A Golden Age has dawned in Morgantown. With both football and men’s basketball now among the national elites, Andrew Stacy’s first column for Atomic Sports Media explains why it’s never been better to be a Mountaineer.
In the past five years the West Virginia University football and basketball programs have gone from fearing the future to embracing it.
Don Nehlen, one of only 17 NCAA football coaches to win 200 career games, stepped down as the West Virginia University football head coach in 2000. It seemed the WVU football program was never going to be the same again.
Two years later the school’s athletic program lost another prominent figure in Gale Catlett – a man who had coached the WVU Men‘s Basketball Team for 24 years. Catlett is one of only 45 NCAA Basketball coaches to get to 500 wins. Seemingly, losing two coaches of that caliber would pose a major setback for any program. This, however, was not the case for the Mountaineers.
In 2000, Rich Rodriguez a WVU alumni and former defensive back for the Mountaineers was named the school’s 31st head football coach. Rodriguez is considered an offensive genius by many because of his no-huddle, spread and run style. Rodriguez’s success at WVU has already been noticed and even copied by many of the top football programs in the nation.
Schools have sent their coaching staffs to Morgantown just to hear coach Rodriguez discuss his offensive style; perennial national power Ohio State being the most recent of many. In just five seasons Rodriguez has taken his Mountaineers to the top of college football. In 2005, the Mountaineers posted a record of 11-1 overall – including 7-0 in the conference – were crowned Big East Champions and were victorious in the 2006 Nokia Sugar Bowl.
The team finished the season ranked fifth in the nation. And the West Virginia campus is now buzzing with excitement for the 2006-2007 season as many analysts have the Mountaineers in the preseason top five – some as high as number one.
As if the Mountaineer Maniacs didn’t have enough of a reason to burn couches, the men’s basketball team has also come into their own. In the 2004-2005 season, they were the Cinderella story of the NCAA tournament with wins over Creighton, Wake Forest, and Texas Tech.
The team almost made it to its first Final Four appearance, before coming up short in an overtime loss to Louisville. This year the Mountaineers have posted a 20-9 record overall, 11-4 in conference, a mark good enough for third in the Big East.
Most of the team’s success can be credited to Coach John Beilein and his feared 1-3-1 defense. Having coached basketball at every level (all for significant periods of time), Coach Beilein came to WVU after the retirement of Gale Catlett in 2002. He currently ranks 22nd among active coaches in victories with 502.
All that time has given him a chance to fine-tune his 1-3-1 defense and fundamental-focused offense. However, not all of the credit can be given to the coach. The players are the ones who put it in motion; they define the word team. Unselfishness and heart is why this team is so much fun to watch. It’s as if they’re playing to music, they seem so fluid. With March Madness right around the corner, the Mountaineer faithful are on the edge of their seats with anticipation.
I have heard it said that this is the golden age of WVU sports. With the success of these teams it is not hard to see why. After all, this continued success brings national attention and national attention brings recruits.
So with good foundations in place, both their coaches and their history steeped in tradition, the WVU men’s football and basketball programs have a bright future ahead of them. A future covered in Blue and Gold.