The wait is finally over
Well, that was a wild ride!
The last two weeks in our house have been a roller-coaster of emotions rivaling a ride on The Phantom’s Revenge at Kennywood. Why, you ask? College football, of course!
If I told you how many hours a week (or day) my incredible husband and I spend talking about college football (and West Virginia University football, in particular), you probably wouldn’t believe it. It’s a wonderful obsession for both of us. As I’ve told you before, we met at a WVU football tailgate.
Let’s go back to Nov. 30, when our beloved WVU Mountaineer football team went to Lubbock, Texas, and completely laid an egg against Texas Tech. That, in itself, wasn’t a surprise. Just how poorly they played was shocking. The head coach of six seasons was in jeopardy of finally getting sacked. Neal Brown is, by all accounts, a very good man, but he’s not a great head football coach and he just can’t win. We waited with bated breath for word on his future. Two days later, he was gone. Now what?
The next 11 days were hilarious. During the last coaching search, social media was active, but the decision came quickly. This time, the administration took its time interviewing dozens of candidates, narrowing it down, interviewing finalists and delving into their styles, backgrounds and references. Suffice it to say that social media was going bananas over the question of who the next coach would be and should be. I don’t think I’ve refreshed my “X” feed (I still call it Twitter) so many times per hour.
Text messages were flying every few minutes from our group of about nine friends and fellow fans. They heard it was going to be so-and-so, no – wait, he’s going to another school. How about that other guy? Nah, no head coaching experience. Someone who can handle NIL money and the portal? No one has enough experience with the crazy landscape that’s become lately.
The gossip and rumor mill was crazier than General Hospital, and the eventual choice of former and now once again current head coach Rich Rodriguez stirred so much controversy it made national headlines for days. (Personally, I love it and can’t wait to see him and the team in action next season.)
I don’t think my husband, or his friends, got much work done during the coaching search, and I never laughed so hard at some of the funny stuff people were posting online. Now that it’s over, we can get back to our normal lives.
Or can we? I forgot the transfer portal is now open and February is another signing day. Then comes the spring game when we’ll see who’s made of what and whether they’re going to stay or go (or be told they need to go) into the portal again.
Don’t even get me started on basketball season!
Kristin Emery can be reached at kristinemery1@yahoo.com