MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Harvey Dent said it best in Christopher Nolan’s film “The Dark Knight”: “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”
I felt that that movie quote was prudent to my current situation. Not very many of you readers have heard of me, but I do work for The Dominion Post — almost exclusively as a copy editor for the sports team. However, I was given permission to use a recent post from my personal blog as a column for the paper. Before I get into why that movie quote is pertinent to my current situation, I must give a bit of a backstory and mention that I was officially conferred last week and will be graduating from West Virginia University’s Graduate Sport Management program. This will likely be the final time I graduate from college.
The reason why I chose that movie quote above is because I’ve become the villain for the West Virginia athletic department in my two different stints and five non-consecutive years as a WVU student. I arrived on WVU’s campus in August of 2012 to complete my undergraduate degree as a sophomore transfer from community college — graduating with a degree in journalism in 2015. After a few unlucky years in the workforce, I decided to return to WVU to attend grad school. Why is this relevant? Because in my years as a WVU student, the “Big Three” sports (football, men’s basketball and baseball) have struggled significantly. And I have reason for hope that it could turn around now that I’m no longer a WVU student.
This is my magnum opus.
WVU Football
| When I haven’t been a WVU student (2001-11; 2015-17): | My five non-consecutive years as a WVU student (2012-14; 2018-19): | |
| Record: 123-55 (.691) | Record: 31-31 (.500) | |
| 10-win seasons: 5 | 10-win seasons: 0 | |
| Bowl appearances: 13 | Bowl appearances: 3 | |
| Major bowl wins: 3 | Major bowl wins: 0 |
I started following the WVU football program when my family started taking me to home games when Rich Rodriguez was in his first season as head coach back in 2001. I have several fond memories of throwing the pigskin around with my brother and my grandfather in the Blue Lot just outside of the stadium — back then, it was still called Mountaineer Field. In the 19 football seasons that I’ve witnessed, there has been no greater disparity in the win-loss column than the seasons that took place in the years I was a WVU student compared to when I was a non-WVU student.
When I was a non-WVU student from 2001-11, I witnessed arguably the “Golden Years” of the program’s history — which produced an overall record of 98-41, including four 10-win seasons, six Big East titles and three major bowl wins. I got to watch great players like Pat White, Steve Slaton, Rasheed Marshall, Quincy Wilson, Adam “Pacman” Jones, Grant Wiley, Dan Mozes, Pat McAfee, etc. From there, it went to the Bill Stewart era, which had its share of ups and downs (mostly frustration). Then came Year 1 of the Dana Holgorsen era, which started off with a bang — winning 10 games, including a 70-33 rout over Clemson in the 2012 Orange Bowl.
Expectations were sky high for the football team when I arrived on WVU’s campus — which was coming off its dominating Orange Bowl win and had just moved to the Big 12, and boasted players like Geno Smith, Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey. The season was a disaster, though. The team won its first five games, but went on to lose six of its last eight games. It didn’t get any better my junior year, either, in 2013 as the team finished 4-8 after losing all its good players from the previous season. My final football season of undergrad came in 2014, which was a pleasant surprise of a season, but still ended with a record of 7-6. The three WVU football seasons during my time in undergrad produced an overall record of 18-20. That was less than ideal considering how high the expectations were when I first stepped foot on campus as a student.
It got a smidge better after I graduated from undergrad — finishing with a record of 25-14 in the 2015-17 seasons, including one 10-win season in 2016. I decided to go back to WVU for grad school in 2018. It might as well have been a carbon copy of when I first became a WVU student in 2012. The team had some great players like Will Grier, David Sills V, Gary Jennings, David Long, etc. Once again, expectations were sky high, but once again it ended in disappointment as the team lost its last three games after an 8-1 start. After the bowl game, Holgorsen decided to leave for the Houston opening and the school hired Neal Brown to be the next head coach. Despite the excitement around hiring Brown, the program lost a ton of production from 2018 and the 2019 team struggled because of that — finishing 5-7. In my two stints as a WVU student, the football program had two losing seasons and never won more than eight games. It was a completely different experience than when I grew up watching the program, and even the three seasons after I graduated from undergrad.
