Big East Sports Blog

Apologies go out to Butch Jones, Doc Holliday, Terry Bowden and Jimbo Fischer.  Your interest was both flattering and appreciated.  But West Virginia found their man to replace former head coach Rich Rodriguez.  In fact, they never really had to look far to find him.

The Mountaineers removed the interim tag and promoted Bill Stewart to head football coach just hours after West Virginia convincingly destroyed Oklahoma 48-28 in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl on Wednesday night.

Stewart was named the interim head coach on Dec.16th when then head coach Rich Rodriguez took the same position at Michigan.  Several candidates immediately were interested in the vacant job, including a pair of West Virginia natives, Central Michigan coach Butch Jones and former Auburn coach Terry Bowden. 

A lesson to be learned from all of this, for all coaches in any sport: player support means everything.  If the players are willing to back you, stand behind you and go out there, suit up and lay it all on the line, that’s the highest reward.  It helped to have star quarterback Pat White backing him.  During the post-game press conference, White immediately began lobbying for Stewart to take over.  When White spoke,  Athletic director Ed Pastilong listened.

Stewart was the head coach at VMI from 1994-96, going 8-25 in three seasons.  Stewart has also had stops as an assistant coach at North Carolina, Arizona State, Air Force, Salem College, William & Mary, Navy, and Marshall.

This season, Stewart was the tight ends and fullbacks coach, as well as special teams coordinator.  Stewart arrived in Morgantown in 2000 after he spent a couple seasons in CFL (Canadian Football League) as an offensive coordinator.

The departure of Rich Rodriguez was supposed to be the final death blow for West Virginia leading into the Fiesta Bowl.  They lost the Backyard Brawl, the chance to play in the BCS title game, and then Rodriguez bolted for Big Blue.  The Mountaineers weren’t supposed to contend with Oklahoma, let alone beat them soundly. 

Hats off and congrats to Stewart.  He got this team back to the level of football they were playing B.P. (before Pittsburgh).  You can’t say enough about the preparation Stewart put into this game, and you could clearly tell West Virginia had something to prove, something to play for: pride, respect, and Bill Stewart.

He may be built like a tight end, but the hardwood suits Luke Harangody just fine. Harangody had a monster game against West Virginia, scoring 29 points and grabbing 16 rebounds as Notre Dame defeated West Virginia 69-56 on Thursday night.

Notre Dame (11-2, 1-0)  won their ninth game in a row and 29th straight at home, holding West Virginia to their worst shooting night of the year, coupled with their lowest point total of the year.  The Mountaineers were held to just 32 percent shooting in the game.  They were 11-of-31 from the field in the first half (35.5 percent). 

The Irish trailed 14-11 early in the first half, but a ferocious 22-8 run put them up 33-22, and took a 37-28 lead into halftime.  Harangody, along with Ryan Ayers and Zach Hillesland, combined for 16 of the 22 points during their run.  Harangody was on fire in the first half connecting on his first seven shots, finishing the first half 7-of-8 from the field.  Harangody finished the game 11-of-16.

Alex Ruoff led West Virginia with 18 points and was the sole player in double figures for Bob Huggins.  While their 32 percent overall field goal percent may not have been pretty, it was their 3-point shooting that was hideous for the Mountaineers.  They didn’t see many three’s that they didn’t like, and they also didn’t connect on many of them either.  Overall, West Virginia shot a putrid 5-of-25 from beyond the arc, good for 20 percent shooting.  They were 3-of-13 in the first half and 2-of-12 in the second half.

While Notre Dame is on a roll, West Virginia has struggled the past two games with their shooting and interior defense.  In their overtime loss to Oklahoma, Blake Griffin and Longar Longar beat up West Virginia inside, combining for 40 points and 20 rebounds (16 rebounds by Griffin). Tonight it was Harangody that killed West Virginia with 29 points and 16 rebounds.  Their 3-point shooting has been dreadful in their past two losses, shooting 10-of-49 from beyond the arc.  West Virginia was also outrebounded again in the loss to Notre Dame as well.  It’s a pretty simple philosophy in basketball at any level; if you don’t shoot well and you don’t win the rebounding battle, you’re not going to win.  An ideal the Mountaineers have painfully learned the last two outings.

The Mountaineers are now 10-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play.  They’ve dropped their last two games after having won their previous eight in a row.  West Virginia will look to avoid their third straight loss this Sunday afternoon when they host No. 11 Marquette at 2 p.m.  For the Fighting Irish, they’ll put their nine-game win streak and 29 straight home victories on the line when they host Connecticut at 9 p.m.

