MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Pat McAfee made it abundantly clear why he hasn’t returned to his alma mater over the last decade.
McAfee, who kicked and punted for West Virginia from 2005-08, spoke on his own talk show, “Pat McAfee Live,” this month about why he hasn’t made trips back to Morgantown as often as many think he should.
“It’s hard to go back to a place where you got 27 death threats, and any time you talk about them, someone tweets you, ‘If you would have made those two kicks, we’re national champs,’ ” McAfee said. “I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to go ahead and block that place out of my life forever.’ ”
On Dec. 1, 2007, McAfee missed 20- and 32-yard field goals against Pitt at Milan Puskar Stadium. A win over the Panthers would have sent WVU to the national championship game and instead, it was a 13-9 loss that dashed the hope of the school winning its first national title.
After, McAfee, along with former coach Rich Rodriguez, were easy targets to blame for the meltdown, and many fans took it a step too far, threatening physical violence on McAfee for missing two kicks that should have been chip shots.
McAfee had proven his entire career that both kicks were well within his means. As it stands today, he is the all-time points scorer in school history, with 384, first in extra points made (210) and third in field goals made (58).
He played one more season at West Virginia before being drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL draft, where he spent eight seasons as the team’s punter and earned two Pro Bowl invitations.
However, McAfee retired in 2017 following three knee operations and joined Barstool Sports as a contributor. Since, he’s become a prominent sports personality, working with DAZN, Westwood One Radio, FOX Sports and ESPN.
He is currently a color commentator for ESPN’s Thursday night college football, and is known for his slogan, “For the Brand,” which showcases his expertise in the kicking and punting games.
But with his growing stardom, McAfee has not shown an interest in West Virginia or the time spent there, and revealed his reasoning for the first time Sept. 18.
“I thought about disappearing after that game, so it was a terrible time in my life,” he said. “When it’s reminded to me every single time I talk about a school, you could see how I could build up a potential resentment toward a place. There are a lot of West Virginia fans who live and die with the West Virginia Mountaineers because there’s no professional teams in West Virginia, so I completely respect and appreciate that. But whenever I left, it wasn’t like a hero’s parade on the way out — it was actually the complete opposite. They couldn’t wait for me to get out of there.”
McAfee will be on the TV call for WVU’s Halloween night game at Baylor, but did say that time heals all wounds, and at some point, wants to make the trip back to Morgantown.
West Virginia coach Neal Brown wants to make that happen as soon as possible.
Brown made it clear during his introductory news conference in January that he wants all former players to feel welcome if they want to return to campus, and with McAfee’s success as a sports figurehead, he is an obvious candidate to try and welcome back with open arms.
“I wasn’t here during that time, so I really can’t speak of it,” Brown said Tuesday of the 2007 Pitt game. “I can say this — he’s done a tremendous with the ‘For the Brand,’ Thursday night football, a radio show — the dude’s killing it. I think he’s an important piece of our football history, and he, like anyone else who has a part in this football program, are welcome back any time. I look forward to the day he comes back. I hope he does, and maybe it’s a Thursday night football game or he has an open weekend to come for a game. He will be welcome and I think he’s done an incredible job putting himself in the position he’s in right now.”
I didn’t take long for McAfee to respond to Brown’s plea.
