MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Mountaineer football has had a long-standing relationship with WVU Medicine Children's dating back to the early 1980s when former coach Don Nehlen made it his No. 1 charitable cause.
 
Well, current coach Dana Holgorsen has seen Nehlen his two hot fudge sundaes and raised him a couple of energy drinks.
 
That's because Holgorsen has fully gotten behind West Virginia University's plan to construct a state-of-the-art $60 million facility to house WVU Medicine Children's pediatric and maternal services.
 
Holgorsen, former Mountaineer and NFL quarterback Jeff Hostetler and West Virginia philanthropist Steve Antoline have become the faces of WVU Medicine's efforts to raise money for the facility, lending their names and time to many worthwhile causes in support of the much-needed facility.
 
Last spring, Holgorsen participated in the "Walk the Talk with Dana" to raise money for the Jeff and Vicky Hostetler Family Resource Center that assists the families of children with life-threatening illnesses.
 
And more recently, the coach, along with Hostetler and Antoline, agreed to co-chair the capital campaign to raise money for a new 10-story addition to J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital that will house the new Children's Hospital, so his thoughts are never too far away from the kids of West Virginia and the surrounding region.
 
"We're always looking to bring more awareness to the Children's Hospital to try and make a difference in these kids' lives as much as we possibly can," Holgorsen said Monday night during his weekly radio show at Kegler's Sports Bar. "This goes back to Coach Nehlen and what he started a long time ago, 30, 40 years ago, and I'm just proud to be a part of it right now."
 
When Holgorsen was growing up in Iowa, he used to go to Iowa Hawkeye football games with his mother and father, and he always noticed the University of Iowa's Stead Family Children's Hospital, which overlooks the stadium.
 
A few years ago, Iowa fans Krista Young and Levi Thompson came up with an idea of having the players, coaches and fans turn around and look up to the children in their rooms high above the stadium and wave to them at the end of the first quarter of each home game at Kinnick Stadium.
 
Just a simple act to tell them, "Hey, we're thinking of you and your family and you're not alone." So, they began posting pictures on their Facebook pages and soon it went viral and turned into something the players, coaches and fans now do at the end of the first quarter during each Iowa home football game. 
 
Last year, the two were awarded the Sportsmanship Award by the St. Louis Sports Commission at its annual Musial Awards event.
 
Holgorsen liked the idea of waving to the children and started bouncing around ideas with associate athletic director for football Alex Hammond and Hostetler about ways they could incorporate that into West Virginia's game-day experience at Milan Puskar Stadium.
 
"There's too much separation from where the field is to where those kids are housed, and even when the new one gets built, which we're all excited about, it's still too far away," Holgorsen explained. "You can't do anything (from inside the stadium), but the Mantrip is right there in view."
 
Why not make a fan wave to the children in the Children's Hospital part of the Mantrip, Holgorsen wondered?
 
"We got together and looked at it, and once we get off the bus it's kind of chaos," he said. "Everybody has been to the Mantrip. We have to get going – we can't just stand there and hang out for 30 minutes because we've got a job to do.
 
"That's part of what the Mantrip is – that's why it's called the Mantrip because we're going to work. Once we get into the gate and tap the piece of coal and we go up the steps we are going to stand at the top of the steps as we go into the stadium and wave to the kids," Holgorsen said. "We've got a clear shot right into the Children's Hospital. The Mountaineer shoots his musket to begin the Mantrip and then he's going to lead us up there and shoot the musket again and we're going to turn around and wave."
 
Holgorsen and the team did it last Saturday when they arrived at the stadium before the Youngstown State game, and he wasn't sure how his players would react.
 
"I told the players at the hotel before we got onto the bus this is what we're going to do, not knowing how it was going to be or how it was going to be received," Holgorsen admitted. "Honestly, I wasn't really sure if the view was going to be what we wanted it to be. But we got up there, and I stood at the top of the steps and the players came up and they turned around and all waved.
 
"There was a camera inside the hospital, and it turns out it's a really cool view. For a lot of those kids, it made their week," Holgorsen said.
 
It also turned out to be a big hit with his players.
 
"I told them, 'Hey, just give me about 10 seconds for this' and they ended up hanging around for four or five minutes," Holgorsen said. "There was one hand and then two hands so I think the more we do it the more awareness it will bring to WVU Medicine Children's. It just comes down to trying to make those kids smile. They can't come to the games a lot of times, so if we can make them smile on game day that's what it's all about."
 
The next opportunity to make them smile is Saturday, Sept. 22, when West Virginia plays Kansas State at Milan Puskar Stadium. 
 
The Mantrip is now two hours and 45 minutes prior to each game, and when the team reaches the top of the steps before entering the stadium, Holgorsen expects the fans to be right there to wave to the children.
 
When they do so, everyone needs to look to the signage at the top of Ruby Memorial Hospital because the children's wing is located right next to it.
 
"Once we get to the top of the steps and the Mountaineer fires that musket again, I want everybody to turn and wave and give those kids a big treat," Holgorsen said. "I think the next time we do it before the Kansas State game, it's going to be spectacular."