MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — Earlier today, we shared a video that has been circulating from last night’s West Virginia game showing WVU legend Owen Schmitt being escorted away from the field area by West Virginia State Troopers following what appeared on video to be a disagreement with event staff. At the time, we made it clear that we didn’t know what happened before the video started. We said that seeing a WVU legend escorted away like that didn’t sit right, but we also said there could be much more to the story. Well, since then, we’ve received multiple messages from people who say they were in the area when the incident happened, and if their accounts are accurate, there was definitely much more to the story.
Multiple people have reached out to us independently with very similar descriptions of what allegedly happened before the video began. According to those accounts, Schmitt appeared to be intoxicated and was allegedly causing problems with people in the area. One person told us, “Owen appeared intoxicated and was harassing other fans. He put one young man in a headlock and grabbed him by his shirt. He was escorted to a player’s box by the troopers.” Another person who says they witnessed the situation told us that Schmitt came into the area “barely standing” and stumbling, and that he was yelling and screaming at players on the bench. According to that person, multiple complaints were made about Schmitt allegedly harassing fans and putting his hands on people, leaving event staff with little choice but to intervene.
Owen Schmitt escorted off the field last night! 👀
You don’t do this to a #WVU legend! pic.twitter.com/3JwimLOR3Z
— The Voice of Morgantown (@voicemorgantown) September 27, 2026
That same person told us that what people are seeing in the circulating video was actually Schmitt arguing after the decision had already been made to move him away from the area. They also claimed that three different complaints were made by three different people and that Schmitt actually received some preferential treatment because of who he was. As the person put it, “It was a whole scene down there. Three different calls were put in by three different people down there. That doesn’t just happen randomly.”
Those are serious allegations, and I want to be very clear about something: we have not independently verified every detail of these accounts, and we have not heard Schmitt’s side of what happened. We are reporting what multiple people who say they witnessed the incident have told us. However, when several people independently reach out describing very similar circumstances, it certainly provides important context that wasn’t available when the original video began circulating.
And if these accounts are accurate, my opinion about the situation changes. I love Owen Schmitt. He is one of my favorite Mountaineers of all time and always will be. Nothing that happened last night erases what he accomplished at West Virginia or what he means to this fanbase. He was the definition of a Mountaineer during one of the greatest eras in the history of the program. But being a WVU legend doesn’t give anyone a free pass.
If you are intoxicated in public, harassing other people or putting your hands on someone, then security and law enforcement have a responsibility to step in. It doesn’t matter if you’re Owen Schmitt, a former player, a donor, a season-ticket holder or somebody attending your first WVU game. You are responsible for how you behave in public and how you treat other people.
Based on what these witnesses are telling us, the original video may have shown only the very end of a much longer situation. What initially looked like Schmitt simply being escorted away following a disagreement with security may have actually been event staff and State Troopers trying to bring an escalating situation under control. That’s an important distinction, and it’s also a reminder of why context matters so much when videos begin circulating on social media. A short clip can show exactly what happened during one particular moment without showing anything that happened during the minutes leading up to it.
If additional information becomes available, or if Schmitt gives his side of what happened, we’ll update the story again. He absolutely deserves the opportunity to tell his side as well. But based on the multiple accounts we’ve received since our original story, there appears to have been much more going on than what was captured in the video.
Owen Schmitt is still a WVU legend. That isn’t changing. But if these accounts are accurate, the State Troopers and event staff weren’t disrespecting a Mountaineer legend. They were doing their jobs.
