Another McBride is Coming to Morgantown

Morgantown, West Virginia - Moments ago, Miles McBride’s sister, Kristen, announced on her Instagram account that she has decided to continue her athletic career at West Virginia University! McBride, a star high school volleyball player in Cincinnati, will play volleyball for the Mountaineers! McBride said the following on her announcement: “I’m excited to announce I will be continuing my academic and volleyball career at West Virginia University! I am truly blessed to have this opportunity!  Go Mountaineers!” Hopefully this means that her older brother Deuce will stay one more year in Morgantown instead of remaining in the 2021 NBA Draft!

Governor Justice Tells Hollywood Star to Kiss His Dog’s Butt

Morgantown, West Virginia - Last month, Bette Midler referred to West Virginians as “poor, illiterate and strung out” on social media after Senator Joe Manchin refused to support President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act. Moments ago, Governor Jim Justice had some strong words for Midler and ended his State of the State address today by holding up his bulldog “Babydog”, showing its butt to the camera and saying, “Babydog tells Bette Midler and all those out there: Kiss her heinie!” Justice continued, “Absolutely too many people doubted us. They never believed in West Virginia. They told every bad joke in the world about us.” https://twitter.com/judson4congress/status/1487121178938519562?s=21 Midler responded with a tweet that was quickly taken down that called Justice a “stereotypical Southern male.” Although that message was removed, she did retweet a message that said, “Here we can see a dog’s asshole. Right next to it is the butt of Jim Justice’s dog.” https://twitter.com/santiagomayer_/status/1487136089273876481?s=21  

Pac-12 Hires Oliver Luck

The Pac-12 has hired Oliver Luck in hopes of saving the conference.   Morgantown, WV - According to David Hookstead of Outkick, the Pac-12 Conference has hired former WVU Quarterback and Athletic Director Oliver Luck in an advisory role as a consultant. This move was made in hopes that he can help save the league following conference realignment. https://twitter.com/Outkick/status/1690357467597688833?s=20 The full extent of his position with the Pac-12 is not yet known, per Hookstead. (Photo by WVU Athletics) 

Mountaineer Voted TOP HUMAN COLLEGE MASCOT

Morgantown, West Virginia - After naming West Virginia the top tailgating atmosphere in the country, Big Game Boomer has named The Mountaineer as the top human college mascot in the nation! The Mountaineer was ranked #1 on the social media account's Top 50 list following by Florida State's Chief Osceola, Notre Dame's The Leprechaun, Oklahoma State's Pistol Pete and George Washington's George in the top five. The rest of the top ten consisted of Sparty from Michigan State, Lil' Red from Nebraska, the Masked Raider from Texas Tech, Wake Forest's Demon Deacon and East Carolina's PeeDee The Pirate. The Mountaineer has been the official mascot of West Virginia University since the late 1920s. https://twitter.com/BigGameBoomer/status/1408447773595385861?s=20

