MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Former WVU football assistant and Hall-of-Famer Donnie Young died Tuesday just four days after his 77th birthday. Young worked in several capacities with the Mountaineers from 1970-2012 and also played at WVU in the mid-1960s.
Beginning under Bobby Bowden as the freshman coach, Young, a native of Clendenin, worked under six head coaches — Bowden, Frank Cignetti, Don Nehlen, Rich Rodriguez, Bill Stewart and Dana Holgorsen.
Due to the Marshal football program’s need to play freshman following the 1970 plane crash, freshman were allowed to play varsity beginning in 1971, so Bowden promoted Young to linebackers coach.
Under Cignetti, Young remained on board as assistant to the head coach and was also the defensive coordinator in 1977. Under Nehlen, Young was the recruiting coordinator for 13 years from 1980-92 and returned as the linebackers coach in 1993 — an 11-1 season that saw the Mountaineers claim the Big East title and play in the Sugar Bowl.
Young helped build stout WVU defenses under Nehlen in the late 1990s, but took an administrative position in 2001 under Rich Rodriguez as the Varsity Club Coordinator.
Then, under Bill Stewart, Young was assistant to the head coach once again before moving back to an admin role under Holgorsen, where he spent one year before retiring in 2012.
While Young was on the field at WVU, the Mountaineers had two undefeated regular seasons (1988 and 1993). They also won seven Big East championships, participated in 25 bowl games, won eight or more games 22 times, won nine or more games 14 times and 10 or more games six times. Young coached nine All-East or All-Big East players and one consensus All-American.
Young was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.
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