By Bob Hertzel
MORGANTOWN — West Virginia’s second spring practice had just ended and as usual coach Bill Stewart gathered his team around him for a final talk. Normally, Stewart goes over a few points and the talk is over but this day it went a bit longer than normal.
“We had a little family discussion about what our goals are and what they should be,” Stewart explained later. “Last year we starting talking about championships; well, the only championship I want them talking about is the Big East championships. It is our goal and that will always be our goal. You can’t do anything without the Big East; you have to win it before you meet any other goals. Sometimes young guys put the horse before the cart.”
Sometimes we lose sight of just how pliable these kids can be. It’s hard to remain humble at 18 or 20 or even 22 when you see you are a contender for a national championship, when you are ranked No. 8 in the country, when you have to choose between interviewing with the Fairmont Times West Virginian or USA Today.
This was something Stewart mentioned a couple of weeks ago when he met with the media and pointed out the Big East championship is — and always was — the only goal West Virginia should be shooting for.
Stewart honestly believes that losing sight of reality had a negative effect upon his team … with some of the fault falling on him as a new coach who couldn’t derail what was going on.
“I believe that day in Greenville our young men found out that you have to do more than put on the old gold and blue. That game is when we said, ‘Oh, oh, Owen Schmitt isn’t here. Keilen Dykes isn’t here.’ I think they thought Patrick While would bail them out like he always did. I believe our eyes opened that day and that’s why I tell them they better respect all and fear none — that’s what we’re about at West Virginia.”
You might remember the comeuppance that occurred in Greenville, N.C., on Sept. 6, 2008. That is home to East Carolina and Mountaineer nation when in there thinking this was a pushover, be they fans or players.
The Mountaineers had just beaten Villanova, 48-21, in a game that should have told them they weren’t nearly as good as they thought they were, but everyone got revved up with Pat White throwing five touchdowns.
East Carolina was a Conference USA team, a school that had beaten WVU only once in its history, and this was supposed to be another sparring match.
With that game, the mystique was gone.
“I told them they better quit worrying about Game No. 13 and worry about game No. 1, 2 and 3,” Stewart said.
And that certainly is how it is going to have to be this year, for West Virginia will not hold a No. 8 preseason ranking. It may not be a Top 25 team coming into the season and will have to prove itself on the field.
That is why they have to go through the spring without an sense of ego or self importance, eager to learn and accept that you get only what you earn on the field.
NOTES: Call it a Holy War, if you must, but the first fight of the spring was between running back Noel Devine and linebacker Bob Mary. Holy? Noel vs. Mary! Guess whose side the coaches were on in this one, considering that Noel is the top running back on the team and Mary is a backup linebacker … Saturday the Mountaineers will scrimmage and Stewart has invited 500 of the Mountaineer Maniacs to attend … It begins at 11 a.m. and as Stewart said he had to offer the Maniacs pizza because “someone asked me how we could get them out at 11 a.m. when we can’t get them out for noon games.” … There will also be a number of recruits there on Saturday ... Quarterback Jarrett Brown threw the football well for the second straight day and Stewart made note that he did it against a Mountaineer secondary that has great speed … Redshirt wide receiver Gino Crump out of Washington, D.C., looks like a name you better learn.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