Anyone remember that Rodriguez guy that used to patrol the sidelines for West Virginia?  Chances are you haven’t completely forgotten about him, but after seeing the performance Pat White and the Mountaineers turned in against Oklahoma, I’m certain there’s a large contingent in Morgantown saying ‘Rich who’?  This night belonged to Pat White and interim coach Bill Stewart.

 Stewart became the first of six interim coaches this bowl season to get a win and White ran for 150 yards and threw for 176 and two touchdowns as No.9 West Virginia walloped No.4 Oklahoma 48-28 in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl on Wednesday night. Freshman running back Noel Devine had a huge coming out party, rushing for 108 yards and two touchdowns.  In all, the Mountaineers totaled a whopping 349 yards on the ground and four scores on 39 carries. 

This was a heck of a game for West Virginia to come into after losing the Backyard Brawl in the season finale to Pittsburgh, their head coach, and a chance to play for the national title.  Their reward for their recent struggles: ringing in 2008 against Big 12 champions Oklahoma.  You could argue the Sooners were national championship worthy.  Or so we all thought. 

It was surely a heck of way to rebound from all that as well.  Early in the game, West Virginia lost running back Steve Slaton to a leg injury, but Devine stepped right in and filled in nicely for the departed Slaton.  The Mountaineers played with a focus and a high level of emotion that engulfed the Sooners.  Bottom line: West Virginia was hungry, they wanted this one in the worst way.  Oklahoma did not.

Oklahoma returned to the Fiesta Bowl looking to avenge their overtime shocking loss to Boise State 43-42 a year ago.  The Sooners have now dropped four straight BCS Bowl games.  Since 2004, Bob Stoops and the Sooners have lost to LSU, USC, Boise State, and West Virginia in BCS bowls.

Oklahoma had zero answers for the spread, high-octane offense West Virginia sported.  Of their six touchdowns scored, five of them came from at least 20 yards.  The Mountaineers had touchdown scores of 57, 21, 17, 30, 79, and 65. 

Trailing 20-6 at the half, Oklahoma cut the lead to 20-15 on a one-yard run by Chris Brown halfway through the third.  A couple of shall we say, curious moves by Stoops followed.  A two-point conversation attempt that failed, then an on-side kick that also field.  West Virginia recovered the onside attempt and needed only six plays to score, a 17-yard run by Devine.  Darius Reynaud’s 30-yard touchdown run had the Sooners in a deep hole, trailing 34-15 to start the fourth quarter. 

After Oklahoma scored on a 19-yard touchdown pass from Sam Bradford to Quentin Chaney, White put the Sooners on ice with a 79-yard pass to Tito Gonzales, the lead now 41-21 for WVU.  Noel Devine came calling one final time, slamming the final nail in the coffin for Oklahoma with a 65-yard scamper into the endzone.  Game, set, match for the Mountaineers. 

It was a game the Sooners would like to forget, but since 2000, one begs the question in Sooner country: what have you done for me lately?  The defense was shredded by the vaunted rushing attack of West Virginia.  They couldn’t consistently allow time for Same Bradford to get comfortable in the pocket.  Take into account the Sooners had 6 penalties in the first half to match their six first downs.  A very undisciplined by Oklahoma, committing a total of 13 penalties for 113 yards.  

For the Sooners, Bradford was 21-of-33 for 242 yards and two scores, while Quentin Chaney hauled in four catches for 129 yards and one touchdown.  The 349 rushing yards allowed by the Sooners were the most Oklahoma has allowed under Bob Stoops. 

The Sooners were humiliated and the Mountaineers were elated.  Many thought Oklahoma would be the victors 48-28.  Unfortunately for Stoops and company, games aren’t based off of opinions and the consensus of what people think.  West Virginia still had Pat White and they still had each other to rally around leading up the Fiesta Bowl.  Mission accomplished.

It took 50 minutes to decide who was going to outlast the other, as Oklahoma knocked off No. 23 West Virginia 88-82 in double overtime on Saturday night.  The combination of Longar Longar and Blake Griffin finally proved to be too much for the Mountaineer’s interior defense to handle.