It’s Time for WVU to Honor Rich Rodriguez

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia -- Tomorrow, six outstanding former West Virginia contributors will be inducted into the 33rd class of honorees in the WVU Sports Hall of Fame. According to a press release from the university, the 2023 class includes Trevor Gathman (rifle), Bruce Irvin (football), TeShawne Jackson (gymnastics), Jay Jacobs (broadcaster), Buddy Quertinmont (men's basketball) and Renee Riccio (women's swimming & diving). This class brings the total number of inductees to 229. While these inductees are all very deserving of the honor, one person is clearly missing from the list. This may not be a popular opinion, but there just aren’t many people out there more deserving of a spot in the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame than former Head Coach Rich Rodriguez.  His 60-26 record during his 7 seasons in Morgantown were sensational and the final three years (2005-2007) the Mountaineers were one of the most successful football programs in the entire country. According to the official WVU Sports Hall of Fame website, “the Athletic Hall of Fame was instituted in 1991 to recognize those athletes and coaches that have helped pioneer WVU athletics into one of the most respected programs in the nation.” While Rodriguez left under less than desirable conditions, he certainly helped pioneer the Mountaineers into what they are today. To deny Rodriguez admission into the Hall of Fame would simply be spiteful and West Virginians are better than that.  There is no other reason to keep him out of the Hall of Fame other than to punish him for leaving the university and taking a better opportunity with better pay at Michigan. I did the very same thing when I left Mountaineer Sports to start "The Voice of Morgantown." Better pay, better opportunity, total no-brainer. Back in 2019, I did a candid interview with Rich Rodriguez.  Rodriguez was open, honest and still had very raw emotions about his time at West Virginia University.  It’s still difficult for him to talk about or think about his final game in Morgantown, a 13-9 loss to Pitt in 2007.  This, of course, was one of the worst losses in WVU football’s long history and Rich Rodriguez still, so many years later, feels the pain and sting associated with it. Rich Rodriguez:  A Prelude to the Interview: https://mountaineersports.com/rich-rodriguez-a-prelude-to-the-interview/ The Rich Rodriguez Interview:  https://mountaineersports.com/the-rich-rodriguez-interview/ There is a large portion of West Virginia fans that will never forgive Rich Rodriguez.  In their minds, he is a snake, a coward, someone that sold out the whole state of West Virginia for greed, for money and power and a better chance at a National Championship.  This group of people are loaded with ridiculous conspiracy theories about him somehow throwing the Pitt game, the most important game in his career, so that he could move on to Michigan.  Regardless of how absurd that is, it is ingrained in the collective mindset of some Mountaineer fans, so firmly fixed in their brains as an absolute truth.  This article isn’t for you. Tony Caridi, host of the Three Guys Before the Game podcast, interviewed Rodriguez and it reminded me what a really great guy Rich Rodriguez is and what an outstanding experience I had when I spoke with him.  He’s a West Virginian, through and through.  If he’s acting like he still cares about West Virginia and how he still feels the pain of the way he left Morgantown, he deserves an Oscar.  Unless he’s the best actor in the world, he’s about as genuine a person as they come in this business. Again, there is a large portion of West Virginia fans that won’t ever forgive him, but if you’re on the fence please listen to the Mountaineer Sports interview from March and Tony Caridi’s recent podcast, and give him a real shot.  Listen to the pain in his voice when the Pitt loss comes up.  Listen to him sincerely express real remorse about how his time at WVU ended.  He acknowledges his mistakes and he truly wishes he could do it all over. It’s been 14 years since he left and it’s time to forgive and forget.  Rich Rodriguez, now 60 years old, has made mistakes and has grown from them.   The mistakes he’s made just so happened to be on a very grand scale in front of an entire state of people that live and die with the football program that he led.  He did so much for our state, for the old Gold and Blue, and it’s time to remember that, to appreciate that, and to move on from any hard feelings about the way he left home. It's time to put him in the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, honor his achievements and move on from the bitterness and hatred stemming from a choice he made almost 15 years ago.

BREAKING: Colorado Joining the Big 12 in 2024

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — According to a report by Brett McMurphy, Colorado is leaving the PAC 12 and will return to the Big 12 Conference next season in 2024! In the deal, Colorado will receive the full $31.7 million Big 12 revenue share from ESPN and FOX media deal! Big 12 Presidents are meeting tonight, according to reports, to officially vote on Colorado joining. Stay tuned to The Voice of Morgantown for more on this developing story!  https://twitter.com/brett_mcmurphy/status/1684336226139099138?s=46&t=USDKe35TLtcCPitgUlQ1PA

Wouldn’t Trade These Coaches for Anyone

Morgantown, West Virginia – Bob Huggins will soon enter his 15th season as the Head Coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers basketball program and Football Head Coach Neal Brown starts his 3rd season leading the Mountaineers only 60 days from now. Huggins and Brown are in very different places in their careers – Huggins at the end of a long and illustrious career, and Brown at the very infancy of his time with West Virginia – and both coaches are very popular, respected figures in the state of West Virginia. Bob Huggins is a legend, a real West Virginian that could have coached anywhere in the world but chose his home in Morgantown.  Neal Brown is an up-and-comer, a rising star, a coach who says and does all of the right things and has Appalachian roots that ties him to the area. Bob Huggins’ popularity is at an all-time high.  With his outstanding history of winning and love of the state, Huggins could run for Governor of West Virginia and win big. Not many public people enjoy a 100% approval rating in their occupation, but Bob Huggins is universally loved and likely very close to having a perfect approval rating from West Virginians.  To test this theory, The Voice of Motown did an informal Approval Poll on our Twitter account and the results were astounding.  Like we thought, Bob Huggins’ numbers were incredible. In a small sampling of West Virginia fans (217 votes), Huggins received 95.4% “Yes” votes and 4.6% “No” votes for the question “Do you approve of the job that Bob Huggins is doing as the head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers?” Although it’s impossible to determine who or why a few people chose “No”, it’s likely that they were wise-asses or attempting to do something that would cause a stir among West Virginia fans.  Still, 95% approval rating is incredible and virtually unprecedented. In comparison, Neal Brown also received high marks, albeit not as high as Huggins.  When asked the question “Do you approve of the job Neal Brown is doing as the head coach of WVU in Year 2?”, 80.9% chose “Yes, I Trust the Climb” and 19.1% chose “No, not enough progress.” Regardless, both West Virginia coaches are respected and admired by the people of the state of West Virginia.  In a time where criticism is constant and coaches are particularly in the eye of scrutiny, Bob Huggins and Neal Brown have the overwhelming support of Mountaineer fans.  

