Published: April 20, 2008 10:35 pm      

WVU coach, players built bond in spring

MORGANTOWN — They had just rushed in off the field on a warm Saturday afternoon, the sweat still rolling off their foreheads and burning their eyes, the sound of 18,000 fans still echoing in their ears.

They reached the locker room in Milan Puskar Stadium and gathered around Coach Bill Stewart for his post-game comments on their performance in the annual Blue-Gold scrimmage.

“OK, men, that was a great first half,” Stewart began.

He looked at their faces, jaws were dropped. Eyes were wide open.

First half? They’d been out there for how long, two hours maybe.

“We got this big crowd today. We’re going go out there and do Oklahoma drills, circle up and do Bull in the Ring. Then we’re gonna put the ball down and really get after it. We’re going to scrimmage.”

He looked out at the faces again. No one had any idea what was going on.

This was halftime?

Stewart then broke into a smile.

“April Fool’s Day,” he said, three weeks late.

They were too shocked to even laugh.

“We believed him at first,” said sophomore running back Noel Devine. “Then we laughed. That was just coach being coach.”

“I tell ‘em, if I don’t say Boy Scout’s or Cub Scout’s honor, don’t trust me,” Stewart said.

It proved to be the perfect end to a perfect day, for Stewart understands that as important as what went on during the Blue-Gold Spring Game was, it was far from the most important thing.

“Our motto is it’s all about chemistry,” Stewart said to the media later.

There has been a culture change in the football office at West Virginia, a serious one. The old coaches are gone, new ones have come in. New players are to be absorbed. New positions learned.

This isn’t about football, it’s about brotherhood.

This is the way Stewart put it, as only he can:

“We have great plays. You’ve seen them for years. We have pretty playbooks. Oh, they’re gorgeous. All decorated, gussy stuff. We have great players, tremendous players. We have great coaches, the best coaching staff. I challenge anyone to find a better one.

“But right now the most important thing in Mountaineer football is chemistry. The bonding, the brotherhood, the association with classy young men doing the right thing every single time.”

The idea now is to get the team buy into the system, to the coaching staff and, most important, into each other.

Last year’s team was close. It had great leadership in senior players like Owen Schmitt, Marc Magro, Ryan Mundy and Eric Wicks. It had dreams of a national championship to push it and a maniacally-driven coach to drive it.

Much is different now. Patrick White is clearly the team leader, a role he cherishes. Other leaders, especially on the defensive side, must be found, for a team without an on-field leader is a team that really can’t succeed.

But a team’s strength is made up from an indefinable something that comes from the interaction between coaches and players, between players themselves. It is a strength of character that will almost always outweigh athletic ability without character.

This must be built in the spring, then in the weight room in the summer and finally in summer camp.

And, as much as a team may believe it has it, it won’t know until it trails Louisville by four 28 points in the fourth quarter or until it is given little chance against Oklahoma in a bowl game.

The worst of times bring out the best of teams.

Jokes like Stewart’s serve to loosen things up in a locker room that is trying to earn an identity. It relaxes players to the point that they can enjoy each other as well as their accomplishments. Make no doubt that those who had problems in the spring game left with a smile on their face rather than spending the next three months worrying about their mistakes.

It is now up to the players to do their part. They must weave a moral fiber among themselves that can withstand the trials and tribulations that lie ahead. They must welcome new starters and learn to trust them. They must welcome new teammates and help them along, integrate them into the group and install in them the same positive attitude and drive to win that has carried past teams.

“I think this team has really come together as a unit. We’re a close-knit group, maybe more than last year,” punter/placekicker Pat McAfee said.

Boy and Cub Scout honor.

E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.