Pitt's Loss was WVU's Gain with Logan
September 17, 2014 10:08 PM | General
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| Mike Logan is one of eight greats being inducted into the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame this weekend. | |
| WVU Athletic Communications photo |
Between the football, baseball and volleyball games that he’s planning to watch his children play, Logan also has to figure out how to fit in a little ceremony that he has been invited to attend prior to this weekend’s West Virginia-Oklahoma football game.
That ceremony, of course, being the 2014 West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame induction festivities taking place inside the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility prior to kickoff.
Logan is one of eight West Virginia University greats in this year’s induction class that also includes high-flying forward Lester Rowe, basketball coaching legend George King, professional golfer Mike Krak and world champion shooter Mike Anti.
As for Logan, he was one of the key players on West Virginia’s No. 1-rated defense in 1996.
Although nagging injuries limited him to just 37 career games at WVU, the McKeesport, Pa., product managed to produce 140 career tackles, 18 pass breakups, eight interceptions and a pair of fumble recoveries during a four-year career that saw West Virginia make bowl game appearances in three of those years, including a trip to the USF&G Sugar Bowl to play Florida in 1994.
It was Logan’s key fumble recovery late in the Boston College game that helped preserve West Virginia’s second undefeated, untied regular season in school history in 1993 that made possible the Mountaineers’ trip to New Orleans.
“We were grinding it out,” Logan recalled earlier this week. “The undefeated season was on the line and it was looking grim, but there was just an aura on the sideline that we were going to pull through somehow, some way.”
With the Mountaineers trailing 14-9 late in the game, a concerned Don Nehlen overheard some of his players, including Logan, talking confidently about getting the football back and scoring a touchdown to win the game.
“I remember I was talking to Charles Emanuel and Vann Washington on the sideline and I said, ‘We’ve got this game.’ Coach Nehlen looked at me and he said, ‘You better hurry then because time is running out!’” recalled Logan. “It was time for somebody to make a play.”
Logan was the guy who made the play, scooping up a David Green fumble as BC was trying to run out the clock and putting West Virginia in a position to score the go-ahead touchdown. Logan also sealed the game with an interception in the end zone to finish off the Eagles.
“That was a special game that I will always remember and cherish,” said Logan.
In the early 1990s, West Virginia was able to make a living off of exceptional Pittsburgh area players that Pitt either didn’t recruit or couldn’t recruit. Logan was one of those great Steel City players who fell into the Pitt Didn’t Recruit category.
“(Paul) Hackett was the coach in ’92 when I graduated from high school and they didn’t offer me a scholarship,” he said. “They actually wanted Jason Chavis, who was an all-state linebacker on my team at McKeesport and I remember (Pitt assistant coach) Sal Sunseri coming up to the school and recruiting Jason and offering him a full ride and they really didn’t have any interest in me.”
Logan, born on the city’s South Side, was a Pittsburgher through and through who grew up wanting to play for his hometown school. When that didn’t happen he was forced to go a different route.
“When they didn’t recruit me I figured I would go right down I-79 to their biggest rival and compete against them year in and year out,” Logan said.
And compete he did.
During his freshman season in 1993 West Virginia defeated the Panthers 42-21. As a sophomore in 1994 the Mountaineers came back to beat Pitt, 47-41, in Pittsburgh.
In 1995, the Mountaineers blanked the hapless Panthers, 21-0, in Morgantown and then during his senior year, in 1996, Logan was able to get his hometown team, 34-0, in the ’96 opener at Pitt Stadium. Four games, four wins for Mike Logan against the lame Panthers.
“Fortunately during my four years at West Virginia I didn’t lose a game against them,” he proudly points out.
“When I was coming out of high school there were a lot of local guys who were talking about going to Pitt,” he continued. “We talked about this when we were getting recruited for the Big 33 game and a lot of guys were just looking at the Pitt program, looking as some of the players they had on their team then, and decided to go elsewhere. I think it worked out pretty well for everyone, but you still kind of felt bad for the guys who went to Pitt and didn’t have the success that the rest of us enjoyed who didn’t go there.”
When Logan arrived at West Virginia in 1993 he was part of what is still considered the best defensive backfield class ever signed at WVU.
In addition to Logan, that class included longtime NFL cornerback Aaron Beasley and Florida safeties Charles Emanuel and the late Vann Washington, two other players who spent some time in the league.
“They ended up calling us the Four Amigos,” said Logan. “I still keep in touch with Aaron and Charles, and I also still talk to Vann’s brother (Charles) after Vann passed away. We made it a point to say that we wanted to be one of the best defensive backfield classes that ever came to West Virginia and we made it a point to always remain close in each other’s lives.”