Justice Makes Announcement on Face Masks

Last week, Governor Justice prepared West Virginia residents that he might make mask-wearing mandatory in all public and private buildings. “I want everyone to know that I am very, very seriously considering that at the beginning of next week, we may very well have to go to mandatory masks in buildings, you know, other than your homes. You go out, and you go into a building, you need to probably wear your mask. We tell you you need to, but we may have to go to mandatory masks, Moments ago, Justice said, "I hate like crazy to start with this, but we had our 94th and 95th deaths today.  I know it's not the popular decision to make right now, but wearing a covering over your face is the only thing we can do to protect you.  Face masks are now mandatory in the state of West Virginia when you are outside of your home and in public buildings." https://twitter.com/WVGovernor/status/1280131930051280897?s=20

BREAKING: Gordon Gee Seen in Local CVS with NO MASK ON

Morgantown, West Virginia - West Virginia University President E. Gordon Gee, who has implored students to wear a mask to prevent the spread of COVID, was pictured today in a local CVS without a mask on. Gee, who is 76 years old, is certainly at a vulnerable age.  However, Gee chose to carry his mask rather than wear it.  Check out the photos below: https://twitter.com/zslice6996/status/1305256013671563264?s=20   Moments ago, Gee issued an apology, saying, "Earlier I was shopping and did not keep my mask on for the entirety of my time in the store.  As president, I must hold myself to the highest standards and set the very best example for our University.  In this instance, I did not do that." https://twitter.com/gordongee/status/1305303696000024576?s=20   Gee continued: "As I have asked you to do the right things, so must you expect me to do the same.  I apologize for the error in judgment and commit that it will not happen again."   https://twitter.com/gordongee/status/1305303696922816513?s=20

Pros and Cons of Paying Student Athletes

The NCAA’s decision to allow student athletes to benefit from their own name, image and likeness is such a 180 from their previous stance that it’s difficult to believe that it’s true.  The NCAA has always stood firmly that they would not pay players and that an athlete’s scholarship was more than enough to compensate them for the money the university is making off of them. In a shocking turn of events, the Board of Governors chairman and President of Ohio State University Michael Drake released a statement following an NCAA meeting, saying in part, “We must embrace change to provide the best possible experience for college athletes.  This modernization for the future is a natural extension of the numerous steps NCAA members have taken in recent years to improve support for student athletes.” Pros: The ruling is a massive win for student athletes, of course.  After making billions and billions of dollars for universities, players being compensated is an obvious, fair decision and should have happened a long time ago. Trending: The Neal Brown Honeymoon is Over The argument that athletes are paid with their free education is antiquated.  Consider the elite players in football and basketball who make their selected university a lot of money and leave to become professionals without receiving a penny for what they did for the school they attended.  That “free education” is meaningless to them. Realistically, athletes have made billions of dollars and live under very difficult conditions while doing so.  Unable to get a job due to time restraints, athletes have very little spending money available.  What reason would an athlete have to stay in college when he/she could make more playing sports professionally?  Paying players is long overdue and I’m glad that it’s finally becoming a reality.  Having said that… Cons: The cons far outweigh the pros.  To begin, the disparity gap between a team like West Virginia and one like Duke in basketball or Alabama in football will become even more wide and more pronounced.  Why would a player choose to go to West Virginia when it could go to one of the larger schools and instantly be given a far better shot of exposure? Oscar Tshiebwe, the former 5 star McDonald’s All-American and current West Virginia Freshman, would not have chosen the Mountaineers and he shouldn’t under the future rules.  Money is important to everyone but particularly to young people just starting their adult lives.  This is terrible for college sports.  The elite programs already have huge advantages and it will only get worse under the new NCAA decision. The confusing nature of how students will be paid and what will be considered legal payments will be extremely confusing as well.  The potential issues it will cause are almost limitless.  Future elite players are going to be walking around campuses as millionaires.  This is grotesque for other students at universities who are attending school legitimately to become teachers, doctors, etc.  One of these students sitting next to a millionaire in class who doesn’t care whether he is there or not is just plain bad for academics. While I wish there was a plan in place where student-athletes can be paid and it not negatively impact college sports, it just doesn’t appear truly possible.  The far-reaching implications will not necessarily ruin college sports, it will certainly not make it better.

