Morgantown, W.Va.
April 18, 2008 PHOTO GALLERY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The offense West Virginia displayed on Saturday afternoon during the Gold-Blue Spring Game was the one Mountaineer fans have become accustomed to seeing.
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| Jock Sanders catches a pass during Saturday's Gold-Blue Spring Game at Milan Puskar Stadium. An estimated crowd of 18,000 attended today's scrimmage. All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo | |
After having the defense get the best of it in a pair of weekend scrimmages earlier this spring, the offense piled up 336 yards of total offense, had 20 first downs, scored three touchdowns and converted six field goals during Saturday’s 80-play controlled scrimmage.
“That was a pretty special performance,” said West Virginia coach Bill Stewart. “We had a couple of holds which I hated to see that and we have to learn get better blocking, tackling, hitting and hustle.”
The first and second offensive units took turns operating from different parts of the football field in different down and yardage situations.
“That was situational football that we will face throughout the season,” said Stewart. “You can’t wait to practice that.”
Quarterbacks Patrick White and Jarrett Brown were particularly efficient, completing a combined 22 of 31 passes for 198 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Brown found Kendall Washington for a 4-yard touchdown with the second group to begin the scoring. Later, Patrick White hooked up with Bradley Starks for a 4-yard score. Brown tacked on an 8-yard TD run for the final TD of the scrimmage.
White was 12 of 16 for 133 yards while Brown completed 10 of 15 passes for 65 yards. Third-team quarterback Charlie Russell was 2 of 4 for 7 yards.
Brandon Hogan led all receivers with 6 catches for 49 yards while Jock Sanders added 5 catches for 71 yards. Starks, a converted quarterback, finished the scrimmage with 3 catches for 41 yards including a pretty 23-yard catch and run.
“As far as helping the team out I’d rather be there than sitting on the bench in two years,” Starks said. “Going from the QB room to the wide receiver room is really no different. It’s just the style of play is more aggressive than what you would see at quarterback.”
Mike Poitier led all ball carriers with 54 yards on 17 carries working with the second group. Noel Devine had 6 carries for 33 yards. Six Mountaineer rushers accounted for 131 yards on 45 carries.
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“We didn’t do a lot of motion and movement out there because there were a lot of films out there,” Stewart said. “We didn’t want the whole world seeing our new attack.”
Defensively, Najee Goode led all tacklers with 10 stops. Safety Derek Knight had six tackles while five different players had five stops each.
Sacks were recorded by Joe Rhein (two), Sidney Glover, Ovid Goulbourne, Julian Miller and J.T. Thomas (one each). Quarterbacks wore black jerseys (no contact).
Linebacker Pat Lazear had the only interception of the scrimmage, picking off a White pass in the end zone.
“That was the only bad decision Pat White made all day,” said Stewart.
“It slipped right through my hands and into my legs,” said Lazear. “I just clenched it so I got lucky.”
The offense was flagged six times for 56 yards while the defense had three penalties for 37 yards.
“The twos frustrated me,” said Stewart. “We had a motion; we had a lineman jump and we had to use three timeouts and that frustrated me. We got those guys settled down and then they did fine.”
Pat McAfee converted field goals of 47, 24, 34 and 39 yards. Chris Glenn (39) and Ben Rios (30) also made field goals.
“Pat McAfee is a true weapon. He’s special,” said Stewart. “If there is a better kicker/punter in the country I’d like to hear about it.”
The defense was credited with 15 points based on turnovers, three-and-out possessions and drive stops.
“The defense kept it base,” said Stewart. “They brought some pressure and they got to us with the corner blitz. They got to us with the strong safety blitz and that was good to see,” said Stewart.
“There’s a lot of skill out there. We’ve got to pray and knock on wood that we don’t get anybody injured between now and fall camp,” Stewart said.
An estimated crowd of 18,000 attended today’s scrimmage representing the second largest attendance ever for a spring game.
Scoring Summary
Gold – McAfee 47 FG
Gold – McAfee 24 FG
Gold – Washington 4 pass from Brown (McAfee kick)
Gold – McAfee 34 FG
Gold – McAfee 39 FG
Gold – Glenn 39 FG
Gold – Starks 4 pass from White (McAfee kick)
Gold – Rios 30 FG
Gold – Brown 8 run (White pass failed)
Scrimmage Statistics
Rushing – Poitier 17-55, Devine 6-33, White 6-15, Sanders 4-12, Johnson 3-12, McCloskey 6-minus 1, Total 45-131.
