Colin Dunlap of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette has an interesting piece today on West Virginia University head football coach Bill Stewart. In the piece, Stewart shows that Mountaineer fan's passion sometimes borders on lunacy when he lets on that after last year's 17-9 victory over the Louisville Cardinals he received death threats.
↵↵↵"I got death threats, a guy e-mailed me death threats," Stewart said, sitting in an office, his index finger pointing to a computer on his desk. "And I know it was because we didn't beat [the point spread]. I turned it over to the authorities, but that bothered me. I mean, you have to be kidding me. That's not what this is supposed to be about."
↵Stewart, the sociable, deeply religious son of a pipefitter from New Martinsville, W.Va., rarely shows much emotion. Still, months later, he was visibly frazzled by the menacing correspondence.
↵He grew quiet for a moment before continuing, this time churning with more force.
↵"It's a Big East win!" Stewart said. "I can't make us score 46 and 44 points all the time, I can't script that".
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Alright people, I love the Mountaineers and I care deeply about how they perform on the field, but that's just insane. I tend to be of the school of thought that Stewart gets more criticism than he deserves, RichRod gets more praise than he deserves. The variable isn't the coach. It's Pat White. He was the game-changer. Besides, there are plenty of schools that would love back to back 9-4 seasons. Seriously.
↵I'll admit that this upcoming season is a big one for Stewart. It's the first year that he has real questions at the quarterback position. He also needs to pull together a promising but fledgling offensive line. And of course there are plenty of special teams issues to address. That said, a successful season this year, and I think he will have proved himself as a very good football coach. An unsuccessful season, and god knows what could happen...
↵So as enter the most glorious time of year with another season of Mountaineer football right around the corner, I leave you with these famous parting words: Stay Classy Morgantown.