A Fall to Recall
January 15, 2008 10:11 AM | General
January 15, 2008
 |
 |
 |
| LeBlanc | Izzo-Brown | Cleary |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Everybody knows about the unprecedented success of the West Virginia football team. The Mountaineer gridders won the Fiesta Bowl and finished No. 6 in the final polls, marking the third straight Top 10 finish for the program.
What the casual WVU fan may not know is that the other fall sports in Morgantown are performing on an equally unprecedented level.
With the completion of the fall sports season West Virginia University stands in seventh place in the U. S. Sports Academy Directors’ Cup standings. The ranking is the highest WVU has ever placed in the Directors’ Cup after the fall season, and the Mountaineers are the highest ranked school in the Big East.
“We had outstanding success in the fall, and finishing seventh in the current Directors’ Cup shows how well our teams performed,” Director of Athletics Ed Pastilong said. “It is also important to note that not only did our teams perform well on the field, but also in the classroom, and we are very proud of our accomplishments.”
A closer look at the accomplishments that took place this fall shows just how far the program has come under Pastilong’s direction.
Women’s cross country finished ninth at nationals, achieving the best finish in school history despite having a roster dominated by freshmen and sophomores.
“We’re ecstatic with the way our young ladies finished up the season at nationals. To finish ninth in the nation is a great stepping stone for our program,” Head Coach Sean Cleary said. “It’s very exciting to see the success we are having department wide.”
Women’s soccer posted an 18-5-2 record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the eighth consecutive year, while advancing to the Elite Eight for the first time ever. Head Coach Nikki Izzo-Brown, who started women's soccer from scratch 12 years ago, expects her program to continue to be a vital part of a strong WVU athletic department.
"It was a great fall for all West Virginia teams and the winter sports seem to have built off that momentum. To be in the top 10 says a lot about the commitment our administration has made to allow our teams to compete for championships,” Izzo-Brown said. “It is nice to be able to brag about the other sports on campus when talking to recruits or at speaking engagements.
“It is an exciting time for West Virginia athletics."
The future of soccer on the men’s side appears just as bright with Coach Marlon LeBlanc having just completed his second season in Morgantown. His team posted a 14-6-2 record on their way to a third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, advancing to the round of 16 for just the second time in school history.
“We had another big year and certainly raised the bar another level for this program. I think getting to the round of 16 certainly says a lot about the program and we’re certainly very excited about what the future holds for Mountaineer men’s soccer,” LeBlanc said.
Director Pastilong has often pointed to West Virginia’s association with the Big East Conference as a sort of demarcation point in the history of the program. The Big East has certainly helped West Virginia attract quality head coaches and top-notch student-athletes, but LeBlanc also credits much of the program's success to the leadership at the top.
“I think our leadership has to be commended for what we’re doing with our athletic programs here. Without good leadership there is no way we as a department can achieve everything we have achieved this year,” LeBlanc said.
“I’ve said it before. I think Ed Pastilong is the best athletic director in the country for what he does at West Virginia University,” LeBlanc said. “I think we are only halfway up the ladder of where we are trying to get to as a department.”
Halfway up the ladder seems a bit of an understatement considering the current level of success but that analogy is simply a firm characterization of how LeBlanc strives for excellence within his program and how Pastilong and others at the top continue to strive to sustain excellence throughout the entire athletic department.
To LeBlanc the last few years of athletic success at West Virginia University are not simply a flash-in-the-pan rise to national prominence, but rather it is just the tip of the iceberg in what he envisions will be many years of elite-level achievements from all sports at WVU.
“Everybody talks about this being the Golden Era of Mountaineer athletics and I disagree. This is just the beginning,” LeBlanc said. “Every year is going to be like this, just like it is for Stanford and Michigan and Ohio State and all those schools that are at the top of the standings every year. I think West Virginia is going to be a major player every year in all of our sports.”
