Sports fans (and media) in general tend to focus on the “Big 4” professional sports:
football, basketball, baseball, and hockey. Each has professional leagues that have been around
for decades (the NBA, founded in 1946, is the only one less than 100 years old). While other
sports have popularity, those are the ones that consistently drive the interest.
That happens in college athletics as well, although hockey is a niche sport at the
collegiate level. TV pays the big bucks for a handful of sports (football and men’s basketball are
the main draws), then there are several sports that also generate a fair amount of interest, at
least enough to warrant pretty regular coverage.
Some sports do have small but loyal followings, and some sports are big at certain
schools and/or regions (think wrestling in Iowa, or rifle at WVU). Most of these get grouped into
the “Olympic sports” category. They are sports that the general public will show a spike in
interest when the Olympics come around, but then the interest will typically wane until the
next Olympiad. As a former competitive swimmer, I wish there was more coverage and more
popularity, but the reality is that for now, at least, they don’t get the publicity that they should.
At WVU, there are plenty of sports that operate without the same degree of limelight as
football and basketball. I try to highlight those goings on during the year, but this week I want
to shine a brighter light on them. They are full of hard-working and talented athletes, and many
of the programs have had good recent successes, and many are on the upswing.
The golf team is the “newest” sport at WVU; after being discontinued in 1980, it was
brought back ten years ago, and Sean Covich has turned the Mountaineers into a solid national
team. Making the NCAA Regionals is now an expectation rather than a goal, and they even
advanced to the NCAA Championships once.
The wrestling team is another squad regaining its form. Coach Tim Flynn just signed a
contract extension, which is reward for building a quality team with great depth. They finished
the season ranked Top 25 for the third year in a row, which is the first time WVU has done that,
and they also had their highest Big 12 finish since the conference expanded in 2016.
The overall track program at WVU has quietly become quite successful. There are
technically three sports that comprise the program: cross country, indoor track & field, and
outdoor track & field. The long distance crew has been the mainstay for the Mountaineers, with
numerous All-Americans. The past two seasons, WVU has placed in the top 10 at the NCAA
Championships, and they have had multiple All-Americans in cross country and outdoor track
and field for the past couple of years. Ceili McCabe also won a national championship last year,
becoming the fourth Mountaineer to stand on the top step at an NCAA Track & Field
Championship. They also appear to be recruiting well, and the runners develop while at WVU,
so this is a very, very solid program.
The gymnastics team has a long and proud history, dating back several decades. They
advance to the NCAA Regionals more often than not, although they did not make it last season,
due in no small part to injuries. When healthy, however, this program holds its own, and has
shown that they can compete for Top 25 rankings – but they do need to stay healthy.
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams are starting to reap the rewards of
a new facility. The Peak Health Aquatic Center is capable of hosting Conference Championships,
and even National Diving events. Brent MacDonald is entering his third year as head coach, and
he has assembled a very good staff, and the quality of recruiting is picking up. Last year, the
men cracked the WVU all-time top 10 list in 13 of 14 events. They are also building more depth
across many events as well. I don’t think the program is at the level Coach MacDonald wants it
to be just yet, but things are moving in the right direction.
That also sums up the volleyball program right now. Jen Greeny had a very successful
coaching stint at Washington State, and came to Morgantown, where she is also entering her
third season. The Big 12 is a pretty tough conference, but the improvement under Greeny has
been noticeable. As with swimming, you can see an uptick in recruiting, and I would expect that
we will continue to see steady improvement on the volleyball court.
Since joining the Big 12, both the tennis and rowing teams have typically been stuck at the bottom of Big 12 standings. In tennis, the team didn’t win a conference match until its sixth
season, and that was the only win of their first ten years. In the three years since, they have
won five matches, and they advanced to the postseason NIT tournament in 2024. The realities
of funding, etc., means they probably won’t be a Big 12 contender, but the program is still
trending in the right direction. It’s a similar story for the rowing team, which had finished at the
bottom of the Big 12 Championship every year but one – until this year, when they had their
best Big 12 meet ever.
Finally, today (Aug. 5) is the opening of WVU’s fall practice for football. So things are
really ramping up for football and the other fall sports. And to the players, friends, and families
who are playing high school sports, and just started your fall practice, best of luck for a healthy
and successful season!
