Published: July 26, 2008 02:39 am            

COLUMN: Coach offers wisdom from Mountaineer football past

MORGANTOWN — The saying goes something like this, Rich Rodriguez to the contrary:

“Once a Mountaineer, always a Mountaineer.”

Lonnie Galloway is out to prove it.

You may not know much about Lonnie Galloway now, but you probably will. This wide receiver coach is in his first year with West Virginia but it is not his first year as a Mountaineer, having spent the last three years holding the same position coach with the Appalachian State Mountaineers.

Did we mention that the last three years he won the Division I-AA national championship?

From that alone you might guess that he has something to offer as part of Bill Stewart’s new staff at WVU, but there is more than just being a winner.

He brings a whole lot of lessons to his receivers at WVU, as well as to the rest of the team, lessons that should run from the Aug. 30 opening game against Villanova to what the Mountaineers would hope to be the BCS national championship game in January.

The similarities between WVU and ASU run that deep.

Galloway comes out of a system not dissimilar to the one West Virginia will run. If the Mountaineers have in Pat White the best quarterback in college football — and they may, Tim Tebow not withstanding — then Appy State last year had what may be the most similar on the next level down.

Quarterback Amanti Edwards finished last year with 1,948 passing yards and 1,587 yards, narrowly missing becoming the first player in NCAA history to pass for 2,000 yards while rushing for 1,000, a statistical accomplishment that would seem to be well within White’s grasp this year if the promise to throw the ball more is kept.

And why not keep it, considering that the receivers certainly will learn from Galloway how to deal with a quarterback who can run and throw equally effectively.

Last year, 14 receivers caught balls for those other Mountaineers and the squad this year would seem equally as deep and versatile, although Galloway coaches only the wide receivers, not the slots as he did at ASU.

And don’t be stunned if on opening day you see two new faces on the field for the first play — converted quarterback Bradley Starks and freshman Alric Arnett, adding a dynamic to the team that even Darius Reynaud did not give it last year.

Combine them with tall Wes Lyons, tough Dorrell Jalloh, dangerous Jock Sanders and Brandon Hogan, steady Tito Gonzales and newcomer J.D. Woods and you have a stable of receivers who can catch the ball and do something after they have.

While it may seem that Starks and Arnett have a leg up, no one is assured a job.

“I told them, ‘If you want to play, you got to show me on the practice field.’ If they start out thinking ‘I’m gonna play because I’ve been here. I’m a junior or a senior.’ That won’t work. They understand the best person is going to play no matter what year or how many games they’ve played in the past.”

Galloway has more to teach his team than just running routes, blocking and catching the football.

There was a matter of a game that was played last season, a shocking, stunning, impossible-to-believe upset of a game in which Appalachian State went into The Big House in Ann Arbor, Mich., and before 106,000 fans beat mighty Michigan.

See, that game takes on great significance in these parts not only because it was probably the game that decided Lloyd Carr’s fate with the Wolverines, setting in motion the events that led to Rich Rodriguez leaving WVU, but also because WVU opens its season this year against Villanova.

Villanova may not be defending Division I national champion, but it’s no pushover and beating WVU would make the Wildcats’ season.

Galloway knows what it’s like to be on the other side of a game like this and can offer guidance.

“That game, we knew talent-wise some of our players were just as good as some of theirs. We were just going to go out and see what happens,” Galloway said of the Michigan game. “On any given Saturday … or Sunday … or Friday, anything can happen and you can get beat. We did that last year by going to Ann Arbor and beating them.”

And this year Villanova will try to do the same thing.

WVU knows something about upsets.

Think Pitt!

Appalachian State’s upset of Michigan was about to be considered the greatest upset of all time in college football until Pitt’s 4-7 Panthers came into Morgantown and knocked the Mountaineers out of the national championship game.

Now having connections to both, which does Galloway consider the bigger upset?

“I don’t know, because I wasn’t a part of it. Watching that game, I felt that with everything that was riding on it that West Virginia would have won. I’m sure in this state that game was bigger than our game at Appalachian State. So I’d say, West Virginia losing to Pitt was a bigger game,” Galloway said.

While Galloway will be teaching his players, he’s also learning from them and others around the state. He says that part of teaching those players is educating them in the tradition of West Virginia football, something he is now beginning to get.

“Being a part of it these last few months and having come up here with Coach (Jerry) Moore when I was at Ap State and having watched the game on TV and talking to guys, you find out pretty quickly what West Virginia football is all about. I’m just glad to be here and to be a part of it,” he said.

And just what is his vision of the tradition of West Virginia football?

“To me, West Virginia football us the whole state … they’re following it, they’re watching it. The state goes as this football team goes. No disrespect to any other football team in this state, but the people here are die-hard West Virginia football fans. It makes it exciting when you are talking to recruits and bring them on campus.

“There’s no major league teams here. This is it.”

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

        

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