West Virginia picked 6th, Oklahoma 1st in Big 12 preseason football poll
West Virginia was picked to finish sixth and Oklahoma was the choice for the sixth consecutive season to win the conference championship in the Big 12 preseason football poll released Thursday. Voting was conducted among media representatives. The Sooners topped the preseason rankings for the ninth time since 2011. They...
West Virginia to retire jersey numbers for Major Harris, Darryl Talley
Major Harris was an electric quarterback and linebacker Darryl Talley was a dominant defender at West Virginia. The two superstars will have their jersey numbers retired during the 2021 season by the West Virginia athletic department. Harris’ No. 9 will be retired during the Oklahoma State game Nov. 6, and...
U mad, bro?: Fans have anxiety about trading Adam Frazier, doubts about the Pirates draft, concerns about college sports
Anxiety about an Adam Frazier trade. Depression over the Pirates draft philosophy. And concerns over the future of college sports. That’s what filled up the comments section in the columns, email inbox and Twitter interactions for this week’s “U mad, bro?” We start with a tweet from Kenny. He agrees...
Sports law expert: Potential for big NCAA changes exist but are ‘not going to happen overnight’
Monday’s Supreme Court loss for the NCAA in the Alston case got a ton of attention nationally. But it could be years before a substantive change comes as a result. Michael McCann is a sports legal analyst for Sportico and was a longtime contributor to Sports Illustrated. He’s also a...
Tim Benz: Supreme Court mocks notion of NCAA ‘amateurism;’ now let’s mock goal of ‘fair’ NCAA economics
Pick a topic. Not just sports. Any topic. Now pick a handful of conservative people you know and a handful of liberal people you know and have them discuss. See if you can get all nine or 10 of them to agree. On anything. Let me know how that goes....
Tim Benz: Potential hurdles for 12-team College Football Playoff as 2nd round of approval looms
The recently released plan to incorporate a 12-team College Football Playoff was largely met with applause last week. But it’s still a long way from becoming a reality. Remember, the idea was merely crafted by a CFB playoff subcommittee comprised of Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey,...
WVU will welcome the return of football fans to Milan Puskar Stadium at 100% capacity
In one of the final steps toward the return to normalcy at West Virginia football games, athletic director Shane Lyons said Tuesday that Milan Puskar Stadium will return to 100% fan capacity this season, with full stadium operating procedures, including pregame tailgating in the parking lots. Plus, all West Virginia...
Greensburg native Mark Goetz is WVU’s first All-American golfer
It was a historic day for the West Virginia golf team. That’s because senior and Greensburg native Mark Goetz became the school’s first All-American golfer. Goetz, who just missed qualifying for the NCAA Division I championship, was named an honorable mention All-American by Golfweek. “This is a big moment, not...
West Virginia men’s soccer joining Conference USA
The West Virginia men’s soccer team has a new home. The Mountaineers are joining Conference USA as an affiliate member, starting in the 2022 season. “Conference USA has quickly become a men’s soccer powerhouse, with so many reputable schools that have a strong tradition,” said WVU coach Dan Stratford, who...
Tim Benz: College football playoff expansion idea is good, but don’t go too far
The new college football playoff proposal is a case of a good idea that’s going half a step too far. According to multiple national reports Thursday, the current four-team format would extend to 12 schools. It’d be composed of the six highest-ranked conference champions, followed by the six highest-ranked at-large...
Backyard Brawl with Pitt returns to West Virginia’s basketball schedule
West Virginia’s 2021-22 nonconference basketball schedule features meetings with two former Mountaineers, the return of longtime foes Pitt and Connecticut and a spot in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. WVU will open the regular season Nov. 9 against Oakland at the WVU Coliseum. Three days later, Pitt comes to Morgantown for...
LaVar Arrington, 3 Steelers among Western Pa. stars nominated for College Football Hall of Fame
Nominees for the 2022 College Football Hall of Fame class include several Western Pennsylvania stars with roots in Bethel Park, Slippery Rock and many places in between. Plus, there are three who made their mark with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The ballot was emailed Wednesday to more than 12,000 NFF members...