Mary Lou Retton is “Fighting For Her Life Right Now”

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia -- According to a report by USA Today writer Christine Brennan, West Virginia native Mary Lou Retton is in need of prayers. Brennan said the following on social media today: "Mary Lou Retton, one of the greatest names in U.S. Olympic history, has a very rare form of pneumonia and is fighting for her life. She is not able to breathe on her own and she's been in the ICU for over a week now." Retton's 26 year old daughter, McKenna Kelley, posted the following message on Instagram: "My amazing mom, Mary Lou, has a very rare form of pneumonia and is fighting for her life. Out of respect for her and her privacy, I will not discolose all details. However, I will disclose that she is not insured. We ask that if could help in any way, that you 1.) PRAY! and 2.) if you could help us with finances for the hospital bill. ANTYHING, absolutely ANYTHING, would be so helpful for my family and my mom. Thank y'all so very much!" Retton, 55, was born and raised in Fairmont, West Virginia, and won the Gold Medal in the All-Around in 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, California when she received two perfect 10 scores in the floor and vault categories just weeks after receiving an operation on her knee. According to her Wikipedia page, "Retton's hometown, Fairmont, West Virginia, named a road and a park in the town after her. Having retired from gymnastics after winning an unprecedented third American Cup title in 1985, she later had cameo appearances as herself in Scrooged and Naked Gun 33+1/3: The Final Insult. In 1985, she received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member General Chuck Yeager. Retton was elected to the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 1992. In 1993, the Associated Press released results of a sports study in which Retton was statistically tied for first place with fellow Olympian Dorothy Hamill as the most popular athlete in America. In 1997, Retton was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. In January 2020, Retton was the first woman inducted into the Houston Sports Hall of Fame." Please say a prayer for Mary Lou, one of the most beloved West Virginians and Olympic athletes of all time, and stay tuned to The Voice of Morgantown for more updates as they become available. https://twitter.com/cbrennansports/status/1711809212622176663?s=20

Vote for Charles!

Mountaineer Nation, Charles Hayes once again needs your help! He has made the Elite Eight of the “Super Fan Championship,” and needs your help to advance! Voting is once again on Super Fan Championship’s Instagram page, “@superfanchampionship.” Follow the directions on the latest post, and let’s send Charles to the Final Four! Good luck, Charles!  

Flight Tracker Shows New WVU AD Wren Baker Arriving in Morgantown Today

Morgantown, West Virginia - After forcing former director of athletics Shane Lyons to resign on November 14, West Virginia University moved swiftly and found their man, Wren Baker, the AD at North Texas. Today, according to Flight Aware, a plane is scheduled to travel from Morgantown Municipal Airport to Denton, Texas, the home of North Texas University, and then back to Morgantown, landing at 4:04PM. This, of course, is Wren Baker, 44, and perhaps his family, who will bring a tremendous amount of hope and optimism to West Virginia. Baker, who has been extremely successful at raising money and building relationships with donors in the past, will now handle the evaluation of head football coach Neal Brown and his coaching staff, as well as the potential contract extension or retirement of the legendary Bob Huggins. “We wanted someone who clearly understood the dynamics of a fast-changing athletics environment and had found success being at the forefront of this new world that includes managing NIL and the portal," university president Gordon Gee said. "We looked at a number of well-qualified candidates and, at the end of the day, Wren met every one of our needs." Baker will reportedly sign a 6 year deal worth $1.1 million per year with the Mountaineers and is expected to officially start with the university on December 19. https://twitter.com/voicemorgantown/status/1599405935004262400?s=20&t=mFplN9FQqa17uH6VizyfaQ

Wren Baker Calls Out Fan on Social Media

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia -- Moments ago, West Virginia's director of athletics, Wren Baker, took to social media to respond to a critic who claimed that West Virginia University has not done enough in terms of helping to get WVU guard RaeQuan Battle eligible this season. An account called "Get WVU Baseball Chartered Flights" intially said, "Wren Baker and Gordon Gee need to do more. WVU has been way too quiet!" Baker responding by saying the following: "I don't usually respond to social media experts this one I'm going to. The committee doesn't have Twitter comments in their packet so none of the public comments people actually make a difference. It does not get to the committee and it does not have an impact." Baker went on to say, "We have spent a lot of time and resources including using a law firm that specializes in waivers & NCAA related issues to assist. Saying that we haven’t 'done enough' is pretty uniformed and off base when you don’t have any experience on how the process works and what goes into it. Our compliance team, University general counsel and outside counsel have done everything possible on both the initial waiver and the appeal." See the full conversation below: https://twitter.com/wrenbaker/status/1726737465883390464?s=20

