ORLANDO - It’s been 13 years since West Virginia and Miami last played on a regular basis, but there remains quite a bit a familiarity between the two storied football programs since they departed the Big East Conference.
However, these days most of the familiarity between the two is on the recruiting trail where West Virginia continues to rely on South Florida football players to supplement its roster.
The Mountaineers have spent the last 30 years recruiting the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area, beginning in 1984 when former coach Don Nehlen recruited running back Undra Johnson out of Stranahan High.
The signing of Johnson and the decision to concentrate on just a handful of schools in Dade and Broward counties paid immediate dividends in 1988 when West Virginia, with Johnson, linebacker Robert Pickett, cornerback Alvoid Mays and wide receivers Reggie Rembert, Calvin Phillips and Grantis Bell and others, ran the table and played Notre Dame in the 1989 Sunkist Fiesta Bowl in college football’s de facto national championship game.
That success emboldened Nehlen to put even more resources into his South Florida recruiting efforts and out of that came Glades Central High quarterback Ja’Juan Seider, who oversees West Virginia’s South Florida recruiting efforts today for Dana Holgorsen.
The very first question Holgorsen answered upon arriving at the team’s bowl practice facility last Friday was the impact this year’s Russell Athletic Bowl will have on West Virginia’s Florida recruiting.
“Only if you win,” Holgorsen said. “That is the only way you do that.”
Over the years, the fertile southern part of the state has helped West Virginia land noted NFL players Stephen Grant, John Browning, Barrett Green, J.T. Thomas, Geno Smith and Stedman Bailey, among many others.
And the success WVU has enjoyed in South Florida has opened up other parts of the Sunshine State as well. Edgewater High safety Karl Joseph was the No. 1 pick of Oakland in year’s NFL draft and is now a member of the playoff-bound Raiders, while Apopka High safety KJ Dillon is also playing in the league with the Houston Texans.
“Florida is important to us, there is no question about that,” said Holgorsen. “Central Florida has been really good to us in the past, getting guys like Karl Joseph and KJ Dillon - that’s been good; the whole state has been good to us.
“I think it’s a little overstated that you can get some things done in recruiting by playing in a bowl game, though,” Holgorsen added.
There are 14 players who list Florida as their permanent residence on this year’s West Virginia roster, including a handful of guys who will be in the starting lineup in this year’s Russell Athletic Bowl.
One of those Florida players who could see considerable playing time on Wednesday is senior cornerback Antonio Crawford, who began his college career at Miami.
In addition, there will be many former Mountaineer players from Florida in Camping World Stadium to watch Wednesday evening’s game, you can count on that.
Briefly:
* The WVU-Miami familiarity doesn’t end with Ja’Juan Seider and the other Mountaineer assistant coaches who will be spending the entire month of January going up against the Canes and the other schools who take the time to recruit the state.
Several Miami assistant coaches are familiar with West Virginia through other coaching stops. Safeties coach Ephraim Banda spent two years on Mack Brown’s staff at Texas and one season with Charlie Strong before moving on to Mississippi State last year.
Miami cornerback coach Mike Rumph is a familiar name to Mountaineer fans, the former first round pick one of the key defensive players on Miami’s national championship team in 2001.
Special teams coordinator/tight ends coach Todd Hartley got his start in the coaching business in 2008 as a member of Bill Stewart’s WVU staff. He moved on to Georgia and then to Marshall where he hooked up with longtime former Mountaineer assistant coach Doc Holliday. Hartley spent four years at Marshall before returning to Georgia to coordinate coach Mark Richt’s recruiting program there.
Offensive line coach Stacy Searels is familiar with West Virginia during his days coaching on Rick Minter’s staff at Cincinnati in the early 2000s, and then later when he coached on Mack Brown’s Texas staff when WVU joined the Big 12 in 2012.
Hurricane defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski hasn’t faced West Virginia during his stops at Toledo and Missouri, but Kuligowski and Dana Holgorsen are very familiar with each other during their days going against each other in the Big 12.
