Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Campus Connection: Midweek WVU Sports Notes
January 16, 2019 02:57 PM | Football, Blog
As Neal Brown's Mountaineer football staff continues to take shape, it's becoming clear to me that he is building an organization very similar to the one Don Nehlen first constructed here in 1980.
Nehlen brought in outsiders such as Dennis Brown, Carl Battershell, Mike Jacobs, Bill McConnell, Bob Simmons and Russ Jacques who were very familiar with Nehlen's system and his way of doing things, but not necessarily too familiar with West Virginia University.
That would come later, Nehlen figured.
Then, he kept holdover Gary Tranquill and switched him from defensive coordinator to offensive coordinator, which was another savvy move that led to quarterback Oliver Luck's success in 1981 operating the Mountaineers' controlled passing game.
Nehlen also retained Donnie Young and moved him into an administrative role in charge of recruiting. Young was an exceptional talent evaluator and football guy who understood that successful football programs are built from the ground up.
Lightly recruited players who Young had identified such as Tim Agee, Jeff Deem, Steve Hathaway, Rich Hollins, Kurt Kehl, Bill Legg, Steve Newberry and Dave Preston helped formed the nucleus of those nationally ranked Mountaineer football teams in 1981, 1982 and 1983.
On paper, it appears Brown is using Nehlen's formula with the staff members he's brought in so far.
What many Millennial Mountaineer fans fail to understand about Nehlen's tenure here is the raw excitement and enthusiasm that he generated for West Virginia football during his early years in Morgantown. He had this state in the palm of his hand back in '81, '82, '83 and '84.
Neal Brown is already generating similar excitement for his program.
Former Mountaineer safety Jahmile Addae, who now prefers to have his first name pronounced Jah-mile instead of Jah-mall, is the latest coach to join Brown's WVU staff.
Who can ever forget the hit Addae put on Virginia Tech tight end Jared Mazzetta in 2005? And a show of hands, based on the rules at the time, how many believe Addae's hit was a personal foul penalty?
Here is that hit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNDNrZRLOeg
As for today? Well, Jahmile's hit would have probably sent him to the locker room for an early shower.
Nevertheless, welcome back, Jah-mile!
Speaking of Brown and the Mountaineers, there is this from Athlon Sports: https://athlonsports.com/college-football/west-virginia-football-3-reasons-optimism-about-mountaineers-2019...
And this from SB Nation: https://www.sbnation.com/2018/11/17/18099265/coaching-change-grades-2018
Marc Bulger, Olympic curler? Maybe.
Bulger has joined ex-NFL players Jared Allen, Keith Bulluck and Michael Roos to form a curling team and attempt to qualify for the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.
All four are were Pro Bowl selections during their careers and live near Nashville, Tennessee.
On the sport of curling, Bulger had this to say, "We played football, but (curling) is a lot of muscles we didn't use."
You can read more about it here: https://apnews.com/bf418b707d16470daf116657933de4e0
Mickey Plumley, an offensive lineman on West Virginia's 1969 Peach Bowl team, is organizing a 50-year team reunion to celebrate that outstanding season.
Coached by Jim Carlen that year, the Mountaineers won 10 games for the first time since 1922 and defeated ACC champion South Carolina in the second-ever Peach Bowl game played at Grant Field in Atlanta.
The last time team members got together was in 1994 for their 25threunion.
While still in the planning stages, Plumley hopes to have a strong contingent of former players back on campus next fall when a date is finalized.
I've never coached a college basketball team, and I never will - and I know there are a lot of internet coaches out there these days - but after watching this year's Mountaineer team for the last two and a half months, it's becoming obvious one of the top objectives for West Virginia right now has to be finding five players willing to lay it on the line every night.
Bob Huggins touched on this during his postgame radio show following the Mountaineers' 31-point loss at TCU on Tuesday night – West Virginia's worst defeat in Big 12 play since joining the conference in 2013.
"We've got a lot of guys with a lot of answers who don't even know the problems," Huggins began. "We've got too many guys who think they're smarter than they are, and we've got way too many guys who think they're better than what they are, but that's okay. We've had teams that weren't very talented but they tried.
"One of my favorite guys of all-time was Cam Thoroughman because Cam Thoroughman was a 6-foot-5, 6-6 center in the Big East who did everything you asked him to do," he continued. "And (he) played hard and played physical and wanted to win in the worst way. I'd take those guys. I'd rather have those guys."
What Thoroughman lacked in athletic ability he more than made up for in toughness and a willingness to compete, just like his teammate Joe Mazzulla.
Who can ever forget Mazzulla mocking Duke by slapping the floor during that NCAA Tournament game at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., in 2008 against the ninth-ranked Blue Devils, and then taking it to Greg Paulus for two straight hours?
