It’s homecoming this weekend at West Virginia University and for those of you in town I strongly urge you to do yourself a big favor and get down to High Street tonight to take in this year’s homecoming parade.
That’s because former WVU coach Bobby Bowden and his wife, Ann, have agreed to serve as parade grand marshals this year. The Bowdens spent 10 years in Morgantown from 1966-75 and are a part of our terrific Mountaineer football heritage.
I haven’t been to all of the homecoming parades through the years, but I try to make as many as I can, usually with my kids in tow.
I want them to feel the same sense of pride for West Virginia University that their parents have for their alma mater.
I spent 25 minutes on the phone with Coach Bowden last week to advance this weekend’s visit and he reminisced a great deal about his 10 years at West Virginia. There are many interesting aspects to Bowden’s coaching career here at WVU, from his adjustment to a completely different culture to coaching African-American athletes for the first time ever.
Keep in mind, Bowden came from the absolute worst city for race relations in the United States in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s – Birmingham, Alabama – yet Bowden was always comfortable around people of all races.
“At that time I had coached at Samford University, South Georgia College and Florida State and I had never coached a minority student,” Bowden recalled. “Everything was Caucasian. So there I go to West Virginia and I think we had three African-American players on our football team, but I never had a problem with that. Even when I was down South I loved other races as much as my own even though it was segregated.
“Then I go to West Virginia where it’s all integrated and I made the adjustment easy. It was easier for me, but it may have been tougher for the kids.”
Bowden’s decision to invite star player Garrett Ford over to his house to eat dinner with his family removed any doubts about Bowden’s sincerity among West Virginia’s African-American players.
“They don’t ask these questions any more but back in those days people would ask me, ‘Coach, how many black players do you got?’ My answer always was, ‘I don’t know, I don’t count. A player is a player.’ We increased (the number of African-Americans) while Jim Carlen was there and myself. And then when I came back to Florida State everything was integrated.”
Interesting stuff.
.jpg) |
| Buie |
It is clear through the first four games of the season that West Virginia’s offense is performing at a much higher level than last year. The Mountaineers rank third in the country this week in passing offense and 11th in total offense after facing two of the better defensive teams in the country in Alabama and Oklahoma.
Because WVU has gone up against defenses geared to stopping the run first (West Virginia is facing another one this weekend in Kansas, by the way), the Mountaineers have yet to really enjoy a breakout game on the ground. WVU’s best performance was the 251 yards it produced in week two against Towson.
More than that, though, is the fact that West Virginia has yet to have an explosive play from its deep set of running backs. The Mountaineers’ longest run from scrimmage so far this year is just 26 yards by backup
Andrew Buie; West Virginia’s runners are averaging just 3.4 yards per carry for the season.
With teams loading up the box to stop the running game, the passing game - particularly the outside passing game - has really benefited. Now, with WVU taking full advantage of that, let’s see if West Virginia’s runners can find more running lanes to break off a few big runs in the coming weeks.
“We’re going to have to be patient with the run, and we’re going to have to make some plays downfield,” said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen earlier this week. “Whenever you look at their games the big plays are what have ended up getting them defensively.”
Of course, last year in Lawrence West Virginia failed to make any big plays and the result was a 31-19 Kansas victory.
***
A lot of people are watching with great interest how several pending lawsuits in the courts right now are going to affect the NCAA in the coming years. The opinions cover the gamut on the impact those lawsuits will ultimately have, from not much at all to a dramatic alteration of athletic departments across the country caused by enormous budgetary pressures.
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby is one of those sounding the alarm that some Olympic sports could be in jeopardy if the full cost of attendance paid to student athletes at Power 5 conference schools is excessive.
“There is only so much money out there,” Bowlsby said last July at the Big 12’s annual football media day in Dallas. ‘Title IX doesn’t go away. It would hit men’s Olympic sports first, (and) no way would it be equally men and women.”
There are also some schools urging college presidents to overturn recently passed legislation that has given more autonomy to the higher profile schools in the Power 5 conferences.
The business of college sports can be tedious and confusing to the common fan, but many of the complex issues that are coming up in the courts today could have a dramatic impact on how business is conducted in the future.
There is simply too much money at stake.
Stay tuned.
***
 |
| Holmes |
It was nice to see
Juwan Staten and
Bria Holmes named preseason players of the year in the Big 12, which goes to show you the star power the WVU men’s and women’s teams have this year. This has never happened before at the same time, and I am not totally certain West Virginia has ever had a preseason player of the year in either men’s or women’s basketball.
The Southern Conference wasn’t picking preseason players of the year when Hot Rod Hundley, Jerry West and Rod Thorn were playing for the Mountaineers in the 1950s and early 1960s, and I don’t think the Atlantic 10 was ever organized enough back in the early 1980s to pick a preseason team was when Greg Jones played at WVU.
Jones was a two-time Atlantic 10 player of the year in 1982 and 1983.
Also, Rosemary Kosiorek was the Atlantic 10 player of the year in 1992 for the women, but I can’t confirm if she was the preseason player of the year, too.
Anybody out there know?
***
Earlier this week, Bob Huggins pointed out an interesting fact concerning Big 12 men’s basketball … the Big 12 has had the second most NBA draft selections (49) over the last seven years.
Numner one on the list is the ACC with 52 players drafted, but keep in mind the ACC, now at 16 schools, has six more teams than the Big 12. The smallest of the five power conferences is also second in total lottery picks with 27 and third in first round draft choices with 26.
That’s really impressive when you think about it.
“There are players (in the Big 12),” said Huggins. “In a lot of leagues you have layers. Let’s be honest. In the Big East we had 10 and then you six. And most leagues are that way.
“(The Big 12) is a harder league and I honestly didn’t know that,” added Huggins. “It was a different league when I was in it (back in 1997).”
***
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jay and Bonnie Jacobs, who lost their daughter Lisa Marie Quick to cancer late last month.
Lisa, 46, was a graduate of Grove City College and was an elementary school teacher for five years before choosing to home school her three children. Lisa loved the Washington Nationals, Washington Redskins, Washington Wizards and yes, the West Virginia Mountaineers.
I also received word that Harold Woods, a defensive back at West Virginia for Frank Cignetti in the late 1970s who later played in the Canadian Football League, has died. Woods, 58, was a WVU employee.
Our condolences also go out to Harold’s family.
***
Somehow I got on an email list for social media data and I now receive a report regarding mobile data sent out during home football games across AT&T’s network each week.
Well, according to this report, Morgantown, West Virginia, ranks third among the top five most popular places sending out mobile data during home football games.
What this means to me is that West Virginia fans are passionate about Mountaineer football, something that we already knew anyway!
Have a great weekend!
