MORGANTOWN, W.V: In A Groundbreaking Announcement, The West Virginia Mountaineers Baseball Has Been Officially Recognized At The Best And Most Unified Baseball Program In The World. An Outstanding Recognition Jointly Bestowed By ESPN, Netflix And…
MORGANTOWN, W.V: In A Groundbreaking Announcement, The West Virginia Mountaineers Baseball Has Been Officially Recognized At The Best And Most Unified Baseball Program In The World. An Outstanding Recognition Jointly Bestowed By ESPN, Netflix And…
The reference to “Crimson and Black” in the song lyrics represented West Virginia’s primary football rival of the time, Washington & Jefferson, not the Pitt Panthers of today.
The singing of “Take Me Home, Country Roads” has become a well-known tradition after home football victories, and, of course, it involves the players and fans. It was first introduced by coach Rich Rodriguez during the 2002 season opener against Tennessee-Chattanooga.
But a much lesser-known tradition after all football victories is the players and coaches singing the school fight song in the locker room. It was a tradition coach Don Nehlen began here in 1980, and it was a product of the places he had played and coached during his Hall of Fame career.
At the time, Nehlen was looking for ways to boost team morale and establish a source of pride within his football program. West Virginia had endured consecutive losing seasons in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979, and the Mountaineers were just not in a very good place confidence-wise.
In fact, Nehlen was so preoccupied with wanting his players to experience any success that he once had legendary “Voice of the Mountaineers” Jack Fleming make a special recording of a “fictional” radio broadcast that was played to the team before the Rutgers game late in the season.
West Virginia had won four of its first five games and appeared headed toward breaking the streak of losing seasons until a four-game midseason slump saw its record slip to 4-5. A victory over Temple ended the skid, but Nehlen was worried about the team’s remaining two games at Rutgers and a home to Syracuse.
Losing both would mean a fifth straight losing season for the Mountaineers.
To Nehlen, Rutgers was of particular concern because he was afraid his players might take them lightly. The Scarlet Knights were coached by a man named Frank Burns, who basically ran three plays – a run up the middle, a run around the end and a pass down the middle.
