12 Musket Salute: Why Bill Stewart Should Be Remembered for Saving Morgantown

It's hard to believe that Bill Stewart is a polarizing figure.  The subdued, unassuming coach From New Martinsville, WV is, however, just that.  Three consecutive nine win seasons have been more than enough to make Mountaineer nation part like the Red Sea and make way for Dana Holgorsen and his bag of miracles.  Expectations have never been higher in Morgantown, not since Rich Rodriguez led a couple of guys named Slaton and White out onto the field in 2007 have the Mountaineers seemed poised to shoot back to the top of the national stage.  So when West Virginia lines up against Marshall on September 4th, don't be too surprised if the cameras look past Stew and instead let Dana Holgorsen soak up the live feed.

 But before Stewart hits play on his swan song, there needs to be a moment of reflection. I'm talking specifically about a January night in 2008 when West Virginia was expected to roll over and play sacrificial lamb to a heavily favored Oklahoma squad.  I want people to remember that that Mountaineer team somehow, some way, managed to pull out one of the great BCS upsets of the last few seasons and I want people to realize that none of that would've been possible without Bill Stewart.

Stewart wasn't meant to win anything that night, instead he was charged with janitorial work.  With Rich Rod reading the gravy train to Ann Arbor and the score 13-7 haunting the dreams of an entire state, Bill Stewart was meant to mop up what Rodriguez couldn't stomach.  Stewart though, wily old cat he is, ditched the mop and instead brought a wand with him to Tempe and with a little "leave no doubt" voodoo, Stewart turned meltdown into real magic.  That night, there wasn't a team in the country that could've ran with WVU.  They played with a poise and a purpose that was never visible when Rodriguez called the shots; They were a team possessed.       

Yet, over the last three seasons, Stewart's M.O. has become that of the perennial underachiever—a man with an excess of offensive weapons but no clue how to man the controls.  I'm not defending Stewart as a tactician. Don't get me wrong—the man is no chess wiz.  But the man's courage should never, ever be called into question. It was that courage that fueled an orphaned Mountaineer team in the 2008 Fiesta bowl, and it was that courage that kept West Virginia's program from completely disintegrating in the wake of Rodriguez's departure. 

Very few men could have shouldered the pain and anguish of an entire state the way Stewart did, and since that night—now three years later—he's still carrying that load, as silent and diligent as ever.  

Over time, I hope Mountaineer nation can learn to appreciate the great service Stewart has done for  his team, his University and—most importantly—his state.   He was the benefactor of RichRod's abandoned dream and unfortunately, has fallen short of finishing the work himself.  Now, Dana Holgorsen has come to grab the torch and, in a sense, become the next great architect to mold the program of the future. 

Stewart never managed to steer West Virginia back to BCS country, but he took great care in making sure that they stayed relevant, stayed successful and never had to endure the bleak reality of having to start over from scratch.  Had anyone else been in his shoes on January 2, 2008, that bleak reality would have been realized. 

Tonight, West Virginia hosts its annual spring game in what will likely serve as a dress rehearsal for Stewart's departure out of Touchdown City.  The cameras and voice recorders will encircle Holgorsen, eager to catalogue the thoughts and musings of Morgantown's future king. 

What the fans and the media circus will likely forget is that Stewart, the lame duck on his way out, is the reason that any of this happened.  He is a walking testament to what a little unshakable faith can accomplish.  His monument isn't built on three great seasons at the top of the polls, but rather one great, storybook moment in time.  That Fiesta bowl win was more than just a pretty upset—it has come to define an era of football in Morgantown and is emblematic of a state's spirit. 

In a year when West Virginia fell from mountaintop to valley floor, Stewart took his state upon his back and made the climb, against all odds.  Nothing could be more fitting for a faithful son of West Virginia.  Mountain Momma should be so proud.