MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Who would have ever thought a message board post pledging $60 to the Mountaineer Athletic Club's Time2Climb campaign would turn into a $100,000-plus weekend fundraising movement?
 
Well, welcome to the wild, wonderful world of crowdfunding.
 
Matt Layton wanted to do something to demonstrate his support for his beloved Mountaineers after Akheem Mesidor's surprise announcement last Thursday morning that he was entering the transfer portal.
 
So, Matt decided to put his money where his mouth is.
 
"It's time to support our school and the athletes who love being here and representing the flying WV and our great state," was part of his passionate posting on the 247sports.com EerSports message board.
 
His $60 contribution soon doubled, and then doubled and continued doubling once word spread to the other message boards and online forums.
 
EERSNATION, a popular Twitter account operated by WVU fan Josh Scott with more than 15,000 followers, took the cause to social media where it reached an even wider audience. His frequent tweeting, tagging, begging and cajoling helped fuel the firestorm of support.
 
Those efforts reached the Mountaineer Athletic Club late Friday afternoon when the phone of the MAC's associate director of annual giving, Ryann Shaughnessy, began blowing up with Time2Climb requests. She receives a notification each time a donation is made to the campaign. 
 
"Matt's gift came in around 4:15 or 4:30 p.m., so as I was getting ready to leave work for the weekend I'm like, 'Oh, this is odd. What are all of these Time2Climb gifts coming in?'" Shaughnessy said.
 
Patrick Gray, West Virginia University's senior associate athletics director and the Mountaineer Athletic Club's executive director, got on the 24/7 Sports message board and saw Layton's initial post and encouraged Shaughnessy to keep monitoring things through social media.
 
"I normally don't run the social media, but I was logged on to our Twitter account and thank God I was," she said.
 
What she thought was going to be a quiet, relaxing weekend enjoying the Final Four basketball games descended into chaos, starting with several questions about Time2Climb and how people's donations to the campaign were being used.
 
"Time2Climb directly supports student-athlete scholarships," she tweeted. "The average in-state student (costs) around $24,164 and average out-of-state student (costs) around $31,732 and (Time2Climb fund) helps offset those costs."

From there, it became constant updating as the dollar figure continued to climb.
 
Late Friday night she posted: "We have had over 80 gifts made tonight from 20 different states (and) over $19,000 pledged. Thank you everyone for your support! Looking forward to what the weekend will bring!"
 
At 10 a.m. Saturday morning, the total had swelled to $27,000, prompting Layton and EERSNATION to up the ante to $50,000 after WVU director of athletics Shane Lyons tweeted his willingness to make a matching contribution.
 
It reached $45,000 when WVU coach Neal Brown met with media following Saturday morning's practice inside the stadium. The coach made mention of the impromptu, grassroots fundraising movement at the end of his regular remarks.
 
"Somebody sent me a couple of screen shots last night that they were raising money online, and I thought that was really cool," he said. "I think it really speaks to our fanbase. Whoever was involved in that I say thanks from us.
 
"When you coach at a place that matters and things don't go right, you hear about it, and that's fair," he added. "This is a place where it matters, and they get it. I don't know who all was involved in this, but it's noted and much appreciated, and I brought it to the attention of our team as well."
 
Soon, West Virginia University President Gordon Gee got in on the action. His Saturday afternoon pledge advanced the total past $50,000.
 
"Thank you to our incredible fans for supporting the student-athletes who proudly wear the Flying WV. Keep it up!" he tweeted.
 
Now emboldened, Layton and EERSNATION raised the bar to $100,000, and that goal was eventually met late Sunday evening when an anonymous gift for $8,000 pushed them over the top. Donations were still trickling in this morning, according to Shaughnessy.
 
What an amazing weekend of support for West Virginia University athletics!
 
Everyone who made contributions must be commended, as does the Mountaineer Athletic Club for its agility and flexibility in helping sustain it. Had the MAC completely shut down for the weekend and not provided accurate updates to the fans throughout the weekend, this would have never reached the dollar amount it did.
 
The way the fund is now setup online also allows for the flexibility to give varying amounts, from $60 to $120 to $180 to $264 to whatever amount you want to donate.
 
The net of this is that $102,573.05 has been raised as of Monday morning, broken down into 310 total contributions from 32 different states. Of those 310 contributions were 176 first-timers, meaning close to 200 new donors to a Mountaineer Athletic Club membership of roughly 5,000.
 
"This entire initiative made for a busy, yet rewarding weekend," Gray said. "Time2Climb was started as a grassroots membership drive and the success from this weekend captures that perfectly as so many of the contributors were giving to WVU Athletics for the first time. I would like to recognize Sandi West and Ryann Shaughnessy for their efforts in tracking the progress all weekend."
 
Lyons said when the Time2Climb campaign began on Jan. 1, 2021 that he wanted Mountaineer Athletic Club participation levels on par with its Big 12 peers.
 
According to the 2022 MAC membership guide, West Virginia still remains near the bottom in total participation, trailing Kansas (6,000), Iowa State (6,199), Oklahoma State (7,000), Baylor (7,500), Kansas State (7,625) and Texas Tech (9,898).

But what this weekend proved is that the willingness of fans to become more involved is there, which is very encouraging to Lyons.
 
"Great stuff Mountaineer Nation," Lyons tweeted, adding a muscle emoji to his message.
 
Indeed, great stuff! 
 
Fans can learn more about West Virginia University's Time2Climb campaign and other ways to contribute to the MAC by logging on to MountaineerAthleticClub.com. 
 
Those wishing to make an online contribution to Time2Climb can do so clicking this link.