Passing – White 12-16-1-133-1, Brown 10-15-0-65-1, Russell 2-4-0-7-0, Total 24-35-1-205-2.
Receiving – Hogan 6-49, Sanders 5-71, Starks 3-41, Poitier 2-8, Crow 2-5, Jalloh 1-10, McCloskey 1-7, Arnett 1-5, Gonzales 1-4, Washington 1-4, Devine 1-1, TotalApril 20, 2008
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| Doc Holliday | |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Doc Holliday has been around the block a few times after leaving West Virginia’s program in 1999 to become associate head coach at North Carolina State. Since then he also spent three years on Urban Meyer’s staff at Florida including the Gators’ national championship season in 2006.
In the meantime, West Virginia hasn’t been sitting back idly during Holliday’s time away. The athletic department has made a significant investment in the football program and guys like Holliday, Steve Dunlap and Dave Lockwood that have been away for a while have certainly taken notice.
“I think what they’ve done with the facilities are unbelievable,” Holliday told Tony Caridi during Saturday’s spring game broadcast. “I hadn’t been back in nine years and to walk into those end zone suites - we were in there Friday night for the Blue Jean Ball and it’s just a tremendous facility. We’ve got some kids up here from Florida and all over … as a matter of fact the father of one of the kids is actually helping build the facility at Florida. They are really impressed with what the administration has done as far as facilities are concerned and they continue to get better.”
The dynamics at West Virginia have also changed dramatically since Holliday last coached the Mountaineers in 1999. The program has a considerably much bigger national profile due to television exposure and recent bowl game success. West Virginia’s recruiting program has grown with that success as well.
“The exposure they have gotten with the ESPN games, the Friday night games and of course the BCS games going to two of the last three years and actually winning those games there is no doubt (that makes it easier),” Holliday said. “But recruiting has always been tough. We’re battling the Penn States, the Floridas and the Miamis but you know what, there are plenty of great kids out there.”
Holliday is in charge of West Virginia’s recruiting efforts and he says this coaching staff works harder than any he has been on when it comes to evaluating prospects.
“There are plenty of great kids out there and there are plenty of great kids that want to play for the Mountaineers,” Holliday said. “The great thing about this staff, which is as good a staff as I have ever been involved with, is we’ve got nine guys that love to recruit. Coach Stewart loves to recruit. We are working extremely hard at it so we’re not going to have any issues getting 12, 15 or 20 great kids in here.”
On Saturday there was a large contingent of prospects in town to watch West Virginia’s Gold-Spring Game. Having such a large turnout of fans for what was essentially a practice is tangible proof that Mountaineer football remains alive and well in the Mountain State.
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“It’s great to see the crowd that is out here today. It’s unbelievable,” Holliday said. “If we can get the guys committed that we have here (this weekend), hell, we can start working on sophomores. We’ve got a good crew in here. There is a lot of excitement and we’ve got some kids that are close so we’re real excited.”
In addition to recruiting, Holliday is heavily involved in the Mountaineer offense coaching the tight ends/fullbacks. The veteran assistant believes he may have found a good one in converted wide receiver Will Johnson.
“No. 1 he’s got athletic ability. I’m tickled to death with him,” Holliday said. “He gives us what we want at that H position because it creates match-up issues for the defense. They don’t know if we’re going to be in two backs; they don’t know if he’s going to be at the tight end position or flexed out in a four-wide set.
“Our ultimate goal is to have two Will Johnsons - either at fullback or tight end and have four wides. We talk about recruiting that H position or tight end-fullback type guy and he’s the perfect guy we’re looking for,” Holliday said.
Johnson and converted quarterback Bradley Starks to wide receiver could be the right recipe to keep defenses from selling out on the run this fall.
“Anytime as a defensive coach you’re taking an extra defensive back or a linebacker out of the game when you have an extra receiver in there,” Holliday said. “When (Johnson) is in there if you get him matched up on a linebacker it creates an issue for them. They don’t know if he’s a tight end or a fullback.”
Of course the object is to make West Virginia’s offensive attack a little less one-dimensional.
