MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Frank Cignetti, West Virginia's head football coach for four seasons from 1976-79, has died at the age of 84.
 
His son, Curt, head coach at James Madison, made the announcement on Twitter earlier today.
 
"I was blessed to have a great dad!" Curt tweeted. "He inspired me and so many others."
 
Frank Cignetti's association with West Virginia University spanned the entire decade of the 1970s. Coach Bobby Bowden hired Cignetti as his wide receivers coach in 1970 and promoted him to offensive coordinator a year later in 1971.
 
Cignetti oversaw one of college football's most potent offenses in 1972 with quarterback Bernie Galiffa, wide receivers Danny Buggs and Marshall Mills, and running back Kerry Marbury. The Mountaineers averaged nearly 400 yards per game in winning eight games and earning a berth to play NC State in the 1972 Peach Bowl.
 
Cignetti also oversaw Bowden's offense in 1975 when West Virginia won nine games, including an upset victory over Pitt on the final play of the game when Bill McKenzie kicked a 38-yard field goal as time expired.
 
WVU defeated NC State 13-10 in the 1975 Peach and just days after the game, Cignetti was named West Virginia's head football coach when Bowden accepted an offer to coach Florida State.
 
Cignetti's four-year tenure never saw his teams crack the .500 mark, and a bout with cancer late in the 1978 season nearly claimed his life, but he recovered and was well enough to coach the team in 1979, his last at WVU.
 
Although his West Virginia teams failed to have success on the field, Cignetti put West Virginia football in position for future success in the 1980s by advocating the construction of a new football stadium and signing some outstanding recruiting classes.
 
When Don Nehlen took over in 1980, not only did he have a beautiful new 50,000-seat Mountaineer Field to coach in, but he also had a roster stocked with outstanding football players, including College Football Hall of Fame linebacker Darryl Talley.
 
Quarterback Oliver Luck, running back Robert Alexander, defensive back Fulton Walker, fullback Walt Easley and linebacker Dennis Fowlkes were some of the other standout players Cignetti left behind.
 
"There are a lot of coaches today who are successes who might not be in coaching if they hadn't gotten that one extra year when they were about to get over the hump," Cignetti told John Feinstein, writing for The Washington Post, shortly after his firing. "I knew at the end of last season that we were a good football team and would be this year.

"When I took over in 1976 we were just coming off a big year, winning the Peach Bowl. But we had 32 seniors on that team. We had to start almost from scratch."

"Under the conditions Frank was coaching under, no one could have won," Nehlen has said numerous times.
 
Cignetti assumed an administrative role at WVU before returning to the field at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1986. It was at Division II IUP where he enjoyed his greatest success as a coach and athletic director. 
 
He led the Indians to 13 Division II playoff appearances, including a pair of championship-game trips in 1990 and 1993. His record in 20 seasons at IUP was an impressive 182-50-1.
 
He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013.
 
Cignetti's other son Frank Jr. is the offensive coordinator at Pitt.
 
"So proud to be your son, player & assistant," Frank Jr. tweeted before today's Tennessee game.
 
No cause of death was revealed.