Griffin had a monster double double, scoring 18 points and pulling down 16 rebounds, while Longar scored a game-high 22 points.  Longar was hampered by foul trouble early, playing only five minutes in the first half due to foul trouble.  But Longar redeemed himself when it mattered most, scoring eight of the Sooners 15 points in the second overtime frame.  Longar was able to easily take control after West Virginia had frontcourt starters Jamie Smalligan and Da’Juan Butler foul out in the second overtime. 

As good as Longar and Griffin were for Oklahoma’s frontcourt, the Sooners backcourt wasn’t too bad either.  David Godbold scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds, and Austin Johnson added 13 points while dishing out nine assists.

For West Virginia, a familiar pair led the way once again.  Joe Alexander scored a team-high 21 points and Alex Ruoff added 17 points.  The defense for the Mountaineers failed them when it mattered the most, allowing Oklahoma to shoot 63 percent in final 30 minutes of the game.  The penetration of Godbold and Butler haunted West Virginia and Longar and Griffin overmatched the Mountaineer’s up front.

Oklahoma snapped West Virginia’s eight game winning streak, improving to 10-3 on the season, while the loss puts West Virginia at 10-2.  Until this loss, West Virginia hadn’t suffered a defeat since a late November loss at the hands of Tennessee.

The Mountaineers will have to quickly regroup and go back to work next week.  They’ll be facing one of the hottest teams in the Big East when they travel to South Bend to begin conference play.  West Virginia will try to halt Notre Dame’s seven game win streak and hand the Irish their first loss at home next Thursday, Jan. 3rd at 7 p.m.

Bob Huggins became the sixth active head coach in Division I and the 29th head coach to reach the 600 win milestone, as West Virginia throttled Canisius 77-54 Saturday afternoon.

Joe Alexander had a game-high 20 points and Alex Ruoff added 14 points to propel the Mountaineers (10-1) to their eight straight victory and second straight 10-1 season.  The loss drops Canisius to 1-10 on the season.  The Golden Griffins are off to their worst start since the 1987-88 season where they started off 1-11.

The Golden Griffins started all underclassmen (three freshman and two sophomores) and essentially lost this game in the first half.  West Virginia went on a 19-5 run to end the first half and went into the break with a 33-17 lead.

Canisius has had their share of offensive troubles in the 07-08 season.  A young and inexperienced team, the Golden Griffins have been held to 60 points or less seven times in their first 11 games this year.  Their offense continued to struggle on this day, ending the first half on a dreadful 1-for-13 shooting from the field and coughing up the ball 4 times in the final six minutes of first half action.

All ten victories for West Virginia this season have come by at least 14 points and they entered Saturday’s game with the nation’s best scoring margin, outscoring their opponents by a whopping 29.4 points per game.

Keep in mind the Mountaineers have yet to enter conference play in the Big East, and they’ll encounter difficult road tests in 2008, traveling to UConn, Louisville, and Villanova.  They’ll also run into Georgetown and they’ll have the unfortunate task of colliding with Pittsburgh twice.  But certainly as 2007 draws to a close, West Virginia has done what good teams are supposed to do: win games you should win, and put games away early against inferior opponents.

A truly great feat for head coach Bob Huggins.  Huggins amassed 399 of his 600 wins as the head coach of Cincinnati.  Not many coaches can say they’ve come full circle in their coaching careers like Huggins can.  Huggins played at West Virginia, started his coaching career as an assistant at West Virginia, and now has returned to his alma mater as the head coach.

 It was “Darris Nichols Day” Wednesday in Radford, but it’s the night he turned in that won’t soon be forgotten by his hometown.

Darris Nichols returned to his old stomping ground Wednesday night and lowered the boom on Radford, helping  West Virginia to a 90-60 rout.

The senior guard had a game-high 23 points, including shooting a deadly 7-for 10 from three-point range to lead the #24 ranked Mountaineers to victory.  West Virginia improves to 9-1, notching their seventh win in a row.  The loss drops Radford to 4-9 and the Highlanders have now dropped three in a row.

Alex Ruoff also scored 23 points and Da’Sean Butler chipped in with 14 points.  The Mountaineers shot 51.4 percent from beyond the arc and 47 percent from the field.  The Highlanders shot 33 percent from three-point range, but were a dreadful 2 for 9 from the free throw line.

West Virginia led at halftime 36-27.  Out of the break the Mountaineers took a double-digit lead at 39-29, and the Highlanders were never a factor in the second half.  West Virginia built their largest lead of the game, 85-50, with just over six minutes remaining in the second half.