“There comes a time when you get too many of them in the box and you’ve got to be able to throw it over somebody’s head,” Holliday explained. “We’ve worked on some things this spring throwing it vertically down the field but you’ve got to do what these kids can do. When we get back here in the fall we’ll really evaluate what we did this spring and we’ll have them ready to go.”
Meanwhile, Holliday says it will be important for veteran players like Pat White and Ryan Stanchek to get the team ready during the developmental season.
“I think you’ve got the Pat Whites and some offensive linemen that have been around and are going to be seniors that are going to have to take great leadership roles this summer. They are actually the coaches on the field this summer,” Holliday said. “It’s different than it used to be years ago. Now the strength coaches have them, working with them and doing specific drills that is catered to the same type of things we’re doing with them.”April 21, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Sean Cleary was in a conundrum. He had just been named head track coach at West Virginia University and the euphoria of getting a job he admittedly always had one eye on was tempered by the sobering thought that he needed a lot of help.
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| Marty Pushkin is back on the track and he's got another prized pupil to work with in freshman hurdler Chelsea Carrier. WVU Photography Services/Dan Friend photo | |
His area of expertise has always been in the distance events and he has done a remarkable job of transforming the distance program at WVU. That success has even seeped down into the high school ranks where the area high schools today are producing some of the best distance runners in the country – some of whom also just happen to be running at West Virginia.
Cleary knew that in order for his program to avoid becoming one dimensional – strong in just a few areas - he needed to hire a staff of coaches to come to WVU who knew what they were doing. That point was driven home when All-American heptathlete Abbie Stechschulte decided to follow Jeff Huntoon to Indiana. Huntoon coached her event at WVU and Stechschulte wasn’t sure if Cleary was going to be able to get someone with Huntoon’s expertise in here in time for her final season of eligibility. It was a legitimate concern.
Two of his coaches, Jennifer Davis and Rebecca Stallwood, were distance standouts at West Virginia. Former Auburn national champion Shelly Galimore covers the jumps and Tim Sullivan works with the pole vaulters. That still left sprinters, hurdlers and quarter-milers unattended.
Before leaving Huntoon had recruited 11-time state champion hurdler Chelsea Carrier from nearby Buckhannon to WVU and Cleary was worried that Carrier might also choose to go with Huntoon to Indiana.
That was when Sean decided to call an old buddy that was living over on Hickory Ridge Road who was spending his golden years working in the garden and making more than enough wine to drink himself. Morgantown’s No. 1 gardener also happened to be its No. 1 expert on sprinters, hurdlers and quarter-milers: Marty Pushkin.
“I called Marty and asked him if he wanted to come over and help out as a volunteer coach. He jumped at it,” Cleary said.
The roles were completely reversed. Pushkin was Cleary’s coach at WVU and he was also the man who gave Sean his start in the business.
“When I first started with him he was much more hands-on with me - as he should have been,” Cleary remembered.
Pushkin has a slightly different recollection.
“I let him pretty much take the guys (distance runners) and I stayed with the girls,” Pushkin said. “He was recruiting some really good Canadian girls but he worked with the guys.”
What Cleary and Pushkin are doing today at WVU isn’t without precedence. Auburn coach Ralph Spry has managed to win a national title and produce five top-five finishes with former Tiger and Olympic coach Mel Rosen hanging around the track as a consultant for the past 14 years. Rosen coached the 1992 Olympic team to its best showing in 36 years with eight gold medalists and five Olympic records.
“I think it’s invaluable to young coaches … to not use those resources personally I believe is silly,” Cleary admitted.
The reality is Cleary had little difficulty prying Pushkin out of the house. Pushkin may be pushing 72 but he still looks like a man who is 52. And he thoroughly enjoys being around young people. When Marty was younger and still full of vim and vinegar he would sometimes test the limits of his khaki pants and loafers by giving personal demonstrations to his hurdlers.
“Those days are long gone,” he chuckled. “I have a new hip. It may have a 30-year guarantee but I won’t live that long. It’s like buying a house with a 30-year mortgage when you’re 75.”
What is remarkable is that both Cleary and Pushkin are completely comfortable with the situation. Pushkin spent nearly 40 years of his life making all of the big decisions. If one of his assistants messed up it was his neck. Now that burden falls on Cleary.
