It’s a very busy time of the year as we begin to transition from our fall to winter sports schedule.
I am pleased to see our football team rebound with back-to-back home victories over Texas Tech and Texas, and I am looking forward to a strong finish with games coming up at Kansas this weekend, at home against Iowa State on Saturday, November 28 and at Kansas State on Saturday, December 5, to conclude the regular season.
I particularly encourage you to circle the November 28 Iowa State date on your calendar to help us recognize our departing seniors by attending their final home game as Mountaineer players. This group has participated in two bowl games so far with the opportunity to play in a third bowl game later this year.
We have a web page available with a rundown of the potential bowl opportunities for Mountaineer fans to consider, so be sure to click on the link below as you begin to make your plans in the coming weeks:
Speaking of our fans, I want to commend everyone for the great hospitality we have shown our Big 12 friends during football games at Milan Puskar Stadium this year. I can’t begin to count the number of positive letters I have received from appreciative fans and the great experiences they have had while visiting our beautiful campus – many for the first time.
These letters only reaffirm my belief that we have the best fans in the country.
Well done Mountaineer Nation and keep up the exceptional hospitality!
And, here are some other items to consider as everyone begins preparing for the start of the holiday season with Thanksgiving on the horizon:
NCAA men’s basketball rule changes
- A link to an instructional video detailing all of the rule changes in college basketball this year was posted on our website Thursday morning and I highly encourage you to take a look at it.
This is an excellent resource as you follow the Mountaineers this year. There have been numerous rule changes this year in basketball and I believe this video is quite helpful in detailing them.
Women’s soccer NCAA championship
- Best of luck to Nikki Izzo-Brown’s women’s soccer team as it faces Northwestern on Friday night at 6 p.m. at Dick Dlesk Stadium in the second round of the NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship. If the women can get past the Wildcats on Friday night, a Sweet 16 round match against the winner of Minnesota-Loyola Marymount will take place on Sunday afternoon at Dick Dlesk Stadium.
It certainly is a great honor to host NCAA tournament matches in Morgantown and your strong support really energizes our players.
Let’s Go Mountaineers!
Graduation Success Rate scores
- A tip of the cap to our athletic teams continuing to perform well in the classroom. Recently, graduation success rates were released by the NCAA and our combined varsity athletic teams have a graduation success rate (GSR) score of 82 percent. This is the third-highest score since the NCAA first began collecting GSR data in 1995. Three of our sports – men’s soccer, gymnastics and women’s tennis – had 100-percent graduation success rate.
Additionally, we had four teams with graduation rates higher than the national average: women’s track/cross country (96 percent), women’s soccer (94 percent), volleyball (93 percent) and women’s basketball (92 percent).
This success truly demonstrates the caliber of student-athletes we are attracting to West Virginia University on a yearly basis and I am very proud of their achievements in the classroom!
You have my promise that we will continue to make the academic performance of our student-athletes a top priority within our department.
Until next time.
Let’s Go Mountaineers!
