So on ESPN radio, they have an ad for Colin Cowherd saying something to the tune of "there are two things that we are sure of every college football season; Clemson won't be good and hiring an assistant coach with limited experience will always drive your program into the ground." I was at the game where the West Virginia Mountaineers smoked the Oklahoma Sooners and thought it was good win by Bill Stewart in a tough spot. Everything you read, though, supports what Cowherd says. Other than the one win he had last year with former head coach Rich Rodriguez's team, Bill Stewart's head coaching experience has consisted of 3 years (1994 - 1996) at Virginia Military Institute which he had a stellar record of 8 - 25. He also had a stint at Air Force under Fischer DeBerry as an assistant. Something tells me that the Top 50 college football programs wouldn't hire Stewart with that glaringly weak resume. You read articles that say Stewart has already driven the program into the ground and how he has changed the offense so much that it doesn't emphasize the strong points of RB Noel Devine and QB Pat White.
But I am glad West Virginia hired Bill Stewart. He has had some great quotes in the last week that have made me chuckle. He discusses astronauts, oxygen, NASA, our society and bandwagon West Virginia fans. He even says he isn't smart.
When you read some of the quotes below I want you to ask yourself a couple of questions.
-Does this sound like a division one football coach or does it sound like a high school coach sitting around the barber shop talking to Johnny that works at the lawnmower shop and Lou from the auto repair store?
-Do you think the pressure is getting to Billy just a little bit? Why the hell is he so worried about the delusional West Virginia fans?
-Do you believe in oxygen or are you with Bill on this one?
-Do you really think this guy pictured below ran 100 miles a week, 50 weeks a year for four years? I am glad Bill accounted for only 50 weeks properly accounting for time off for Thanksgiving and Christmas...can't run on a full stomach.
-Do you think I am taking the quote, "I'm not smart enough to know this stuff after two games," out of context? Well you won't after you read some of these quotes.
Bill Stewart and the West Virginia Mountaineers might come into Boulder and beat CU but something tells me that Bill Stewart has a ceiling, especially if he doesn't like oxygen. Mountaineer fans probably wish they would have hired Skip Holtz after last weekend.
So without further adieu, let the Bill Stewart magic begin:
Here is ole' Bill talking about Boulder and that lack of oxygen filled state o'er there named Colorado:
"I just don't think that's a big problem. I think it's kind of comical,'' Stewart said Tuesday. "I lived out there for four years at the Air Force Academy and we were at 6,800 feet. Now, when we went on our retreat with Coach [Fisher] DeBerry, we went up to almost 10,000 feet. Now that's a problem. I jogged up there. But [at Air Force] I ran 100 miles a week, 50 weeks a year for four years.''
He really tries to drive the altitude point home with this statement:
"I do not believe in oxygen. That's a joke,'' Stewart said. "Oxygen's for astronauts. You go over on the sideline and put an oxygen [mask] on, the play's already over. What do you need oxygen for? Now if you had oxygen while you were playing maybe that would help you. I don't know. I've never been to NASA and experimented with it. But I don't think in my lifetime we'll have football masks with oxygen in them.''
That'll make his team stop worrying for sure about the oxygen. Oxygen's got nothing on Bill Stewart and the Mountaineers. NASA and astronauts got nothing on 'em neither.
Now Billy talks about the game last week with the first question being:
"What in the world happened?" Stewart was asked, in reference to WVU's 24-3 loss at East Carolina on Saturday.
"This was the second game of the season," Stewart replied. "That's what I don't understand about what's going on with our society. Before we get to Game 13 (a bowl game), we'd better take care of Game 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on.
"Next question, please."
Be tough with 'em Bill, teach them all how to count and make sure they eat their peas and carrots too. No more questions, time for bed.
He later recants his statement about society, making sure not to single out the "lack of oxygen loving freaks in Colorado" but only focusing on bandwagon West Virginia fans:
As for criticism he has received, Stewart said: "If we have fans worrying about their motel room in December or January (for a bowl game), they have the wrong agenda. They'd better take care of Game 1-2-3-4. If they jump off the bandwagon, well, they jump off. That's OK.
Fans from West Virginia stay in motels, the rest of the world stays in hotels. Good clarification by Stewart. He also doesn't count to five like he does two quotes above because he realizes he is directly referencing West Virginia fans now. Don't get ahead of yourself, Bill. Teaching is a process.
Sugar + Gator = Fiesta...sounds like my kind of party:
"I told the team, 'We have a nice Sugar Bowl ring, a nice Gator Bowl ring and a nice Fiesta Bowl ring. What's our ring going to be?' This is a different team. The 2008 team is different and we have to find our own identity. And that's what we're going to try to do.''
Willy has an interesting approach on third downs too. Definitely don't worry about them "dad gum" third downs. Horses like hay too.
"The biggest thing we are going to work on this week is to make 'hay' on first downs and stop them then. We just have to take care of first downs," Stewart said in his regularly scheduled press conference. "I tell them, 'Don't worry about getting off the field on third downs'."
Thanks for the tip coach. Hey Hawk, West Virginia is going to run more of that belly option stuff, something they should have been doing from day one:
"We tried that [Saturday]. And we ran the zone, not too bad a few times,'' coach Bill Stewart said. "What I want to get back to is that belly option, where Pat can read it, pull it or pitch it. We need to do more of that and that's what we're going to work on very, very hard this week. The zone's not been too bad, but the belly option is what we're lacking.''
Maybe Coach DeBerry can come out of retirement and give Bill a hand to find out which players he should play. Fischer has no problem pointing out who the best players are:
"I thought a couple of our guys didn't play up to their capabilities. A couple more will play this week. Truthfully, after two games, we're still finding out who our best players are. I'm not smart enough to know this stuff after two games."
More to come I am sure.