“Sean is secure,” Pushkin said. “He doesn’t have any problems with confidence. If he were the type of guy that was always worried about somebody looking over his shoulder or saying something or having their nose in his business … but he’s not and I’m not the kind of guy that’s going to do it. If I have suggestions I will take him aside and we talk. I say, ‘Hey, if you don’t mind me saying …’ He will say, ‘No, no I want you to tell me.’”
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Plus, Pushkin believes Sean will one day master all of the events. He’s that good of a coach. Pushkin offered some personal insight.
“We all started from nothing and learned,” Pushkin explained. “The first time I ever went to Virginia Tech to coach down there I went as a head coach and I had never been to a cross country meet. I was a multi-event athlete. Don’t you think I didn’t start learning quickly – even learning how to score cross country meets? Eventually I felt that I became a pretty competent distance coach.”
This happy reunion brings us back to Chelsea Carrier, a tremendous talent that is really starting to blossom under Pushkin’s watchful eye.
Carrier was the top point-scorer at the state high school meet all four years she was at Buckhannon-Upshur. She owns one West Virginia and three state-meet records. Despite having an athletic family – her father Rick was a football and track standout at West Virginia Wesleyan College and her mother Andrea was a high school gymnast - Chelsea says she knew next to nothing about hurdling in high school. She didn’t plow through the hurdles, but she wasn’t exactly gliding over them either.
“I got over them but I was always a little too high,” she said.
Carrier learned how to hurdle by watching the hurdlers that she liked on television. Her best time of 14.22 in high school was basically the result of hard work and natural athletic ability.
When Huntoon recruited her to West Virginia he figured he could mold her into a solid college hurdler by the time she was a sophomore or junior. Also, because she could hurdle the opportunity was there for her to compete in the heptathlon because hurdling is the most difficult part of that event to master.
Yet Cleary said even Huntoon was surprised by how much Carrier has improved in such a short period of time. Trimming nearly a half-second off her PR in the 100 hurdles is almost unheard of.
“Is Marty the best hurdles coach in the country or is Chelsea that good?” Huntoon asked Cleary.
“You know what? When good kids are good it makes it easy,” Pushkin smiled.
The freshman’s best time so far of 13.78 is the 55th fastest in the country and she expects to reach the mid 13s by the end of this year. That puts her in contention for NCAAs. Carrier also is a national-caliber performer in the heptathlon. Cleary believes she will come close to scoring the necessary 5,300 or 5,400 that it will take to qualify for NCAAs in that event.
“She’s very quick,” Pushkin said. “Some of the quickness she has will make up for her lacking strength right now. She has to have the proper technique but she’s learning. Our coaches have done a good job with her. It’s hard for a heptahlete to get around to all of the events in a week’s time because you’re trying to get ready for a meet. That’s why it takes a couple of years.”
Pushkin doesn’t travel to meets and he relies on telephone calls from fellow volunteer assistant Jason Jones for updates. They also bring back video tapes for Pushkin to watch.
“I’ll call him at the meet or he’ll call me to get some feedback,” Pushkin said. “We’re all working together with it. We have pretty good chemistry as coaches. They let me know what she’s doing and I always talk to her.”
“He knows what he’s talking about,” Carrier said. “He’s been around for so many years. I don’t think I could have anyone better than him right now.”
Carrier admits that there are times when Pushkin references a past athlete or uses an expression that she’s not familiar with.
“He tries to use different words so that it soaks into my head,” she laughed. “He reminds me of my grandpa. He wants you to understand it more and he makes us work harder – it’s definitely old school.”
“I think coaching has gone through so many changes in the last 25-30 years and old-school is exactly right,” Cleary added. “Old school worked. Hopefully I’ve got some new ideas and all of us can create some of the best track teams that have ever participated here.”
Although he refuses to travel, Pushkin said he will think long and hard about going to nationals should Chelsea qualify.
“No deals – I haven’t made any deals,” Pushkin said. “I have a phobia for busses. I will fly but I won’t get on a bus. We’ll wait and see but she doesn’t need me. When a kid goes to a meet they are taking all of the knowledge and all of the wisdom with them.”
The entire WVU women’s program is gaining a lot of knowledge and wisdom with Marty Pushkin once again spending his afternoons at the track. Besides, there is still plenty of time in the mornings and the evenings for an old track coach to get his gardening done.
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