Big Shoes
September 11, 2008 10:05 AM | General
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| Bill Stewart |
There is no question football coach Bill Stewart has a difficult assignment in front of him maintaining a West Virginia program that reached unparalleled heights under Rich Rodriguez from 2005-07. It is a task never before faced by a Mountaineer football coach.
Don Nehlen arrived in 1980 following the depths of four losing seasons from 1976-79. Rich Rodriguez and Gene Corum were both WVU graduates following coaching legends Pappy Lewis and Nehlen, whose coaching tenures had reached their apexes years before.
Bobby Bowden inherited a strong WVU football team in 1970 following the departure of Jim Carlen. The Mountaineers were coming off a Peach Bowl triumph in 1969 and a Top 20 national ranking for the first time in 14 years during Carlen’s final campaign, but Carlen's West Virginia program was nowhere near the level that it is today.
Therefore this question: has there ever been a West Virginia coach put in a similar situation as Bill Stewart?
The answer is yes.
In 1960, assistant coach George King took over the Mountaineer basketball program after Fred Schaus’ incredible six-year run from 1954-60. Schaus had built West Virginia into a perennial Top 20 power that reached the national championship game in 1959 with All-America forward Jerry West.
Schaus, like Rodriguez, was fiery and demonstrative and was feared by his players and respected by opposing coaches. Schaus, like Rodriguez, had taken over a good program and made it a great one. Schaus, like Rodriguez, was considered an innovator in the coaching profession. And Schaus, like Rodriguez, was young and ambitious. Schaus had been pursued by other schools during his six-year tenure at West Virginia and he turned down a lucrative offer from the University of Washington to remain at WVU in 1958 when WVU promised to consider building a new basketball arena which wound up being 12 years in the making.
Of course Schaus left the school on amiable terms to coach the Los Angeles Lakers and he later came back in 1981 as athletic director. He also helped facilitate the hiring of the very capable George King.
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| George King |
King, like Stewart, was a native of West Virginia and attended a small West Virginia college (King went to Morris Harvey while Stewart attended Fairmont State). And King, just like Stewart, was a departure in style from his predecessor. Where Schaus was intense and demanding King incorporated a more easygoing approach. King rarely raised his voice and he made it a point never to show up any of his players. Stewart, too, is a player’s coach. He says it is possible to get his message across without cussing them out.
By almost any reasonable standard George King had an outstanding five-year coaching tenure at West Virginia, averaging 20 wins per season and winning three Southern Conference titles in 1962, 1963 and 1965. He coached one of the finest players in school history in Rod Thorn and his winning personality made him an outstanding recruiter. King’s last recruiting class included prep All-American Ron “Fritz” Williams. Stewart, too, is showing the ability to be a great recruiter.
Yet despite his impressive record George King fell short of his predecessor in the eyes of most Mountaineer fans and he eventually left for Purdue following the 1965 season.
“He realized there was no way he could replace Fred Schaus,” said Eddie Barrett, West Virginia’s former sports information director. “It was too big a pair of shoes to fill.”
King’s coaching postscript while at Purdue included a trip to the NCAA finals against UCLA in 1969 with All-American guard Rick Mount.
This is not to suggest that Bill Stewart’s West Virginia coaching career will take a similar course as King’s. I’m only suggesting that the two share the same pair of shoes – which happen to be very big ones.