Magnificent Mountaineers of the Week

Morgantown, West Virginia - I think we could all use some positive news. When I came up with the idea of writing this column, I first thought about making it football specific, but upon further examination, I realized that it would be difficult some weeks to find three to five guys to put on this list. Next, I had to come up with a name fitting of the column. Something you need to know about me is that I am a fool for alliteration. Mountaineer Marvel’s? I think I might get in trouble with Disney for this one. Cork’s Caped Crusaders? I heard Disney makes all superhero movies now. Brandon’s Best? Kind of generic, but we’re at the point in late-stage capitalism that I can’t be 100% sure if Disney doesn’t own me as well. So I settled for Magnificent Mountaineers – it’s appropriate, alliterative, and I won’t have to pay royalties to anyone (especially a mouse).  This will be a weekly column. I’ll try to find players from WVU’s top sports to place here, but also be sure to highlight some student-athletes from not so well-known sports. However, be warned, if all major sports end up having a bad week, this list could end up being just the Rifle team and some students from the WVU intramural sports scene. Without further ado, here is my list, in no particular order, of top mountaineers for the week ending November 14th. Kaden Prather, Freshman WR (Football) – As a Kaden Prather fan, I have been waiting for this performance. The six foot three, 210 pounds wide receiver out of Germantown, Maryland was a consensus 4 star, top 300 player coming out of high school. To top that, he had offers from most major “brand name” college football programs: Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and more than 2 dozen others, and he ultimately ended up a Mountaineer. I thought at the beginning of the season that he would end up playing early. Last year’s receiving corp had a bad case of the drops. However, they turned it around this season, which unfortunately, led to Prather fighting to find a way on the field. Prather started seeing more snaps in the Baylor game, which he actually started, but he only saw limited snaps since then. That was until this past week where he played 48 snaps – more than he saw in the past 3 weeks combined – and put up 4 catches for 60 yards with a long of 32 yards. Prather ran clean routes, showed strong hands, and the ability to make plays after the catch. He has the highest potential of any receiver on the team due to his combination of size, athleticism, and hands. He will be an exciting player to watch going forward, and I hope Neal Brown and his staff continue to work Kaden into the game plan. Malik Curry, Grad Transfer PG (Basketball) – I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure how Malik Curry would transition from being the go-to guy on a bad college basketball team (no offense Old Dominion) in a bad conference (no offense Conference USA) to being a secondary to tertiary option at WVU. I was further discouraged after Huggins named Kedrian Johnson the starting point guard at the beginning of the season. But looking back, I get it. Kedrian knows Huggins system, and Malik still had to prove his worth. Boy did he. Against Pitt, he was the catalyst the offense needed to create separation and cruise to an easy win. Malik finished 5-5 from the field for 10 points, dished out 3 assists, and grabbed 2 steals… in 12 MINUTES! Maybe I’m jumping the gun a bit, but WVU badly needs a secondary playmaker behind Taz; and if Malik can continue finding ways into the lane, he should be that guy. Ceili McCabe, Junior (Cross Country) – I know nothing about cross country, but I came across Ceili’s performance on November 12th when I saw she was named WVU Student-Athlete of the Week by the university. That alone means she belongs on this list. However, her performance at the Mid-Atlantic Regional was exceptional. Not only did she come in first place and lead the cross-country team to an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships this weekend, but she is the first Mountaineer cross-country runner to win a Mid-Atlantic regional tile since 2002.  Sam Huff, Linebacker (Football) – While not a current WVU player, Sam Huff’s legacy will forever live on at WVU. He is enshrined College Football Hall of Fame, NFL Hall of Fame, and WVU Sports Hall of Fame. He is one of the rare players that switched positions after joining the NFL – from lineman to middle linebacker – and saw great success. Hall of Fame Head Coach (then Huff’s defensive coordinator at the Giants) designed the 4-3 defense around Sam Huff’s abilities. Hall of Fame Head Coach Vince Lombardi (then offensive coordinator of the Giants) said, “It’s uncanny the way Huff follows the ball.” He even had a documentary hosted by Walter Cronkite aired about him on CBS called “The Violent World of Sam Huff”. Huff finished his pro career as a 5-time pro bowler, 2-time all-pro and 1-time NFL Champ. He made an impact at a moment where the NFL was growing and gaining new fans. He impacted the entire game of football, not just at WVU, but in the NFL as well. It is extremely sad to hear of his passing. I offer my deepest condolences to his friends and family. Sam Huff was a one of one, and he will be remembered by Mountaineer Nation for the rest of time. Make sure to check out Brandon on The Voice of Motown Podcast.  Subscribe and listen below: https://open.spotify.com/show/57Dfw10urlEo8GBstpKrYy?si=98a03fd5689645ff