WVU’s football coach Bill Stewart is about as West Virginia as a person can get.
Within West Virginia, Stewart grew up in the small town of New Martinsville, where he was no stranger to the blue collar life of coal mines and mills. Stewart stayed in his home state of West Virginia for college, where he played football for Fairmont State, not far from Morgantown. In his playing career, Stewart was a 3 year letterman, and team captain his senior year.
Fairmont State also provided Stewart with his first coaching opportunity as a student assistant before he took his first head coaching job for Sistersville High School (WV) in 1975.
Stewarts coaching career includes stints at two other West Virginia schools (Salem College, and Marshall) before he would eventually end up at WVU as an assistant. West Virginia legend Don Nehlen hired Stewart in 2000 as quarterbacks coach, and Rich Rodrigeuz kept him on staff a year later when he took over.
Ironically, Stewart has turned out a better record in his first 3 seasons at WVU than Nehlen and Rodrigeuz.
Stewart has compiled a 28-12 record in his first 3 years at WVU, including a 2010 share of the Big East Title, and a 2 game winning streak against hated rival Pittsburgh in the Backyard Brawl.
However Oliver Luck wanted a new coach, despite all of Stewarts accomplishments, dedication, and commitment towards not only WVU, but the State of West Virginia. Luck is pushing Stewart out as head coach, offering him 1 last year at the helm before the overrated, and casino loving Dana Holgorsen will take over the Mountaineer program.
With 2011 being Stewarts last year, embrace the pride and spirit of a true West Virginian on the Mountaineer sidelines… there will never be another like Bill Stewart.
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