Wide receivers coach Ron Dugans coached at Louisville for the two seasons the Cardinals and Mountaineers faced each other while members of the Big East in 2010-11, while offensive coordinator/running backs coach Thomas Brown spent a year on Doc Holliday’s Marshall staff in 2013 - one year after the two schools quit playing.
Miami defensive coordinator Manny Diaz is a familiar name to Mountaineer fans as well. He was at Texas with Mack Brown when West Virginia defeated the Longhorns, 48-45, in Austin in 2012, and once again in 2013 when Texas pulled out a 47-40 win in overtime in Morgantown.
And finally, there is Miami coach Mark Richt, whose Georgia team faced Rich Rodriguez in the 2006 Nokia Sugar Bowl played in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
Of course, the Mountaineers jumped out to an early 28-point lead before holding on to upset the Bulldogs, 38-35.
Indeed, the familiarity runs pretty deep between these two former Big East combatants, despite the two schools last facing each other in the Orange Bowl in 2003.
* One of the all-time Miami Hurricane greats is a native of Charleston, West Virginia. That would be six-time NFL Pro Bowl offensive guard Dennis Harrah, who was an All-American player for the Hurricanes in 1974.
West Virginia players stretch during Sunday afternoon's practice at The First Academy in Orlando, Florida. All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo.
* Today’s team itinerary includes a visit to Give the Kids the World Resort, a local Orlando facility that houses families for children seeking long-term medical attention, followed by a light practice later this afternoon. The players will be treated to a Best Buy shopping spree followed by dinner at a local Buffalo Wild Wings.
Athletic department staff from both schools will attend a Russell Athletic Bowl VIP Party this evening.
Tuesday’s team schedule will include the Russell Athletic Bowl news conference followed by the bowl’s annual Kickoff Luncheon to be held at the Rosen Shingle Creek resort.
* According to Matt Wells, senior associate athletic director for external affairs, “more than 7,000” of West Virginia’s Russell Athletic Bowl allotment of 8,000 tickets have been accounted for so far.
Those wishing to purchase Russell Athletic Bowl tickets through West Virginia University can do so by logging on to
WVUGAME.com or by calling toll-free
1-800-WVU GAME.
The website will accept ticket orders through the end of the day on Tuesday.
* Just walking past me down in hallway in the team hotel as I write this is veteran WVU athletic trainer Dave Kerns, who has been tending to the medical needs of Mountaineer players since 1994.
This will be Dave’s 19th bowl game working for West Virginia University - or more than half of the total number of bowl games the Mountaineers have participated in during 125 years of football at the school.
He has worked for Don Nehlen, Rich Rodriguez, Bill Stewart and now Dana Holgorsen during his outstanding tenure at West Virginia.
Michael Fragale, West Virginia’s long-time senior associate athletic director for communications, will be handling his 22nd bowl game for the Mountaineers dating back to the 1989 Sunkist Fiesta Bowl.
Now that’s impressive dedication right there!
* For those who pay attention to these things, Miami continues to be a slight favorite to win this year’s Russell Athletic Bowl, although West Virginia has had some success through the years facing bowl opponents in their home state.
Last year, West Virginia defeated Arizona State, 43-42, in the Cactus Bowl game played in Phoenix, Arizona, and eight years ago the Mountaineers topped North Carolina, 31-30, in the Meineke Bowl played in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Perhaps the biggest bowl victory in school history occurred in 2006 when WVU defeated Georgia in their own backyard in Atlanta in the 2006 Nokia Sugar Bowl.
The Sugar Bowl was moved to Atlanta that year because of damage to the New Orleans Superdome caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Current defensive coordinator Tony Gibson and defensive line coach Bruce Tall were assistant coaches on Rich Rodriguez’s Mountaineer staff that season.
* Be sure to check out today's Russell Athletic Bowl Report, to be posted later this afternoon. Today's report is presented by Five Star Chevy Dealers.
