Life as a Mountaineer – Derek Culver
February 26, 2021 11:49 AM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Here is the Derek Culver story, told to us by Derek Culver in the third person.
"He is just someone trying to be honest with you. He didn't really, like, cave in to adversity, kept his head down and did what he had to do even though he had to face some situations, and he overcame them," he says.
Adversity for Derek came during his freshman season when veteran coach Bob Huggins made him take a break from the game to get his priorities right.
While his teammates were playing Buffalo, Monmouth, Western Kentucky, St. Joseph's, Valparaiso, Rider, Youngstown State, Florida, Pitt and Rhode Island, Derek was sitting in street clothes watching.
It wasn't until the Jacksonville State game, 11 games into his freshman season when Culver was allowed to put on a West Virginia uniform and play Mountaineer basketball.
Since then, he hasn't looked back.
"That's one of the reasons why I came here because I knew (Huggins) was going to be a tough coach, and I wanted to be coached tough," Culver says. "I knew my freshman year I could get out of whack a little bit, and I needed somebody to say, 'Yo brother, chill out. You need to do this before you can do this.' I needed that because I feel like if I didn't get that my freshman year I would have been spiraling out of control, to be honest with you."
"I'm happy he helped me," Derek says. "That whole situation made me realize I wasn't in high school anymore. I'm in college, and they will send you home. A lot of my friends were at different schools, and they were like, 'You should have left.' I took that as kind of like a challenge. I thought he was thinking, 'I bet he can't get this done. He can't do this.' And when I did everything he wanted done it was like, 'Oh, so he does want to buy in.' It worked out."
In Huggins' corner was Derek's mother, Sharon White, who wasn't against Huggs using some tough love on her son. In fact, after the Texas game, mom called Derek and gave him a hard time about only grabbing five rebounds against the Longhorns. She told him she could still go out there and get that many.
The next game, Derek got the message and hauled down 14 in the win over TCU.
"She knows the right things to say. There are times when I'm like, 'No, I'm not going to text her back right now' when she gives me one of those messages," he says.
"That's my Superwoman, Superman, super anything. My mom always makes sure I'm good," Derek says. "She'd take me to AAU tournaments, traveling state to state - not just short drives but eight-hour drives on the weekends and then on Monday I'd have to go back to school, and she'd go to work. I can go on and on about my mom. I love her to death."
Growing up, Derek's mom played basketball, but Youngstown is a football town, which is how Derek first got interested in sports.
"I was never a basketball player. It was strictly football where I'm from," he recalls. "Then one day, I had a big growth spurt, and I was like, 'Yeah, football is out of the picture.' Then I started dribbling, and I was like, 'Give me a basketball.'"
As for Culver's West Virginia University legacy, he wants to be remembered as a guy who picked himself up and succeeded when others thought he couldn't.
"I want my legacy at West Virginia to be a road to glory story," he says. "My mom always told me I was going to be a road to glory story ever since I was young because I always bumped my head early when I'd do something. Then I'd figure out the whole time what other people are telling me. I was like, 'Oh, that's what you were saying? Duh.'"
As for the present, Derek simply enjoys playing with his teammates.
"I just want to keep winning with this team. Wherever it takes me in basketball it takes me. Right now I'm having fun," he says.
This week's Life as a Mountaineer was produced by Sarah Ramundt and is presented by Panhandle Cleaning & Restoration.
"He is just someone trying to be honest with you. He didn't really, like, cave in to adversity, kept his head down and did what he had to do even though he had to face some situations, and he overcame them," he says.
Adversity for Derek came during his freshman season when veteran coach Bob Huggins made him take a break from the game to get his priorities right.
While his teammates were playing Buffalo, Monmouth, Western Kentucky, St. Joseph's, Valparaiso, Rider, Youngstown State, Florida, Pitt and Rhode Island, Derek was sitting in street clothes watching.
It wasn't until the Jacksonville State game, 11 games into his freshman season when Culver was allowed to put on a West Virginia uniform and play Mountaineer basketball.
Since then, he hasn't looked back.
"That's one of the reasons why I came here because I knew (Huggins) was going to be a tough coach, and I wanted to be coached tough," Culver says. "I knew my freshman year I could get out of whack a little bit, and I needed somebody to say, 'Yo brother, chill out. You need to do this before you can do this.' I needed that because I feel like if I didn't get that my freshman year I would have been spiraling out of control, to be honest with you."
"I'm happy he helped me," Derek says. "That whole situation made me realize I wasn't in high school anymore. I'm in college, and they will send you home. A lot of my friends were at different schools, and they were like, 'You should have left.' I took that as kind of like a challenge. I thought he was thinking, 'I bet he can't get this done. He can't do this.' And when I did everything he wanted done it was like, 'Oh, so he does want to buy in.' It worked out."
In Huggins' corner was Derek's mother, Sharon White, who wasn't against Huggs using some tough love on her son. In fact, after the Texas game, mom called Derek and gave him a hard time about only grabbing five rebounds against the Longhorns. She told him she could still go out there and get that many.
The next game, Derek got the message and hauled down 14 in the win over TCU.
"She knows the right things to say. There are times when I'm like, 'No, I'm not going to text her back right now' when she gives me one of those messages," he says.
"That's my Superwoman, Superman, super anything. My mom always makes sure I'm good," Derek says. "She'd take me to AAU tournaments, traveling state to state - not just short drives but eight-hour drives on the weekends and then on Monday I'd have to go back to school, and she'd go to work. I can go on and on about my mom. I love her to death."
Growing up, Derek's mom played basketball, but Youngstown is a football town, which is how Derek first got interested in sports.
"I was never a basketball player. It was strictly football where I'm from," he recalls. "Then one day, I had a big growth spurt, and I was like, 'Yeah, football is out of the picture.' Then I started dribbling, and I was like, 'Give me a basketball.'"
As for Culver's West Virginia University legacy, he wants to be remembered as a guy who picked himself up and succeeded when others thought he couldn't.
"I want my legacy at West Virginia to be a road to glory story," he says. "My mom always told me I was going to be a road to glory story ever since I was young because I always bumped my head early when I'd do something. Then I'd figure out the whole time what other people are telling me. I was like, 'Oh, that's what you were saying? Duh.'"
As for the present, Derek simply enjoys playing with his teammates.
"I just want to keep winning with this team. Wherever it takes me in basketball it takes me. Right now I'm having fun," he says.
This week's Life as a Mountaineer was produced by Sarah Ramundt and is presented by Panhandle Cleaning & Restoration.
Players Mentioned
F
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