West Virginia is taking its spring football game on the road this year.
On Saturday, the Mountaineers will play their annual Gold-Blue Game at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs instead of at Milan Puskar Stadium. The move was necessitated by the crown removal and stadium turf installation project that is close to wrapping up.
“The Greenbrier is going to be spectacular,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. “It is going to be great for West Virginia University in general. We are really excited about getting down there.”
West Virginia had two successful spring football practices at The Greenbrier last year and this year’s spring game coincides with the WVU Cancer Center’s 31st annual Spring Gala, also taking place at The Greenbrier this weekend.
Gates at The Greenbrier Sports Performance Center will open at 10 a.m. on Saturday and parking is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. For your convenience, parking at Lot U is encouraged - Downtown White Sulphur Springs. Limited shuttle service will be available from Lot V - Hart’s Run. ADA parking will be located at The Greenbrier Sports Performance Center.
All fans are encouraged to arrive early to alleviate congestion, not only with parking but advancing through the gates and finding their seats. Everyone is encouraged to purchase their tickets in advance online at greenbrier.com/wvu and bring their printed receipt with them to the gate.
Tickets for this year’s Gold-Blue Game are $10 and net proceeds from this year’s game will once again benefit WVU Medicine Children’s.
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The Gold and Blue rosters were announced earlier this week; the Gold team is comprised of Mountaineer offensive players while the Blue team is made up of West Virginia’s defensive players. A modified scoring system will be utilized once again this year to award the defense for its plays.
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The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG (Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Jed Drenning) will provide live radio coverage of Saturday’s Gold-Blue game on select affiliates throughout the state and also online via leanStream and the mobile app TuneIn.
Air time is scheduled for 11:30 a.m.
Highlights, photos, statistics and a game story will be posted on WVUsports.com later Saturday afternoon and a game recap with interviews, analysis and highlights will make up next week’s Dana Holgorsen Show, airing on Nexstar affiliates throughout the state.
Check your local listings for air times.
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This is not the first time West Virginia has taken its spring football game on the road. In the early 1970s, former West Virginia coach Bobby Bowden used to play a spring football game at Crawford Field in St. Albans to benefit the Mountaineer Scholarship Fund.
The Gold-Blue Game played in St. Albans on April 14, 1973 was co-sponsored by the St. Albans Lions Club and the West Virginia University Alumni Chapter.
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The team had its final practice in Morgantown on Thursday afternoon ahead of Saturday’s Gold-Blue Game - a 100-play scrimmage on the Steve Antoline Family Practice Facility.
The Mountaineers are scheduled to depart for White Sulphur Springs later today.
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Dana Holgorsen
Something interesting was passed along to me the other day … Did you realize that 14 of the 15 players Dana Holgorsen has sent to the NFL during his time at West Virginia are still active in the league today?
That means 93 percent of the players Holgorsen is sending to the pros are still playing, by far the highest percentage of any Big 12 team and also the most by any team in our region among schools that have sent at least six players to the league over the last five years.
The only WVU player not active right now is wide receiver Stedman Bailey, who is still recovering from a gunshot wound to the head after being shot while sitting in a parked car in Miami last November. (
Video of Bailey running pass routes just five months after his ordeal was posted on the Internet earlier this month).
One other interesting note: West Virginia’s 12 players taken in the NFL draft over the last five years are second most to Penn State in the region. And, the Mountaineers are expecting five players to go next week, which could put West Virginia ahead of the Nittany Lions when this year’s draft is completed.
When was the last time WVU ever had more professional football players than Penn State during a six-year period?
Here is a list of the number of draft picks from regional programs over the last five years heading into this year’s draft:
Penn State, 13
West Virginia, 12
Rutgers, 10
Virginia Tech, 10
Virginia, 7
Marshall, 4
Maryland, 4
Pitt, 4
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In addition to the 12 players drafted, West Virginia has had three players - offensive linemen Quinton Spain and Don Barclay and running back Dreamius Smith - sign free agent contracts and make NFL rosters.
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Junior forward Devin Williams’ decision earlier this week to remain in the NBA draft means he will finish his Mountaineer career 12th in rebounding with 846 boards and 35th in scoring with 1,134 points.
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WVU coach Bob Huggins is among a list of celebrities scheduled to attend the 11th annual Dick Vitale Gala to be held May 13, 2016 in Sarasota, Florida to benefit the V Foundation for Cancer Research.
Huggins’ efforts locally in support of the Norma Rae Huggins Cancer Fund have generated nearly $1.5 million in funding for clinical research since its inception.
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Sean Covich
My belated congratulations to WVU golf coach Sean Covich on his recent induction into the Mississippi Community and Junior College Hall of Fame. Covich was once a standout player and later coach at Meridian Community College in Meridian, Mississippi.
Covich and his Mountaineer golfers will be in Trinity, Texas, next weekend for the Big 12 Championships taking place at Whispering Pines Country Club.
The Mountaineers took second place last weekend at the Rutherford Intercollegiate at Penn State.
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Director of Athletics Shane Lyons is pleased with West Virginia’s overall Academic Progress Rate (APR) score of 979, recently earlier this week. That is up five points from last year’s score.
Teams must achieve a 930 multi-year APR score to avoid receiving immediate penalties, and two WVU programs, men’s basketball and rowing, earned a perfect score of 1,000 over the last four years. Women’s soccer (997), women’s basketball (995), women’s swimming and diving (994) and women’s cross country also achieved high scores.
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A look at where the Sports Communications Office used to be.
And finally, concourse construction work continues at the WVU Coliseum. The $15 million project got underway earlier this month and demolition work should wrap sometime in early May, I am told.
Here is a look at where the Athletic Communications Office once was located next to the Coliseum’s Red Gate entrance.
It’s really surprising how much additional space is going to be created for Mountaineer fans when the concourse project is completed later this fall.
Hope to see you in White Sulphur Springs on Saturday.
Otherwise, enjoy your weekend!
