Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
WVU's Lyons Has a Lot to Smile About These Days
October 30, 2018 05:30 PM | General, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia University director of athletics Shane Lyons has a lot to smile about these days.Why? Well, if you've been keeping up with the national rankings – which he certainly has, there's a lot about which to be pleased - and not just with his nationally ranked football program.
Dana Holgorsen's Mountaineers check in at No. 13 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 Poll and No. 10 in the coaches' poll as we flip the calendar to November.
And while West Virginia won't be among the top four of the first college football playoff rankings revealed later tonight, the Mountaineers will be within striking distance with all of their preseason goals still in front of them as they prepare for Saturday's key road game at 15th-ranked Texas this Saturday.
WVU's backloaded schedule also pits the Mountaineers against TCU in Morgantown on Nov. 10, at 5-3 Oklahoma State on Nov. 17, and then back in Touchdown City for a season-ending showdown with seventh-ranked Oklahoma at Milan Puskar Stadium on Nov. 23.
If West Virginia can somehow navigate the very difficult path ahead of it, that should be enough to put the Mountaineers in contention for one of the four playoff spots when the field is finally decided.
Heisman Trophy contender Will Grier (recently named Maxwell Award semifinalist), linebacker David Long Jr. (Butkus Award semifinalist) and wide receiver David Sills V, last year's Biletnikoff Award finalist, provide enough firepower to give the Mountaineers a fighting chance coming down the stretch.
Across town, Bob Huggins' men's basketball team will tip off its season against Buffalo on Friday, Nov. 9, ranked 13th in the country in both major polls.West Virginia, coming off a 26-11 record in 2018, has spent an eye-opening 76 straight weeks in the coaches' poll and 55 consecutive weeks in the AP poll since 2015.
It's the longest run of success since the Jerry West-Rod Thorn era of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Despite losing All-America guard Jevon Carter, Huggins' Mountaineers are going to be sneaky good this year with one of the strongest frontcourts in the country featuring the nation's best rim protector in Sagaba Konate.
"We have a chance," Huggins told those who showed up for the Gold-Blue Debut at the WVU Coliseum 11 days ago.
Meanwhile, the 19-time NCAA champion rifle team has returned to its usual perch as the No. 1-ranked team in the country after recently posting its highest team score of the year at Army. WVU's victims so far this year include No. 2 Air Force, No. 6 Murray State, No. 9 Nebraska and No. 10 Ohio State.
The same goes for Nikki Izzo Brown's 14th-ranked women's soccer team, which recently advanced to the Big 12 semifinals with its victory over Oklahoma on Sunday and is seeking its 19th straight NCAA Tournament appearance next month.
WVU could be anywhere from a two or a three seed in this year's NCAA Tournament. If the Mountaineers get at least a two again, which they have done every year since 2015, that means they will host NCAA matches up through at least the Sweet 16 round.
Izzo-Brown's Mountaineers were national runners-up two years ago.
Men's soccer, too, is again performing at the high level Marlon LeBlanc once had the Mountaineers when West Virginia was still in the Big East.No program took a bigger hit when WVU moved to the Big 12 than men's soccer, but LeBlanc has finally gotten his program recalibrated with his 16th-ranked Mountaineers eyeing their first NCAA Tournament trip since 2011 when they lost in the second round to Maryland.
This year's squad, which already clinched the Mid-American Conference regular-season title with one league game remaining, is easily LeBlanc's strongest since West Virginia's Big East days.
He's got one of the best players in the country in senior midfielder Joey Piatczyc, who would have likely had West Virginia in this position last year had he not suffered a season-ending knee injury during preseason practice. Piatczyc also missed a couple of matches this year, meaning LeBlanc's Mountaineers might have a win or two more than the 12 they already have.
Down the hallway, Sean Covich's Mountaineer golf program has come from out of nowhere to rank 39th in the most recent Golfstat rankings.
A first-place finish in the 14-team Health Plan Mountaineer Invitational field at Pete Dye got the ball rolling, and it gained speed a week ago when West Virginia placed seventh in the Tavistock Invitational at Isleworth Country Club in Windermere, Florida.
WVU finished one stroke behind 12th-ranked Texas at even par, while placing ahead of No. 8 Illinois, No. 21 South Carolina and No. 26 California in the strongest tournament field of the fall.
West Virginia has one final opportunity to enhance its fall ranking this weekend in Lahaina, Hawaii, when the Mountaineers compete in the Ka'Anapali Classic Collegiate Invitational on the Royal Course against another very strong field featuring No. 9 Clemson, No. 10 Oklahoma, No. 19 Georgia and No. 23 Illinois.
Twenty-one teams will be making the trek to Hawaii to compete in the tournament.
Women's basketball won't begin the season ranked in the top 25, but veteran coach Mike Carey likes this year's team, particularly the backcourt considered one of the strongest in the country heading into the season.
Some pre-Big 12 non-conference wins over Iowa, Florida State, Missouri and Pitt could get Carey's Crew back in the rankings where they've spent a good portion of the last four years. Carey is also seeking his 11th NCAA Tournament trip with the Mountaineers since 2004.
Tim Flynn's WVU wrestling program, too, won't start the season in the rankings, but it's just a matter of time before it happens based on the enormous success he enjoyed at Edinboro despite being handicapped with a Division II athletic budget during his time there. Gymnastics is another program to keep an eye on when the weather turns cold.And taking an early peek into the spring, Randy Mazey's WVU baseball team could be in a similar position with one of the top righthanders in the country returning in Alek Manoah.
Indeed, there is a great deal about which West Virginia's fourth-year athletic director can smile. Hopefully, his smiling continues.
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