Mazzulla scored 13 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and handed out eight assists, and he was all Mike Krzyzewski talked about after the game - not 22-point scorer Joe Alexander or 17-point scorer Alex Rouff.
Or, how about Thoroughman going toe-to-toe with Notre Dame's Luke Harangody at the Coliseum?
Huggins mentioned that Tuesday night.
"One of the great moments in Coliseum history is when (Thoroughman) and Harangody went at it. I mean they had everybody in the place standing, but that's West Virginia," he said. "They appreciate that. They appreciate hard work because this is a state of hard-working people."
Those Mountaineer teams with Thoroughman and Mazzulla didn't win all of the time, but on those rare occasions when they did go down, it was ALWAYS swinging.
Coach Jason Butts' WVU gymnastics team has the fifth-best floor lineup in the country right now, which is noteworthy since the Mountaineers achieved their best score on the road. The four programs ranked ahead of West Virginia are UCLA, Florida, Oklahoma and Utah.
West Virginia has one more road meet at Air Force this Saturday before its Coliseum debut against Kent State and George Washington on Sunday, Jan. 27.
Bianca St. Georges and Grace Cutler were recently selected in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) Draft, marking two straight years the Mountaineers have had at least two players taken in that draft, a program first.
Across the hallway, men's soccer's Joey Piatczyc was the 12th pick in the fourth round by the New York Red Bulls in the recent Major League Soccer Draft.
Piatczyc, a second team All-American, was the catalyst to West Virginia's best season since 2011 when the Mountaineers qualified for the NCAA Tournament and finished ranked 22nd in the country.
West Virginia's 14 victories in 2018 were the most in 11 years.
How about this one? It's Jan. 16 and former Mountaineer women's basketball assistant coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee has already matched Boston College's two ACC victories from a year ago.
Bernabei-McNamee spent a total of five seasons working under Mike Carey at WVU before getting her first head coaching job at Pikeville College in 2013.
She spent the previous two seasons at Albany where she led the Great Danes to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2017 before taking over at BC last spring.
She has the Eagles off to a 13-4 start this season with six more victories than they achieved in 2018.
Joanna's husband is former All-American Mountaineer baseball player Joe McNamee.
Former WVU roundballer Jevon Carter earned his first career start with the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night. He scored eight points and handed out a pair of assists in 15 minutes of action against the Houston Rockets in the Grizzlies' 112-94 loss.
In that game, Houston's James Harden scored a season-high 57 points.
In 10 games with Memphis so far this year, Carter is averaging 3.2 points and 1.6 assists per game.
The Grizzlies play the Milwaukee Bucks tonight at FedExForum.
Jamie Hall, assistant athletic director for donor relations and administration for the Mountaineer Athletic Club, said she is pleased with the turnout for last Saturday's Mountaineer Leadoff Dinner at the Morgantown Waterfront Marriott.
Although still awaiting a final tally from the Marriott, Hall is hopeful of approaching $85,000 for this year's fundraiser. That easily exceeds last year's total of approximately $70,000, and the $53,000 that was raised two years ago.
"This year we had the most bidders and the most bids on auction items," she said.
Hall indicated that the revenue generated for the Leadoff Dinner goes into Mountaineer baseball's general operational fund.
Veteran Mountaineer director of football communications Mike Montoro passed along to me this note: West Virginia's 63 interceptions are the seventh-most in FBS since 2015, tying the Mountaineers with Arkansas State, USF and, yes, Troy.
Congratulations are in order to Will Grier, today named 2018 Senior CLASS Award winner for FBS. Grier is the first Mountaineer football player to earn this prestigious award and just the third West Virginia University athlete to be recognized!
The others are men's basketball players Jevon Carter and Da'Sean Butler, a pretty heady list for sure!
Speaking of Grier, some of the mock NFL Drafts are starting to come out and a recent one put out by the website Pro Football Focus has Grier going 29th overall to the New England Patriots. That same website has tackle Yodny Cajuste as 22nd pick to the Houston Texans.
And, finally, with the recent transition taking place over at the Puskar Center, some of the former Mountaineer football coaches who once followed me on Twitter are no longer followers, which is certainly understandable.
However, the one Twitter follower I would love to hang onto is Internet sensation Nash Grier, whose 6.96 million followers give me some instant cred with my teenage daughter and her friends.
If ole Nash drops me then "cool dad" reverts back to just "regular old dad" in my daughter's eyes.
So hang in there @Nashgrier!
You too @nzinner5 and @wmattwells!
To Mountaineer fans from Weirton to Welch, Martinsburg to Matewan and all points in between (and beyond), enjoy the rest of your week!
