he ain’t bad, either. (I’ll reserve judgment and commentary on recruiting. WVU doesn’t do a lot in the areas he knows.) I think it should also speak to his credentials that Holgorsen was willing to cede the title to Wickline after holding it last season.

Now, how much coordinating will Wickline do? That’s a good and fair question. Oklahoma State sued Wickline in October 2014 to collect a buyout it believed he owed. Wickline’s OSU contract said he could waive the buyout if he took a job as a coordinator with play-calling duties. That never seemed to be the case at Texas, where Charlie Strong brought his quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, Shawn Watson, from Texas. The Cowboys deposed Strong, Watson and Wickline, and OSU and Wickline settled late last month.

I have to think he won’t be the play-caller here. He knows Holgorsen, but not that well, and, again, if Holgorsen was willing (made?) to yield on having an offensive coordinator, do you think he was also willing (made?) to hand over the calling of plays? I don’t believe that. (Aside: Is this any sort or precursor to a contract extension? Does Wickline walk into the unknown?)

Another question: Why Wickline and not, say, a quarterbacks coach? Aren’t Shannon Dawson and Jake Spavital available? Well, WVU has a QB coach. Two, I guess. There’s Holgorsen, who’s at worst slightly liberated by Wickline’s arrival, and graduate assistant Michael Burchett, who has another year left. I never heard a peep about Dawson or Spavital coming back.

With Wickline’s arrival comes two exits. The contracts for Joe DeForest and Damon Cogdell, which expire Jan. 30, will not be renewed. These are poorly kept, well-manicured secrets in and around the program. DeForest, I heard, pulled the Jeff Mullen_ and showered, dressed and bounced after the bowl. Cogdell, I heard, spent December hunting for jobs.

DeForest won’t be out of a job for long, and I’ve heard two landing spots for him already, one near, one far. It’s an interesting time for Cogdell. He didn’t — what’s the word? — do much in his two years, but those were his first two years. Recruiting was just OK, and people are freaking out over the Miramar pipeline that, to be quite honest, hasn’t been that fertile lately. Seider does all right in south Florida, too. Cogdell did get to spend them with Tom Bradley and Bruce Tall, which is a worthy apprenticeship, and he has a line on his resume. I’ve heard this is by no means the end for WVU and Cogdell, but that now is not the time.

WVU is now looking for one assistant coach. Mark Scott, the third assistant with an expiring contract, will be brought back, unless someone realizes what Tony Gibson believes, sees that Scott is bright with a bright future and scoops him up here soon. He was a defensive and special teams assistant last season. Next season will be his second as a full-timer. Could he handle safeties or special teams on his own in his second year? Maybe. My guess based on what I hear is WVU looks for a safeties coach and lets Scott grow in his role. Gibson has names in mind already, which makes me thinks it’s a for specific position and not a hybrid role.

Finally, Wickline would be the 22nd assistant to work for Holgorsen at WVU: Crook, Seider, Galloway, Gibson, Scott, Tall, Cogdell, DeForest, Brian Mitchell, Jeff Casteel, David Lockwood, Bill Kirelawich, Steve Dunlap, Daron Roberts, Bill Bedenbaugh, Robert Gillespie, Spavital, Erik Slaughter, Keith Patterson, Dawson and Bradley.