Coach Neal Brown gets another chance to show improvement at West Virginia, but it could be his last
Neal Brown was allowed to keep his job at West Virginia after another lackluster season in 2022. Now it’s time for the fifth-year coach to show some improvement. The task will be tough with a brutal September schedule. Several key players transferred after last season, and the Mountaineers are picked...
Former WVU coach Huggins enters diversion program after drunken driving arrest
Former West Virginia men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins has entered a 12-month diversion program to resolve a drunken driving arrest. Huggins had been scheduled for a formal arraignment on Thursday. According to court records in Pittsburgh, that hearing was canceled last month after he was accepted into the program. Under...
Coaches facing heat in 2023 include WVU’s Brown, Indiana’s Allen, Missouri’s Drinkwitz
The silly season in college football, that time when coaches get fired and hired, seems to never stop. The dismissal of Pat Fitzgerald by Northwestern after an investigation into hazing in the program kicked off this year’s carousel. College administrators are also embracing the quick hook more than ever before....
Pitt’s Jeff Capel releases nonconference schedule, pleased Backyard Brawl with WVU will continue
Pitt released its 11-game nonconference basketball schedule Wednesday, and coach Jeff Capel is pleased that it features four opponents from power conferences. The highlight will be the hardwood version of the Backyard Brawl against West Virginia on Dec. 6 in Morgantown. It will be the 190th game in the series...
WVU coach Neal Brown on being picked last in Big 12: ‘We won’t finish there’
Neal Brown didn’t even wait for the question to be asked. During his opening remarks at Big 12 football media days Thursday, the West Virginia coach immediately stared down the elephant in the room – the fact that his Mountaineers had been picked, in a preseason vote of media members,...
Legal headaches just starting at Northwestern, West Virginia with Fitzgerald, Huggins, experts say
The legal headaches could only be starting for Pat Fitzgerald and Bob Huggins — and their schools. Fitzgerald was fired this week as Northwestern’s football coach following hazing allegations — but after the school had first announced a two-week suspension. West Virginia said Huggins had resigned after the Hall of...
Pitt wrestlers, WVU grad headline MMA fight card at ‘Brawl in The Burgh 17’
Wrestling is a huge part of a mixed martial artist’s repertoire. If fighters don’t grow up on the mats, they invest time to enhance this part of their game. “The two pathways in wrestling post-college are coaching or competing, looking to make an Olympic and World team,” said Mike Wilkins,...
First Call: Minkah Fitzpatrick finally tops best-safety list; Saquon Barkley to ‘pull a Le’Veon?’
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Minkah Fitzpatrick had spent most the offseason so far picking up plenty of figurative silver medals in the ultimately meaningless realm of “Best Of” lists. • In May, it was Pro Football Network that rated Fitzpatrick as the NFL’s second-best safety behind the Los Angeles Chargers’ Derwin...
Blue Jays draft WVU center fielder Braden Berry in 8th round
After the Pittsburgh Pirates selected right-handed pitcher Carlson Reed in the fourth round of the MLB Draft, his teammate, junior outfielder Braden Barry, went to the Toronto Blue Jays in the eighth round (No. 244 overall) on Monday. They are the 106th and 107th Mountaineers chosen all-time, including 37 under...
In statement, Bob Huggins denies he resigned as WVU coach, says program is ‘in need’
Bob Huggins, the hall of fame West Virginia basketball coach who was replaced after a DUI arrest June 16 in Pittsburgh, has denied writing a statement that was released the next day by the university under his name. “The false statement was sent under my name, but no signature is...
Bob Huggins says he never resigned as West Virginia’s coach and wants his job back, attorney claimsVideo
Bob Huggins says he never resigned as West Virginia’s basketball coach following a drunken-driving arrest and wants his job back, according to a letter from his attorney to the university. Huggins’ Cleveland-based attorney, David A. Campbell, wrote to the university Friday that Huggins “never signed a resignation letter and never...
West Virginia AD Wren Baker looks for ‘smoother waters’ after challenging first 7 monthsVideo
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Wren Baker couldn’t have imagined the challenges he would face over his first seven months as West Virginia’s athletic director. Baker has earned his keep — and then some — by making multiple hiring decisions since coming from North Texas. There will be at least a few...
After 11 seasons as WVU assistant, Ron Everhart named Mountaineers’ director of community relations
Ron Everhart, the former head men’s basketball coach at Duquesne who spent the past 11 seasons as an assistant under Bob Huggins at West Virginia, will assume a newly created position under first-year WVU coach Josh Eilert. Everhart will serve as the program’s director of community relations and player outreach....
