What a week it has been in University Town.
It began with the announcement that senior-to-be defensive back Charles Pugh ran afoul of the law and found himself dismissed from the Mountaineer football team and ended Friday with the announcement that first-year president Michael Garrison had elected to resign after serving in the position for only nine months.
For some football programs these would be the kind of distractions that would prohibit it from having any success during the upcoming season. However, this gold and blue squad is unlike any that has worn those colors.
It has already indured the loss of its head coach, who elected to bolt to ‘That school up North’, following an embarrassing 13-9 loss to arch rival Pittsburgh in the “Backyard Brawl”
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And, while the on-going legal battle between the former-defensive back and his alma mater continues into the summer months, it doesn’t appear to be having any effect on the Pat White-led team as it prepares to open the season against a No. 17 ranked (NCAA Division I Football Subdivision), Villanova.
In fact the only individuals who appear to be affected by the events surrounding the Mountaineer program are the magazine writers who spend much of the off-season hyping who will be playing in next January’s Bowl Championship Series title game.
With June just beginning four preseason polls have been released.
Each has West Virginia, which has finished ranked among the country’s elite Top 10 the least three seasons, listed among its Top 10 for the upcoming season. Phil Steele gives the gold and blue its top preseason mark at No. 6 while Lindy’s selected the Mountaineers as its No. 10 pick to win the national title.
In the midst of those highs and lows is Athlon and Surefire Scouting, which made the Mountaineers their No. 7 and No. 8 picks, respectively.
As we have seen over the past preseason rankings are worth as much as the paper, or the magazine, in which they are penned.
Lindy’s spent its entire section on the Mountaineers explaining how the legal woes surrounding the school and its former coach, as well as new head coach Bill Stewart’s lack of head coaching experience, as reasons why WVU fans shouldn’t expect the gold and blue to be in the national championship picture.
Someone forgot, however, to remind that article’s writer that the architect of a Mountaineer defense which stifled Oklahoma’s high-powered attack—Jeff Casteel—is one of the coaches who, like Stewart, remained loyal to WVU.
While the task of replacing more than half of his starters appears to be formidable, Casteel also has proven that the former-Paden City standout is more than up to the task. And with the addition of a pair of former-defensive coordinators in Steve Dunlap (Marshall, N.C. State) and David Lockwood (Minnesota), as well as the return of Bill Kirelawich, it doesn’t appear to be an impossible task.
Nor does seeing the Mountaineers back in the hunt for that elusive national title.