Nehlen brought in outsiders such as Dennis Brown, Carl Battershell, Mike Jacobs, Bill McConnell, Bob Simmons and Russ Jacques who were very familiar with Nehlen's system and his way of doing things, but not necessarily too familiar with West Virginia University.
That would come later, Nehlen figured.
Then, he kept holdover Gary Tranquill and switched him from defensive coordinator to offensive coordinator, which was another savvy move that led to quarterback Oliver Luck's success in 1981 operating the Mountaineers' controlled passing game.
Nehlen also retained Donnie Young and moved him into an administrative role in charge of recruiting. Young was an exceptional talent evaluator and football guy who understood that successful football programs are built from the ground up.
Lightly recruited players who Young had identified such as Tim Agee, Jeff Deem, Steve Hathaway, Rich Hollins, Kurt Kehl, Bill Legg, Steve Newberry and Dave Preston helped formed the nucleus of those nationally ranked Mountaineer football teams in 1981, 1982 and 1983.
On paper, it appears Brown is using Nehlen's formula with the staff members he's brought in so far.
What many Millennial Mountaineer fans fail to understand about Nehlen's tenure here is the raw excitement and enthusiasm that he generated for West Virginia football during his early years in Morgantown. He had this state in the palm of his hand back in '81, '82, '83 and '84.
Neal Brown is already generating similar excitement for his program.
***
Former Mountaineer safety Jahmile Addae, who now prefers to have his first name pronounced Jah-mile instead of Jah-mall, is the latest coach to join Brown's WVU staff.Who can ever forget the hit Addae put on Virginia Tech tight end Jared Mazzetta in 2005? And a show of hands, based on the rules at the time, how many believe Addae's hit was a personal foul penalty?
Here is that hit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNDNrZRLOeg
As for today? Well, Jahmile's hit would have probably sent him to the locker room for an early shower.
Nevertheless, welcome back, Jah-mile!
***
Speaking of Brown and the Mountaineers, there is this from Athlon Sports: https://athlonsports.com/college-football/west-virginia-football-3-reasons-optimism-about-mountaineers-2019...
And this from SB Nation: https://www.sbnation.com/2018/11/17/18099265/coaching-change-grades-2018
***
Marc Bulger, Olympic curler? Maybe.
Bulger has joined ex-NFL players Jared Allen, Keith Bulluck and Michael Roos to form a curling team and attempt to qualify for the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.
All four are were Pro Bowl selections during their careers and live near Nashville, Tennessee.
On the sport of curling, Bulger had this to say, "We played football, but (curling) is a lot of muscles we didn't use."
You can read more about it here: https://apnews.com/bf418b707d16470daf116657933de4e0
***
Mickey Plumley, an offensive lineman on West Virginia's 1969 Peach Bowl team, is organizing a 50-year team reunion to celebrate that outstanding season.
Coached by Jim Carlen that year, the Mountaineers won 10 games for the first time since 1922 and defeated ACC champion South Carolina in the second-ever Peach Bowl game played at Grant Field in Atlanta.
The last time team members got together was in 1994 for their 25threunion.
While still in the planning stages, Plumley hopes to have a strong contingent of former players back on campus next fall when a date is finalized.
***
I've never coached a college basketball team, and I never will - and I know there are a lot of internet coaches out there these days - but after watching this year's Mountaineer team for the last two and a half months, it's becoming obvious one of the top objectives for West Virginia right now has to be finding five players willing to lay it on the line every night.Bob Huggins touched on this during his postgame radio show following the Mountaineers' 31-point loss at TCU on Tuesday night – West Virginia's worst defeat in Big 12 play since joining the conference in 2013.
"We've got a lot of guys with a lot of answers who don't even know the problems," Huggins began. "We've got too many guys who think they're smarter than they are, and we've got way too many guys who think they're better than what they are, but that's okay. We've had teams that weren't very talented but they tried.
"One of my favorite guys of all-time was Cam Thoroughman because Cam Thoroughman was a 6-foot-5, 6-6 center in the Big East who did everything you asked him to do," he continued. "And (he) played hard and played physical and wanted to win in the worst way. I'd take those guys. I'd rather have those guys."
What Thoroughman lacked in athletic ability he more than made up for in toughness and a willingness to compete, just like his teammate Joe Mazzulla.
Who can ever forget Mazzulla mocking Duke by slapping the floor during that NCAA Tournament game at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., in 2008 against the ninth-ranked Blue Devils, and then taking it to Greg Paulus for two straight hours?
Mazzulla scored 13 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and handed out eight assists, and he was all Mike Krzyzewski talked about after the game - not 22-point scorer Joe Alexander or 17-point scorer Alex Rouff.
Or, how about Thoroughman going toe-to-toe with Notre Dame's Luke Harangody at the Coliseum?