WVU Men’s Basketball
| When I haven’t been a WVU student (2001-12; 2015-18): | In my five non-consecutive years as a WVU student (2012-15; 2018-20): | |
| Record: 312-165 (.654) | Record: 91-76 (.545) | |
| NCAA tournament appearances: 7 | NCAA tournament appearances: 1 (likely would’ve been 2 if not for the COVID-19 pandemic) | |
| NCAA tournament record: 12-7 (.631) | NCAA tournament record: 2-1 (.667) |
Like football, I started following the WVU men’s basketball program in the 2001-02 season. It was Gale Catlett’s last season as head coach of the Mountaineers. I still remember my parents taking me to Knoxville, Tenn. that season to watch WVU play Tennessee — which was a WVU win after a Jonathan Hargett last-second shot. After an 8-20 campaign, Catlett was replaced by John Beilein as head coach. That’s when the program really took off. I remember the 2004-05 and 2005-06 teams fondly, which included Mike Gansey, Kevin Pittsnogle, Joe Herber, Patrick Beilein, J.D. Collins, Tyrone Sally, D’Or Fischer, etc. Both of those teams made deep runs in the NCAA tournament — the loss to Texas in the 2006 Sweet 16 after Kenton Paulino’s last-second shot was my first taste of heartache as a WVU fan. The following year, John Beilein decided to leave for Michigan after guiding WVU to an NIT championship, which brought Bob Huggins home.
Huggins — a fellow WVU alumnus — became head coach for the 2007-08 season and guided WVU to the Sweet 16 in his first year. Two years later, my favorite WVU men’s basketball team to ever be assembled, which included Da’Sean Butler, Devin Ebanks, Kevin Jones, Darryl “Truck” Bryant, Wellington Smith, John Flowers, Joe Mazzulla, etc., took the court. That team won the Big East tournament title and shocked the nation in the Elite 8 of the NCAA tournament by knocking off Kentucky to clinch a spot in the Final 4. I remember going to Indianapolis and sitting next to my grandfather to cheer that team on — only to have my heart ripped out by Duke. The two seasons that followed weren’t as memorable, but the program still managed to earn NCAA tournament berths.
Needless to say that when I arrived on campus in 2012, my expectations were pretty high for the men’s basketball program. Like what happened with the football team that same year, the season was a complete and total disappointment. It was the first losing season I’d endured in men’s basketball in nine years. The following year wasn’t much better — earning just a 17-14 record and an NIT berth, but at least we had Juwan Staten to watch. In my final year of undergrad, Huggins finally got the program back on track. That season was the beginning of the Jevon Carter and “Press Virginia” era of the program. Looking back, that was a fun season because that team exceeded expectations and managed to get to the Sweet 16. After I graduated from undergrad, the men’s basketball team stayed strong the following three seasons — posting a record of 80-29 and clinching two spots in the Sweet 16.
Once again — just like with football — when I arrived back on campus to attend grad school, my expectations for the men’s basketball program were at an all-time high. I thought for sure the Mountaineers were poised to win another 20 games or more and get back to the NCAA tournament, but the loss of Carter proved to be too much. The season was a total disaster — posting a record of 15-21 and making an appearance in the CBI (whatever the hell that is). Believe it or not, there was some good to come out of that team, though — mainly the trio of freshmen Jordan McCabe, Emmitt Matthews Jr. and Derek Culver. All three of those freshmen returned this past season, and the program added 5-star recruit Oscar Tshiebwe, which put my expectations fairly high. The expectations were met as the program finished last season 21-10 and, according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, was slated to make an appearance in the NCAA tournament before the COVID-19 pandemic happened.