Despite having an exceptional college career, Logan believes he could have done even more if he could have remained 100 percent healthy.
“When you look back you hate to say that you regret anything about your career, especially when you go on to play in the NFL, are a part of a Super Bowl championship team and being inducted into the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame, but when I look back I felt like I cheated some of my fans not being able to play at my full potential, or 100-percent healthy at times during my career here,” he said.
Logan also points to a pair of losses to Miami and Syracuse in consecutive games during his senior season in 1996 as two of his biggest disappointments while at WVU.
“(The Miami game) was definitely the toughest loss to deal with in my Mountaineer career,” he admitted. “The Syracuse game afterward was one of those games that sticks in my mind because I felt like as a team we were still stuck in a rut. We were sulking over losing to Miami and we just didn’t show up to play.”
A season that appeared headed toward another memorable finish instead ended up in Jacksonville, Florida in the Gator Bowl following the Mountaineers’ blowout defeat against the Orange.
“As one of the leaders on that team at that time that was disappointing to me because you want to be able to show the content of your character and who you are as a football team and we got completely blown out,” said Logan. “It was almost like we didn’t want to be there.”
Following his collegiate career, Logan spent 10 productive seasons in the NFL, the first four in Jacksonville playing for Tom Coughlin and the last six in Pittsburgh playing for Bill Cowher.
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A lot of players didn’t like playing for Coughlin because of his drill-instructor style of coaching, but Logan thought his four seasons spent with Coughlin helped him become a much better football player later on in his career.
“At the time I didn’t understand his coaching style and why he drove us the way he did but as I got into my seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th year in my career, I was able to sit back and say that I could take some things Coach Coughlin taught me as a young man down in Jacksonville and carry them on into my life,” Logan admitted.
As beneficial as those four seasons were professionally for Logan in Jacksonville, the six seasons he spent in Pittsburgh were easily the highlight of his professional career.
Logan grew up in a family full of Steelers fans and playing for Pittsburgh fulfilled a lifelong dream of his.
“My grandfather was one of the ultimate Steelers fans in my family,” said Logan. “He bled Black and Gold and he actually worked at the J&L Steel Mill that is now the site of where the Steelers’ practice facility is on the South Side. You can only imagine the feeling I had playing for that organization. My grandfather wiped sweat off his brow on the exact site where I practice every day so I got an emotional rush every time I was able to go out on that field and be a part of something special that affect my family generations before.”
Today, Logan remains active in the community through an educational outreach program he initiated this year that teaches life skills to student-athletes in the Pittsburgh public school system.
He also coaches a little football at University Prep in the Hill District while doing some commentary for Trib Live Media, the Pittsburgh Power indoor professional football team, as well as some college football analysis for Root Sports.
Logan was actually in Morgantown a few weekends ago to call West Virginia’s game against Towson.
“The memories I have of Morgantown seem confused right now,” he joked. “There is so much new development going on. The stadium looks beautiful. There are a lot of different roads and I kind of got confused when I got over by Ruby Memorial Hospital trying to figure things out, but it all looks good.”
When Logan got to the stadium he ran into a few Mountaineer fans asking him if he was still able to suit up and play a couple of quarters. Logan smiled and shook his head.
“Nah, but I’ve got a couple of quarters in my pocket, ” he laughed. “That’s about it, man.”
Now 40, Logan is thankful for all of the blessings he’s had in his life, from his wife, Jennifer, to his children Trey (16), Mikayla (14) and Mikhi (12), to his father Mike Harber, a KDKA photographer who was able to closely follow his son’s football career – one that began in Pittsburgh, moved down to Morgantown, West Virginia, and then ended up right back where it all started.
“It’s a storybook,” said Logan. “It’s one of those things you fantasize about as a young child and for me to be able to accomplish what I was able to accomplish I definitely cherish and appreciate all of my blessings. If you really think about the percentages of being able to play 10 years in the NFL, to be able to play for your hometown team, to be able to play in a Super Bowl, and then to be able to win a Super Bowl with your hometown team – a team you grew up idolizing - it really is a fantasy. These things really sit in now that my career is over.
“It all worked out for me,” Logan concluded. “I couldn’t have asked for anything better. The road that I traveled was an adverse one with trials and tribulations, but it was the road that I needed to travel to get me to where I needed to be.”
Saturday’s WVU Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremonies are slated to begin at 4:30 p.m.
All Mountaineer fans are invited to attend.
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