Huggins mentioned that Tuesday night.
"One of the great moments in Coliseum history is when (Thoroughman) and Harangody went at it. I mean they had everybody in the place standing, but that's West Virginia," he said. "They appreciate that. They appreciate hard work because this is a state of hard-working people."
Those Mountaineer teams with Thoroughman and Mazzulla didn't win all of the time, but on those rare occasions when they did go down, it was ALWAYS swinging.
***
Coach Jason Butts' WVU gymnastics team has the fifth-best floor lineup in the country right now, which is noteworthy since the Mountaineers achieved their best score on the road. The four programs ranked ahead of West Virginia are UCLA, Florida, Oklahoma and Utah.West Virginia has one more road meet at Air Force this Saturday before its Coliseum debut against Kent State and George Washington on Sunday, Jan. 27.
***
Bianca St. Georges and Grace Cutler were recently selected in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) Draft, marking two straight years the Mountaineers have had at least two players taken in that draft, a program first.
Across the hallway, men's soccer's Joey Piatczyc was the 12th pick in the fourth round by the New York Red Bulls in the recent Major League Soccer Draft.
Piatczyc, a second team All-American, was the catalyst to West Virginia's best season since 2011 when the Mountaineers qualified for the NCAA Tournament and finished ranked 22nd in the country.
West Virginia's 14 victories in 2018 were the most in 11 years.
***
How about this one? It's Jan. 16 and former Mountaineer women's basketball assistant coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee has already matched Boston College's two ACC victories from a year ago.
Bernabei-McNamee spent a total of five seasons working under Mike Carey at WVU before getting her first head coaching job at Pikeville College in 2013.
She spent the previous two seasons at Albany where she led the Great Danes to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2017 before taking over at BC last spring.
She has the Eagles off to a 13-4 start this season with six more victories than they achieved in 2018.
Joanna's husband is former All-American Mountaineer baseball player Joe McNamee.
***
Former WVU roundballer Jevon Carter earned his first career start with the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night. He scored eight points and handed out a pair of assists in 15 minutes of action against the Houston Rockets in the Grizzlies' 112-94 loss.In that game, Houston's James Harden scored a season-high 57 points.
In 10 games with Memphis so far this year, Carter is averaging 3.2 points and 1.6 assists per game.
The Grizzlies play the Milwaukee Bucks tonight at FedExForum.
***
Jamie Hall, assistant athletic director for donor relations and administration for the Mountaineer Athletic Club, said she is pleased with the turnout for last Saturday's Mountaineer Leadoff Dinner at the Morgantown Waterfront Marriott.
Although still awaiting a final tally from the Marriott, Hall is hopeful of approaching $85,000 for this year's fundraiser. That easily exceeds last year's total of approximately $70,000, and the $53,000 that was raised two years ago.
"This year we had the most bidders and the most bids on auction items," she said.
Hall indicated that the revenue generated for the Leadoff Dinner goes into Mountaineer baseball's general operational fund.
***
Veteran Mountaineer director of football communications Mike Montoro passed along to me this note: West Virginia's 63 interceptions are the seventh-most in FBS since 2015, tying the Mountaineers with Arkansas State, USF and, yes, Troy.
***
Congratulations are in order to Will Grier, today named 2018 Senior CLASS Award winner for FBS. Grier is the first Mountaineer football player to earn this prestigious award and just the third West Virginia University athlete to be recognized!The others are men's basketball players Jevon Carter and Da'Sean Butler, a pretty heady list for sure!
***
Speaking of Grier, some of the mock NFL Drafts are starting to come out and a recent one put out by the website Pro Football Focus has Grier going 29th overall to the New England Patriots. That same website has tackle Yodny Cajuste as 22nd pick to the Houston Texans.
***
And, finally, with the recent transition taking place over at the Puskar Center, some of the former Mountaineer football coaches who once followed me on Twitter are no longer followers, which is certainly understandable.
However, the one Twitter follower I would love to hang onto is Internet sensation Nash Grier, whose 6.96 million followers give me some instant cred with my teenage daughter and her friends.
If ole Nash drops me then "cool dad" reverts back to just "regular old dad" in my daughter's eyes.
So hang in there @Nashgrier!
You too @nzinner5 and @wmattwells!
To Mountaineer fans from Weirton to Welch, Martinsburg to Matewan and all points in between (and beyond), enjoy the rest of your week!
Players Mentioned
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/ Football
QB
/ FootballTV Highlights: WVU 74, UCF 67
Sunday, February 15
Ross Hodge | UCF Postgame
Sunday, February 15
United Bank Playbook: UCF Preview
Friday, February 13
Ross Hodge | UCF Preview
Thursday, February 12