WVU Baseball
| When I haven’t been a WVU student (2016-18): | In my five non-consecutive years as a WVU student (2013-15; 2019-20): | |
| Record: 101-75 (.573) | Record: 137-106 (.563) | |
| NCAA tournament appearances: 1 | NCAA tournament appearances: 1 |
I want to point out that I’ve only started following the WVU baseball program since it hired Randy Mazey to be head coach in 2012. I was raised in a house that didn’t pay attention to the WVU baseball program because it was a program that historically had not had much success. However, hiring Mazey, the construction of the new Monongalia County Ballpark and the move to the Big 12 brought room for optimism. Mazey’s first year as head coach came the following year in 2013, which was the spring semester of my first year as a WVU student. No one knew what to expect in Mazey’s first season, but the Mountaineers performed admirably — posting a record of 33-26 and finishing above .500 in Big 12 play. After a bunch of production returned from that 2013 team, the expectations became pretty high in 2014. Once again, it was met with disappointment (sensing a pattern yet?) as the Mountaineers finished just 28-26. After losing some of the better players from that team, the program took a slight step back in 2015 — finishing 27-27 — in my last semester of undergrad.
Sure enough, the program started clicking as soon as I left the school. The Mountaineers got hot at the tail end of the 2016 season — finishing 36-22 and losing a heart breaker in the Big 12 Championship — but they just barely missed the cut for the NCAA tournament. The WVU baseball program redeemed itself the following season in 2017 and earned the program’s first NCAA tournament berth in 21 years. That team ended up facing Wake Forest in the regional final, but didn’t quite have the horses to pull off an upset and move on to Super Regionals. After losing a few key players, the 2018 season was plagued with injuries and misfortune — finishing 29-27 — and missing the NCAA tournament.
I’ll be the first one to admit I’m no expert when it comes to baseball — particularly college baseball. So when I returned to school, my expectations weren’t that high for the 2019 season. Well, it happened to be WVU’s best season in program history — posting a record of 38-22 and hosting an NCAA tournament regional. This season was off to an 11-5 start and the team seemed poised to get back to the NCAA tournament before the coronavirus happened. Fortunately, some key players who were supposed to graduate this year could be back for next season after receiving an extra year of eligibility from the NCAA. I think you can argue that I’m reaching by saying the WVU baseball program is worse when I’m a WVU student, considering the program had its best season when I was in grad school. However, the program’s win percentage is still worse when I’ve been a student compared to when I’ve been a non-student. I’m going to count it anyway.
The future
My graduation is not only a happy moment for me, but it should be a happy moment for all WVU sports fans across the country. The “Big Three” sports have struggled too much recently, and the only reason I can figure why is because my time as a WVU student overlapped the time frame and I’ve somehow brought some sort of bad luck to the athletic department. Any non-WVU fans, maybe even the annoying super pessimistic WVU fans, might be reading this and think I’m a homer and am lying to myself thinking it’ll get better now that I’m not a WVU student anymore. Well, I think that’s where you’re wrong. The future is bright for all of the “Big Three” sports.
The football program is returning as many as 17 starters and 37 players on the two-deep depth chart from a team that, believe it or not, exceeded expectations by winning five games last year. It was also a few bad breaks away from being bowl eligible. The football program also signed a top 30-40 recruiting class (depending on the website) for 2020, and is off to a good start for the 2021 recruiting class. The men’s basketball program is returning nine scholarship players from last year’s team that would’ve made the NCAA tournament and signed a top 50 recruiting class in the process. The baseball program was going to return a lot of production from this year’s team, including a young pitching corps. But now because of COVID-19, some key 2020 seniors are eligible to return next year. On top of that, Mazey has signed the program’s highest-ranked recruiting class two of the last three years.
To Mountaineer Nation, I want to apologize for the plague that I’ve clearly brought to the athletics department of our beloved university in my five non-consecutive years as a WVU student. We were in the thick of the “Golden Years” of WVU athletics and I really mucked it up by deciding to attend my dream school not once, but TWICE. Those that know how much I love WVU, the state of West Virginia and the city of Morgantown know how much it pains me to see our “Big Three” sports struggle, and I know how much WVU sports mean to our fanbase. In retrospect, and in light of the nation’s current circumstance, it seems fitting that my strange college tenure ends with the coronavirus. I’m excited to leave, though, considering the proven track record of the “Big Three” sports doing well when I’m not a WVU student. It couldn’t come at a better time because the future is very bright in those sports. I look forward to sharing the upcoming journey with you guys.
Let’s Go Mountaineers!
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