Nichols was honored during the pregrame, being remembered by the city as a standout high school star.  December 19th will now be dubbed “Darris Nichols Day” in the city of Radford. 

The win marks No. 599 in the coaching career of Bob Huggins.  Huggins will aim for his 600th victory on Saturday, Dec. 22nd when the Mountaineers travel to Canisius to take on the Golden Griffins at 4 p.m.

It’s true what they say: bad thing come in threes.  

They ended the 2007 regular season with a stunning 13-9 home loss to Pittsburgh in the Backyard Brawl.  They lost their chance to play in the BCS Championship game. Now, they’ve lost their head football coach. It certainly hasn’t been all sunshine and chocolate clouds for WVU in the month of December.

On Monday, former head coach Rich Rodriguez officially signed on to become the next head coach at Michigan, leaving the Mountaineers to begin searching for his successor.

 Terry Bowden, former head coach at Auburn, has stated that coaching at West Virginia would be a dream job.  Bowden grew up in Morgantown, while his father, Bobby Bowden, was the head coach at West Virginia.  Bowden has been out of the coaching loop since 1998.

West Virginia athletic director Ed Pastilong will have 15 days to name an interim head coach to lead the Mountaineers into their Fiesta Bowl contest with the Oklahoma Sooners on Jan.2. 

Two names that will be off of the potential list are offensive coordinator Calvin Magee or secondary coach Tony Gibson.  Both will be accompanying Rodriguez to Ann Arbor.

The month long manhunt for the next head coach at Michigan is finally over.  Rich Rodriguez is now a Michigan Man.  He’ll trade the Old Gold and Blue of West Virginia for the Maize and Blue of the Wolverines

Rodriguez has agreed to become the new head at the University of Michigan, replacing former head coach Lloyd Carr, who retired as Michigan’s head coach on Nov. 19th after 13 seasons at the helm in Ann Arbor. 

Rodriguez amassed a 60-29 record in his seven seasons as the West Virginia head football coach.  Hired by the Mountaineers in 2001, Rodriguez built West Virginia into a Big East power from the ground up.  During his tenure in Morgantown, Rodriguez guided West Virginia to four Big East Conference Championships, including three straight from 2003-2005.  Rodriguez guided West Virginia to their first ever BCS Bowl victory in 2006, a 38-35 win over Georgia in the Nokia Sugar Bowl.   

Rodriguez had West Virginia poised to play in BCS Championship game until they were stunned on the final game of the year by Pittsburgh, a 13-9 shocker at home.  During the 2007 campaign, Rodriguez led West Virginia to #2 in the BCS standings and #1 in the Coaches’ Poll, both school records.

A year ago Rodriguez was coveted by Alabama to become their next head coach, however, Rodriguez remained at West Virginia.  This time around, Rodriguez jumped at the opportunity to patrol the sidelines in the Big House. 

He was beloved and revered at West Virginia and for a long time, when Mountaineers football comes to mind, you’re going to think of Rich Rodriguez.  You’re going to think of his suffocating no-huddle offense.  But as good as West Virginia football has become, there aren’t a whole lot of ‘Michigans’ out there.  When they come knocking on your door, you better let them in.

Certainly reviving the Wolverines football program will be no easy task, and where Carr has failed, Rodriguez certainly must succeed.  Under Carr, Michigan has lost four of their last five meetings with Ohio State, (including three straight losses) and has dropped four straight bowl games. 

Rodriguez’s spread offense will surely be a bit of a culture shock in the Big House.  The Wolverines offense has largely been built around the traditional pocket-passer quarterback suck as Elvis Grbac, Tom Brady, and Brian Griesie.  One thing is certain: a change was needed in Michigan.  Rodriguez, and his offensive scheme, will bring just that.

He wasn’t their first choice.  Les Miles was wooed multiple times, only to turn down Michigan repeatedly.  Greg Schiano said thanks, but no thanks.  He’s the first head coach hired by the Wolverines outside the Michigan family since Michigan coaching legend Bo Schembechler was hired from the the University of Miami-Ohio in 1969. 

The path to bring a new face on the sidelines in Ann Arbor wasn’t easy, but during any journey, there are always bumps and obstacles along the way. 

Rodriguez’ arrival to the Maize and Blue doesn’t mean that this time next year, we’ll see Michigan in the BCS Championship game either.  But for the Michigan fanbase that has been screaming for a shakeup and aching for a new era, it won’t take long for the Big House to become Rodriguez’ house.