Photo by: MG Ellis
A Homecoming History
October 10, 2017 09:46 AM | Football
This Saturday is Homecoming, a WVU tradition that dates back to 1921 when the Mountaineers played Washington & Jefferson on Thanksgiving Day.
That afternoon there was a noon banquet and a five o'clock dinner for the old grads to meet up with the young lads after the Presidents shut out Clarence Spears' Mountaineers, 13-0. One of the alums at the game that day was famous Michigan coach Fielding Yost, who spent the next morning giving the sometimes-cantankerous Spears several pointers on ways to improve his football team – fortifying an intense personal rivalry between the two that continued when Spears left WVU to coach at Minnesota in the Big Ten.
In celebration of West Virginia's 13-0 victory over Virginia in 1922, a thuse, a bonfire, an alumni dance and a pajama parade were added – and with 20 floats taking part in the parade, an extra day had to be added to the festivities.
Although Homecoming wasn't observed continuously until 1930, the Washington & Jefferson game was frequently targeted by WVU for its annual alumni celebration.
Beginning in 1930, the event has taken place continuously with the exception of two years during the Great Depression in 1932 and 1934. One year, the entire cadet corps marched in the parade down High Street and presented Gov. W. G. Conley a 19-gun salute.
Another year, more than 1,000 high school football players served as Homecoming guests of the University, but as bad as the Mountaineers were back then, it's unlikely many of them chose to attend WVU to play football.
By 1936, Homecoming featured fraternity and sorority open houses and rallies with prizes being awarded for the best decorated sorority and fraternity houses. Three years later, in 1939, taking its cue from LSU's homecoming, the campus magazine Moonshine sponsored a poll to determine the Homecoming queen, the first being awarded to Wheeling's Mary Lou Bullard.
On gridiron, the most frequent Homecoming combatants have been Syracuse, Penn State and Virginia Tech – bucking the trend of teams facing winnable games on their homecoming.
But West Virginia has held its own against those formidable foes, defeating the Orange five times, the Hokies four and the Nittanys twice in seven tries with one tie, which is amazing considering Penn State's overall dominance in the series.
The WVU coaches with the most success on Homecoming?
Rich Rodriguez was 7-0 in his Homecoming games at WVU; Art "Pappy" Lewis was 7-2-1 and Don Nehlen won 14 times on the big day - all of them either through great coaching or great schedule making.
And the coach who struggled the most on Homecoming?
Believe it or not, that would be Hall of Famer Bobby Bowden.
In Bowden's six years at WVU, he won just twice when the alums returned to campus and lost a depressing three straight times to Indiana in 1973, to Miami, Florida in 1974 and to Tulane in 1975.
Lee Corso, whose Indiana team beat Bowden's Mountaineers on Homecoming in 1973, once said that coaches can lose football games – just not their home games.
Well that goes double for your Homecoming game, which is probably why Bowden's wife, Ann, was usually pulling "For Sale" signs out of her front yard each year in Morgantown before the Bowdens went on to greener pastures at Florida State.
Bowden's successor, Frank Cignetti, did no better on Homecoming losing 33-0 to Penn State in 1976, 28-24 to Boston College in 1977 and 31-15 to Syracuse in 1978. Cignetti was only around to coach one more Homecoming game in 1979, a 10-6 victory over Kentucky, before clearing out his desk to make way for Nehlen.
By the way, our Dana Holgorsen is doing just fine on Homecoming, winning four and losing two, although one of those losses just happened to be against Texas Tech, this weekend's opponent.
That happened back in 2013, and we certainly don't want a repeat on Saturday!
Happy Homecomings
George Washington, 4-0
Rutgers, 4-0
Boston College, 4-1-1
Pitt, 3-1
Not So Happy Homecomings
Miami, Florida, 0-3
Georgetown, 0-2
Penn State, 2-4-1
Virginia, 1-2
That afternoon there was a noon banquet and a five o'clock dinner for the old grads to meet up with the young lads after the Presidents shut out Clarence Spears' Mountaineers, 13-0. One of the alums at the game that day was famous Michigan coach Fielding Yost, who spent the next morning giving the sometimes-cantankerous Spears several pointers on ways to improve his football team – fortifying an intense personal rivalry between the two that continued when Spears left WVU to coach at Minnesota in the Big Ten.
In celebration of West Virginia's 13-0 victory over Virginia in 1922, a thuse, a bonfire, an alumni dance and a pajama parade were added – and with 20 floats taking part in the parade, an extra day had to be added to the festivities.
Although Homecoming wasn't observed continuously until 1930, the Washington & Jefferson game was frequently targeted by WVU for its annual alumni celebration.
Beginning in 1930, the event has taken place continuously with the exception of two years during the Great Depression in 1932 and 1934. One year, the entire cadet corps marched in the parade down High Street and presented Gov. W. G. Conley a 19-gun salute.
Another year, more than 1,000 high school football players served as Homecoming guests of the University, but as bad as the Mountaineers were back then, it's unlikely many of them chose to attend WVU to play football.
By 1936, Homecoming featured fraternity and sorority open houses and rallies with prizes being awarded for the best decorated sorority and fraternity houses. Three years later, in 1939, taking its cue from LSU's homecoming, the campus magazine Moonshine sponsored a poll to determine the Homecoming queen, the first being awarded to Wheeling's Mary Lou Bullard.
On gridiron, the most frequent Homecoming combatants have been Syracuse, Penn State and Virginia Tech – bucking the trend of teams facing winnable games on their homecoming.
But West Virginia has held its own against those formidable foes, defeating the Orange five times, the Hokies four and the Nittanys twice in seven tries with one tie, which is amazing considering Penn State's overall dominance in the series.
The WVU coaches with the most success on Homecoming?
Rich Rodriguez was 7-0 in his Homecoming games at WVU; Art "Pappy" Lewis was 7-2-1 and Don Nehlen won 14 times on the big day - all of them either through great coaching or great schedule making.
And the coach who struggled the most on Homecoming?
Believe it or not, that would be Hall of Famer Bobby Bowden.
In Bowden's six years at WVU, he won just twice when the alums returned to campus and lost a depressing three straight times to Indiana in 1973, to Miami, Florida in 1974 and to Tulane in 1975.
Lee Corso, whose Indiana team beat Bowden's Mountaineers on Homecoming in 1973, once said that coaches can lose football games – just not their home games.
Well that goes double for your Homecoming game, which is probably why Bowden's wife, Ann, was usually pulling "For Sale" signs out of her front yard each year in Morgantown before the Bowdens went on to greener pastures at Florida State.
Bowden's successor, Frank Cignetti, did no better on Homecoming losing 33-0 to Penn State in 1976, 28-24 to Boston College in 1977 and 31-15 to Syracuse in 1978. Cignetti was only around to coach one more Homecoming game in 1979, a 10-6 victory over Kentucky, before clearing out his desk to make way for Nehlen.
By the way, our Dana Holgorsen is doing just fine on Homecoming, winning four and losing two, although one of those losses just happened to be against Texas Tech, this weekend's opponent.
That happened back in 2013, and we certainly don't want a repeat on Saturday!
Happy Homecomings
George Washington, 4-0
Rutgers, 4-0
Boston College, 4-1-1
Pitt, 3-1
Not So Happy Homecomings
Miami, Florida, 0-3
Georgetown, 0-2
Penn State, 2-4-1
Virginia, 1-2
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