Bishop Canevin safety Jason Cross, whose recruiting stock soared, commits to West Virginia
As one of the WPIAL’s hottest football recruits, Jason Cross spent months touring far-flung college campuses, with visits to Virginia Tech, Michigan State, Kentucky, Syracuse and Cincinnati on his calendar. Yet the rising senior at Bishop Canevin says a trip to Morgantown, W.Va., bested them all. “West Virginia definitely takes...
Former Duquesne coach Ron Everhart hopes to remain a WVU assistant
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — No one needs to tell Ron Everhart what it’s like to endure — and conquer — stressful, uncertain situations. Right now, Everhart has a job as an assistant basketball coach at West Virginia, the same one he has held for the past 11 seasons under Hall...
WVU athletic director Wren Baker supports continuing basketball version of Backyard Brawl with Pitt
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — The Pitt and West Virginia basketball teams have met 189 times, with No. 190 coming up this season. WVU athletic director Wren Baker said Monday he wants the series to continue beyond 2023-24, and he has made his intention known to Pitt’s Heather Lyke. “I called...
Bob Huggins’ legacy not ignored while West Virginia hands control of basketball program to Josh Eilert
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — From the outset of the news conference inside West Virginia Coliseum, WVU athletic director Wren Baker was honest. That included his willingness Monday to offer the important details of new coach Josh Eilert’s contract terms (10 months, $1.5 million) while speaking to a room full of reporters,...
West Virginia taps assistant Josh Eilert as interim men’s hoops coach
The next chapter of West Virginia men’s basketball, however short it may turn out to be, was revealed Saturday, as Mountaineers athletic director Wren Baker named Josh Eilert interim coach. Eilert fills the shoes of Bob Huggins, who recently resigned in the immediate aftermath of being arrested on suspicion of...
Reports: 3 West Virginia basketball players plan to transfer after Bob Huggins’ resignation
The fallout from former West Virginia coach Bob Huggins’ DUI arrest and subsequent resignation affected the Mountaineers’ roster in a significant manner Friday with reports that three veteran players are planning to enter the NCAA transfer portal. Kerr Kriisa, a transfer from Arizona, and Joe Toussaint, who averaged 9.4 points...
West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins steps down after arrest for DUI in Pittsburgh
West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins has resigned a day after his arrest on suspicion of drunken driving in the latest incident in a Hall of Fame career that imploded quickly. The university announced the resignation Saturday night. It came a month after the university suspended him for three games...
Aliquippa outside linebacker Cameron Lindsey stays home, commits to PittVideo
As Cameron Lindsey thanked family, friends, teammates and coaches — all those who had helped him get to the special moment — the soon-to-be Aliquippa senior linebacker, overcome with emotion, paused to collect himself. For Lindsey, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound star outside linebacker, decision day had arrived. In front of a...
Mars graduate JJ Wetherholt of West Virginia named 1 of 5 finalists for Dick Howser Trophy
Mars graduate JJ Wetherholt needed only two seasons at West Virginia to establish himself as one of the top college baseball players in the nation. Proof of his worthiness for that honor is his nomination Thursday as one of five finalists for the 36th Dick Howser Trophy, the Heisman Trophy...
First Call: Ex-Steeler, former Pitt Panther in mix for big media gig; lots of local ties to College Football Hall of Fame nominees
Wednesday’s “First Call” features a former Pittsburgh Steeler and an ex-Pitt Panther who may be in line for a big-time media job. Lots of Pittsburgh ties are on the list of College Football Hall of Fame nominees. Some NHL free agent projections seem funky. And the Milwaukee Brewers slipped through...
Backyard Brawl back in prime time; Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia football start times, networks announced
The calendar says summer is still three weeks away, but the college football fall schedule is coming into focus. Start times and networks for some Pitt, Penn State and West Virginia games were announced Wednesday by the schools and their respective conferences. ABC will put Pitt’s Sept. 16 game at...
Column: West Virginia’s Bob Huggins still has a job, somehow, despite anti-gay slur
The abhorrent word rolled easily from Bob Huggins’ lips. Not once, but twice. That should’ve been enough to earn an early retirement, but college athletics has no shame. So, Huggins remains the men’s basketball coach at West Virginia. A bit poorer, but hardly a pauper. And, yeah, he’ll be suspended...
