Coaching Transitions
February 05, 2008 11:39 AM | General
February 5, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – History tells us that in years of a football coaching change not to expect miracles from the ensuing recruiting class. There have been five coaching changes at WVU since 1970 and the previous four coaches’ first-year recruiting efforts had mixed results.
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| Fullback Walter Easley signed with West Virginia during a coaching transition in 1975.
WVU Sports Communications photo |
Former Mountaineer assistant coach Donnie Young was directly involved in four of those coaching changes and he admits that the transition can impact recruiting.
“The big key in recruiting is the relationship the recruiting coach develops with an athlete,” Young said. “Then things change and all of the sudden it’s hard to develop that relationship, therefore, you’re recruiting is going to be affected.”
Bobby Bowden got a mid-January start in recruiting in 1970 after being named Jim Carlen’s successor following West Virginia’s victory over South Carolina in the Peach Bowl. Bowden had the benefit of keeping several Carlen assistants on board and managed to bring in a 25-player freshman class that year.
However, you probably only recall a handful of those players, namely running back Kerry Marbury, wide receiver Harry “Snake” Blake, Weirton Madonna defensive back John Harcharic, Paden City fullback Mike Nelson and Virginia wide receiver Bernie Kirchner.
Frank Cignetti also got a January start in recruiting in 1976 when Bowden left for Florida State. Like Bowden, Cignetti had the advantage of retaining several assistant coaches and they were able to land a 23-player recruiting class, the headliners of which were Charleston fullback Walter Easley, who pledged to the Mountaineers while Bowden was still coach, the McLee brothers Billy and Reggie, defensive tackle Al Pisula, wide receiver Cedric Thomas and junior college defensive back Harold Woods.
“You almost have to recruit kids individually,” Young said of getting a late start in recruiting. “Because of that the relationship in the area hasn’t been developed yet with the coaches, academic counselors and the high school administrators.”
Easley finished his career with 1,773 yards and 19 touchdowns and spent two seasons in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers. Pisula was a three-year starter at defensive tackle who finished his career with 116 tackles and nine tackles for losses.
Thomas was one of the most productive wide receivers in WVU history, catching 110 passes for 1,930 yards and 23 touchdowns. And Woods picked off two passes and accumulated 168 tackles during his two seasons at WVU before playing professionally in Canada.
However, with the exception of Easley, they spent their careers at WVU playing on losing teams.
In 1979, Don Nehlen was hired on Dec. 8 and he had three full weeks before Christmas to assemble a coaching staff. By the time they hit the recruiting trails hard in January the staff was intact and they were able to piece together a 26-player group that formed the nucleus of four straight bowl seasons from 1981-84.
“If you have some continuity with your staff that helps your recruiting,” Young said.
Nehlen’s first recruiting group in 1980 included defensive backs Tim Agee, Steve Newberry and Lind Murray, linebackers Jeff Deem, Steve Hathaway, Dave Preston and Rich Walters, wide receiver Rich Hollins, and offensive linemen Kurt Kehl and Billy Legg.
“We got some awful good kids that year,” Young recalled.
Following Nehlen’s retirement in 2000, Rich Rodriguez was hired in November and he had a month to assemble a coaching staff that eventually consisted of just one Nehlen holdover: Bill Stewart. Rodriguez honored several Nehlen commitments that wound up playing key roles on the 2006 Nokia Sugar Bowl team, most notably tight end Josh Bailey, and offensive linemen Travis Garrett and Garin Justice.
Rodriguez supplemented his first class with late commitments from defensive back Jahmile Addae, wide receiver Miquelle Henderson, defensive tackle Ernest Hunter and defensive back Anthony Mims. All became key contributors.
However, most of the class headliners that year like Marcus Campbell, Kelvin Dubouse, Danny Embick, Liam Ezekiel, Shane Graham, Brandon Hall, Robert Johnson, Keith Mills and Rod Olds either failed to make it to school or transferred to other programs.
Embick played one year at WVU in 2002 before transferring to Florida Atlantic, Ezekiel went to Northeastern where he became the all-time I-AA tackle leader, Robert Johnson caught 156 passes during his two seasons at Texas Tech in 2005 and 2006 following two years at junior college, and Olds wound up transferring to Jacksonville State.
In many respects, Bill Stewart is in a similar situation to what Bowden faced in 1970 when Bowden had a strong returning team coming off an impressive bowl game victory. Bowden had the luxury of having a veteran quarterback returning in Mike Sherwood and an experienced backfield that included Jim Braxton, Bob Gresham and Eddie Williams.
The same goes with Stewart, who has Heisman Trophy candidate Patrick White returning at quarterback, a game breaker in running back Noel Devine, and the entire starting offensive line back.
“There are some really good football players here,” Young said. “We’re just going to have to fit good football players into the right spots around them.”
Stewart and his assistant coaches will find out tomorrow how well they did on such short notice.
