Mike Casazza: Skyler Howard has given WVU fans a reason to cheer
By Mike Casazza MORGANTOWN - On three separate occasions this season - first at Big 12 media day in July, later on a Tuesday before an October home game against TCU and finally this past Saturday...
View ArticleMitch Vingle: Mountaineers chime in on College Football Playoff system
By Mitch Vingle If you're like me, you shake your head at the College Football Playoff system. First, I believe there are too few teams involved at four. I always liked the 16-team system of West...
View ArticleDerek Redd: Charleston, West Virginia State on cutting edge of Division II...
By Derek Redd For anyone that doesn't think facilities and resources aren't a big deal to college athletic programs below the NCAA Division I level, they aren't paying attention to the Kanawha Valley....
View ArticleMountaineer Gameday: Noble Nwachukwu playing inspired defense for WVU
By Mike Casazza MORGANTOWN - What the numbers will tell you is what West Virginia's coaches do not want you to believe about their star defensive end. But for the numerically inclined, here they...
View ArticleMitch Vingle: At WVU, pleasant distractions and distracted play
By Mitch Vingle MORGANTOWN - It was a day of pleasant distractions for those following WVU athletics. Especially at Milan Puskar Stadium.In the first half of the Mountaineers' Big 12 game against...
View ArticleFrank Giardina: Best college rivalries and an unsung former Black Eagle
By By Frank Giardina For the Gazette-Mail Last weekend was one of the best weekends of the year in college football. It was "rivalry" weekend in many areas of the country that still are able to have...
View ArticleMarshall football could be shut out of C-USA awards
By Doug Smock With its championship planted firmly at Western Kentucky, Conference USA will unveil its all-conference teams, all-freshman team and major awards this week. It will serve as a final...
View ArticleMitch Vingle: Miami-WVU matchup certainly inspires memories
By Mitch Vingle George Orwell had his "1984."Well, call this my "1993" with the subtitle of "1996, 2003 and 2006." See, I've had '93 on my mind much of the college football season as I've covered West...
View ArticleMitch Vingle: Bob Huggins reflects on past trips to Charleston
By Mitch Vingle When Charleston welcomes WVU's basketball team to town Wednesday, it will be the 18th time since Mountaineer coach Bob Huggins has taken over the program. "I remember playing there in...
View ArticleMitch Vingle: WVU basketball riding high with fouls down
By Mitch Vingle Um, in case you haven't noticed, WVU's basketball team isn't playing as tough of a non-conference schedule as it has in the past. Case in point: Wednesday night's walkover of Western...
View ArticleMike Casazza: WVU's Rasul Douglas valuable anywhere he plays
By Mike Casazza MORGANTOWN - There's nothing wrong with voting for Jordan Willis as the Big 12's defensive player of the year, as a panel of 20 reporters who cover the conference did Tuesday and as...
View ArticleDerek Redd: Participation awards not the scourge some believe
By Derek Redd Once again, one of the great poxes in sports has slithered its way into the general public consciousness. It is a bane on athletics so horrid, its discussion should then be followed by...
View ArticleMitch Vingle: Fans, WVU basketball team seem bored with 'cupcake row'
By Mitch Vingle MORGANTOWN - The other day, after West Virginia's basketball game in Charleston, I wrote the Mountaineers' mostly punchless non-conference schedule is somewhat understandable because...
View ArticleFrank Giardina: Remembering the 1985-86 Golden Eagles
By By Frank Giardina For the Gazette-Mail We like our basketball in West Virginia. In the southern coalfields, the fans like high-scoring, fast break-basketball. We used to call it coalfield...
View ArticleDoug Smock: Lane Kiffin would have been a perfect C-USA misfit
By Doug Smock C'MON FLORIDA Atlantic University, you blew it. As you usually do. You had a chance to make a splash. You had a chance to revive Conference USA's greatest tradition. You had a chance to...
View ArticleMitch Vingle: Brand-name coaches a good thing for Conference USA
By Mitch Vingle Ye olde notebook:There ya go, Conference USA. I hear ya. Just as our Dr. Smock called for in Monday's Gazette-Mail sports pages, Florida Atlantic went out and hired Alabama offensive...
View ArticleMitch Vingle: WVU-Miami, West Virginia State coaching job and Keith Tandy
By Mitch Vingle Ye olde notebook:OK, question for those who follow WVU football: What rushes to your brain when you think of the Miami Hurricanes, who face the Mountaineers in the Russell Athletic...
View ArticleDerek Redd: 'WakeyLeaks' ramifications could be far-reaching
By Derek Redd Before Bobby Bowden finally retired as head football coach at Florida State, he'd often say that, when that day finally came, you wouldn't see him around Doak Campbell Stadium for a...
View ArticleMitch Vingle: WVU's Gibson and the spirit of Christmas
By Mitch Vingle WVU defensive coordinator Tony Gibson received a wonderful Christmas present this past Thursday night. The warm feeling within, that is, one gets from giving. Perhaps you know the...
View ArticleMemories of KVC basketball
By By Frank Giardina For the Gazette-Mail High school basketball used to be an exciting time of the year in the Kanawha Valley. In the 1960s and '70s, we had more schools and more population. The...
View Article