John Beilein goes into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame this weekend. His run at WVU was storybook, and the Elite 8 run in 2005 is one of the greatest stretches in Mountaineer history.
This was one of my favorite recruiting videos I ever made for WVU—it quickly became a video people just wanted to watch to relive that incredible team. There was no YouTube at the time, so I'd burn DVDs and hand them out.
As the teams exploded onto the national scene during the Big East and NCAA tournaments, newspapers were still the pulse of the sports world. I wanted to capture that spotlight in the edit. I had Tony Caridi bring me back physical New York newspapers from the Big East run, and tracked down others along the way to weave into the piece.
At the Wake Forest game in Cleveland, LeBron James sat nearby. He was in his early years with the Cavs and knew Mike Gansey from their high school basketball days in the Cleveland area. Mike’s performance that night was legendary. Fittingly, both LeBron and Gansey are now with the 76ers.
On a personal note, Coach Beilein has remained a true friend and mentor in my own coaching journey. He has given me invaluable advice that only a coach who has seen it all can offer—shaping my own philosophy on how to build a genuinely connected team.
Watching the recent run by @WVUBaseball brought all of this right back. It was that same kind of deeply connected team that brought people together in an emotional way and made Mountaineer fans incredibly proud.
Fox Sports put it best: “The 2004-05 Mountaineers were easy to fall in love with and difficult to let go of.”
@JohnBeilein@TonyCaridi@KPittsnogle
I'll tell ya what boy, @TheSignalCaller's got me ready to run thru a brick wall!!!
I'm so hyped for @wrenbaker to FINALLY get to experience what REAL MOUNTAINEER FOOTBALL AT NIGHT IN MORGANTOWN is all about!
LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
NEWS: Thomas Castellanos has committed to Texas Tech, he tells ESPN. He's a former quarterback at Florida State, BC and UCF. He has 6,449 career passing yards and 48 passing touchdowns. He's also rushed for 24 touchdowns.
NEWS: West Virginia forward Brenen Lorient is returning to West Virginia for a fifth year of eligibility following the Colorado court ruling, source told @On3.
The 6-9 senior averaged 11.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game this past season.
https://t.co/zVzFTNzAYt
Watched the World Cup game socially.
Heard “Country Roads”.
Immediately went to YouTube to watch the 2010 Big East Tournament title game ending between West Virginia & Georgetown.
Da’Sean Butler was incredible that week.
17 weeks from Sunday we will have college basketball.
NEWS: St. John's transfer Joson Sanon has committed to West Virginia, agents CJ Ward and Derek Malloy tell DraftExpress.
The 6'5 sophomore averaged 7.9 points in 21 minutes, shooting 34% from 3. Five-star recruit in the high school class of 2024.
NEWS: Georgia Tech transfer Mo Sylla tells @LeagueRDY he’s committing to West Virginia.
The 6-foot-10 big man out of Senegal is a former four-star recruit who played just one season at Georgia Tech.
He averaged 9.6PPG, 7.2RPG and 1.2BPG this season.