West Virginia’s Jackson Wolf strikes out 7 in complete game
OKLAHOMA CITY — Jackson Wolf struck out seven in his first career complete game, and No. 8 seed West Virginia beat top-seeded Texas, 5-1, on Wednesday in the Big 12 Tournament. West Virginia (25-25) had just eight conference wins this season, with two coming against Texas to close the regular...
Big 12 revenue lower again in pandemic at $34.5M per schoolVideo
The Big 12 Conference is distributing about $345 million of revenue to its 10 schools, the second year in a row that figure has been lower because of the covid-19 pandemic. Each school, including West Virginia, will get about $34.5 million for the 2020-21 fiscal year, down from $37.7 million...
If WVU can play Penn State, Duquesne, Pitt on consecutive football Saturdays, why not Pitt vs. Duquesne?
A random tweet about West Virginia opening the 2023 football season with consecutive games against Penn State, Duquesne and Pitt raised this question Wednesday afternoon (also on Twitter): Why not Pitt vs. Duquesne in football? Major pats on the back to West Virginia for scheduling the first three games of...
Greensburg native Goetz sets WVU scoring record
Mark Goetz played one of his best rounds in his collegiate career at West Virginia on Tuesday at the NCAA Division I Regional at Noblesville,Ind. The WVU senior and Greensburg native shot a 6-under-par 66, the lowest round ever by a WVU golfer in an NCAA Tournament, during Round 2...
Browns pick WVU linebacker Tony Fields in 5th round
West Virginia linebacker Tony Fields II, who played one season for the Mountaineers after three years at Arizona, was selected in the fifth round of the NFL Draft on Saturday by the Cleveland Browns. He was drafted 153rd overall. Fields (6-foot-1, 220 pounds) recorded 88 tackles for the Mountaineers in...
Pitt players eagerly await NFL Draft weekend
Here’s what we know about the NFL Draft, for sure: We don’t know anything, for sure. There was plenty of speculation — both good and bad — last month after Pitt’s Pro Day when the 10 Panthers who hired agents, plus several others, worked out for NFL scouts, coaches and...
WVU, Tennessee football teams to open 2028 in Charlotte
Fans of the West Virginia and Tennessee football teams can mark Sept. 2 on their 2028 calendars as the Mountaineers and Volunteers will do battle that day in the Duke’s Mayo Classic in Charlotte, N.C., the Charlotte Sports Foundation announced Tuesday. West Virginia will be designated the home team for...
West Virginia’s Derek Culver signs with agent, will enter NBA draft
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — All-Big 12 forward Derek Culver has decided to skip his senior season at West Virginia to enter the NBA draft. Culver announced Monday night on Instagram that he has signed with an agent. Culver was named to the all-Big 12 first team as a junior. The...
Greensburg’s Mark Goetz, WVU looking to make noise at Big 12 golf championship
The Big 12 golf championship begins Monday at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan., and West Virginia senior Mark Goetz is ready to roll. The Greensburg native and Kiski School graduate is coming off his first collegiate victory and a career-low 65. Goetz won the Mountaineer Invitational at the...
West Virginia football coach Neal Brown gets 2-year contract extension
Neal Brown was rewarded Thursday after guiding West Virginia football to a 6-4 record and a victory over Army in the Liberty Bowl this past season. Brown, who just completed his second season on the WVU sideline, received a two-year contract extension that will run through the 2026 season. “Coach...
Grad transfer Pauly Paulicap bolsters West Virginia frontcourt
Pauly Paulicap, a 6-foot-8, 225-pound forward, will join the West Virginia men’s basketball team, coach Bob Huggins announced Thursday. Paulicap, a graduate transfer, has committed to West Virginia after previously attending DePaul and Manhattan. He has one year of eligibility remaining after playing all 19 games for DePaul as a...
WVU football’s Gold-Blue Game set for Saturday
West Virginia football’s annual Gold-Blue spring football game is back after a one-year covid hiatus. The game will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. The stadium will operate at approximately 25% capacity as part of health, safety and wellness measures being implemented in response...
Charlie Huggins, father of WVU coach Bob Huggins, dies at 87
The father of West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins has died. Charlie Huggins, who led high school basketball teams to three Ohio state championships, was 87. James Gardner of Baxter-Gardner Funeral Home in Sherrodsville, Ohio, said Charlie Huggins died Tuesday. Gardner, the funeral home’s owner and director, said no official...
