In the Heart of Morgantown, WV is West Virginia University. A program that often knows success in football and basketball, winning both the NIT Championship and the Gator Bowl.
This year, West Virginia had led one of its own home. Bob Huggins had become the new men's basketball coach for his alma mater and his home state. For the first time in WVU history, both teams were coached by what are referred to as "True Mountaineers."
Morgantown was not unfamiliar territory to Michigan AD Bill Martin. Eight months ago, he had lured then WVU Basketball Coach John Beilin to Michigan—and in a whirlwind of meetings over a 48-hour period, Bill Martin had convinced WVU head football coach Rich Rodriguez to do the same.
As a native West Virginian, I cannot convey to you how much this stung. It was much worse than Beilin, and the fact that Michigan had raided the Mountaineer cupboard once again didn't help.
A short history of Rich Rodriguez: he is from Grant Town, West Virginia, where he played high school football and won a state championship. Not highly recruited, he walked on and eventually started coaching for Don Nehlen at West Virginia University. Rodriguez was the youngest coach in college football history at 24, with stops at Glennville State, Tulane, and Clemson before arriving in Morgantown in 2000.
As most already know, as of December 19th, 2007, Rich Rodriguez still wears blue and gold—but now as a member of the Michigan Wolverines.
People in West Virginia are stunned. Not because they wanted him, but because he left. Rich was introduced in Ann Arbour and then promptly resigned from WVU.
Unfortunately, Coach Rod's departure has had different type of negative effect on Mountaineers fans. As WVU Athletic Director Ed Pastilong searches for the next head coach, a few names keep coming up amongst fans, and three of them have already interviewed.
The names under consideration are: former Auburn coach and broadcaster Terry Bowden, Central Michigan head coach Butch Jones, Florida assistant coach Doc Holiday, and Florida State heir apparent Jimbo Fisher. I have my personal top pick, and I assure you it isn't any of these.
The biggest problem right now is that WVU fans are looking for what Michigan was looking for: a hometown Hero. Each one of those candidates is from West Virginia, and has played or coached at WVU at one point in time.
West Virginia fans have a skewed vision of who should be coach because of our experience with former coaches. Coach Rodriguez was a local boy, as is Coach Huggins. Sure, it means a bit more when a player returns to coach his alma mater—but in the case of WVU fans, they want a "True Mountaineer" leading the way, just for the sake of the person being a "True Mountaineer."
The Mountaineers fans, administration, boosters, and the Governor in this case need to look outside the state borders for possible candidates. Look at Boise State's Chris Peterson, who has been wildly successful. Look at ECU's Skip Holtz, who runs a spread and has been doing pretty well with it while not nearly having the talent of a Pat White. Those are just a couple of suggestions.
The WVU fan base needs to rethink their approach to finding Rodriguez's successor, and realize that the next great Mountaineer coach may not be from WV, may not have played at WV, and may have no ties to WV whatsoever.
The administration needs to hurry the process along. Right now, the the Mountaineers are like a girl waiting for their father to decide on a husband for a pre arranged marriage.
Michigan's defensive coordinator Ron English is said to be ready for the next level. Maybe the Mountaineers administration should look at the fact that planes that fly from Michigan to WV to interview Rich Rodriguez probably also fly from West Virginia to Michigan as well.
Rumor is now circulating that Michigan’s Athletic Director Bill Martin has set his eyes on Nikki Izzo-Brown. The head coach of the WVU Wildly successful woman's soccer team. If you didn't know WVU had a woman's soccer team I suggest you take a look, these young ladies are a national powerhouse known across the country and they represent us well.
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