West Virginia Mountaineers facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids West Virginia Mountaineers

University	West Virginia University
Conference	Big 12 MAC Great America Rifle Conference
NCAA	Division I (FBS)
Athletic director	Shane Lyons
Location	Morgantown, West Virginia
Varsity teams	17
Football stadium	Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium
Basketball arena	WVU Coliseum
Baseball stadium	Monongalia County Ballpark
Mascot	The Mountaineer
Nickname	Mountaineers
Fight song	Hail, West Virginia (official) Fight Mountaineers (official) Take Me Home, Country Roads (unofficial)
Colors	Old Gold and Blue

Big 12 logo in West Virginia's colors

Men's sports	Women's sports
Baseball	Basketball
Basketball	Cross country
Football	Gymnastics
Golf	Rowing
Soccer	Soccer
Swimming & diving	Swimming & diving
Wrestling	Tennis
	Track & field^†
	Volleyball
Co-ed sports
Rifle
† – Track and field includes both indoor and outdoor.

The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia University, an American university located in Morgantown, West Virginia. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. The Mountaineers have been a member of the Big 12 Conference since 2012. At that time, the Mountaineers joined the Mid-American Conference as an affiliate member for men's soccer. The two major sports at the university are football (played at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium) and basketball (played at the WVU Coliseum), although many of the other sports have large followings as well.

Currently, WVU sponsors seven men's sports, ten women's sports, and one coeducational sport (rifle). Men's golf was the latest sport to be added in the 2015–16 school year.

Championships

NCAA team championships

West Virginia has won 20 NCAA team national championships.

Men's (1)
- Boxing (1): 1938 (unofficial)
Co-ed (19)
- Rifle (19): 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017

Other national team championships

Below are 5 national team titles that were not bestowed by the NCAA:

Men's basketball (1): 1942
Rifle (4): 1913, 1961, 1964, 1966

Cross country

Head Coach: Sean Cleary

World Cross Country Qualifiers: 11

BIG EAST Conference Champions: 2007

NCAA Regional Champions: 2004,2008

NCAA Appearances: 9

NCAA Top 10 finishes: 5: 2007,2008,2009,2011,2014

NCAA Elite 8 finishes: 4: 2008,2009,2011,2014

NCAA Final 4 finishes: 1: 2008

Highest NCAA Finish: 4th

Last NCAA Appearance: 2014

All-Americans: 15

Elite 89 Winners: Ahna Lewis-2009, Kelly Williams 2014

NACAC Campions, Metcalfe, Grandt, Harrison NACAC Silver Medallists: Asselin, Forsey,

National Team Members: World Cross Country Team Members 10, NACAC Championships Team Members 9

Gymnastics

Competition Facility: WVU Coliseum (14,000)

Head Coach: Jason Butts

Most Victories: 26 in 1992

NCAA Tournament Appearances: 3 (under former head coach Linda Burdette)

AIAW Appearances: 1

Last NCAA Appearance: 2000

All-Americans: 4

Rifle

For rifle, a sport in which fewer than 40 NCAA member schools participate, the Mountaineers are a member of the single-sport Great America Rifle Conference and have won the most NCAA Rifle Championships of any school at 18.

Playing Facility: WVU Shell Building

Head Coach: Jon Hammond

Most Victories: 19 in 1964

NCAA Appearances: 26

NCAA Team Championships: 18

NCAA Team Runner up: 7

National Individual Champions: 21

NCAA All-Americans: 65

Olympians: 13

Gold Medal: Virginia "Ginny" Thrasher - Rio 2016

Awards: CaptainU Coach of the Year

Women's track

Playing Facility: Mountaineer Track, Shell Indoor Track

Head Coach: Sean Cleary 2007-Present

Assistants: Shellyann Galimore Erin Oreilly

Olympians: 4

NCAA National Champions: 3, Pat Itanyi Long Jump 1994, Kate Vermeulen 1999 Mile, Megan Metcalf 5000 2005,

NCAA Runner Up Finishes: Marie Louise Asselin 2011-5000, Kate Harrison 10,000 2012

NCAA All-Americans: 31

NCAA Top 10 Finishes: 1 2010 Outdoors NCAA Sweet 16 Finishes: 1999, 2010, 2011 NCAA top 20 Finishes: 1999, 2009 2010,2011,

NCAA Division I: NACDA Learfield Director's Cup

See footnote and NACDA Directors' Cup

WVU Directors' Cup Standings

Seasons	National Rank	Conference Rank
1993–94	67th	6th
1994–95	92nd	10th
1995–96	63rd	6th
1996–97	72nd	11th
1997–98	41st	2nd
1998–99	60th	6th
1999–00	77th	10th

Seasons	National Rank	Conference Rank
2000–01	70th	7th
2001–02	76th	9th
2002–03	84th	11th
2003–04	71st	8th
2004–05	59th	3rd
2005–06	52nd	2nd
2006–07	57th	4th

Seasons	National Rank	Conference Rank
2007–08	30th	2nd
2008–09	50th	3rd
2009–10	37th	2nd
2010–11	40th	3rd
2011–12	45th	3rd

Sports traditions

Firing of the Musket

The Mountaineer mascot carries a period Musket and powder horn for firing a shot to signal the opening of several athletic events. The Mountaineer points the gun into the air with one arm and fires a blank shot, a signal to the crowd to begin cheering at home football and basketball games. The Mountaineer also fires the musket every time the team scores during football games.

Formation of the state

Formation of the State

The Pride of West Virginia forms the outline of the state of West Virginia during the pregame show of all home Mountaineer football games. The outline of the state moves down the field during the playing of "Hail West Virginia", and the shape inverts to face the student side of the stadium when the crowd begins the "Let's Go...Mountaineers" chant.

Cheers

The "Let's Go...Mountaineers" cheer originated at home football games as a competition between opposite sides of the stadium. The student side of the stadium chants "Let's Go...", and the pressbox side responds "Mountaineers". The chant can continue for long periods of time, as each side of the stadium tries to keep the chant from fading. The cheer has spread to other athletic events including basketball and soccer.

Carpet roll at a basketball game

The "WVU First Down" cheer is used when fans are expecting a first down call during a football game. Prior to the announcement, fans put their arms in the air and yell while waiting for the call. After the announcement, the fans lower and raise their arms three times while simultaneously yelling the initials "WVU". Then, the fans clap and signal to the end zone while cheering "first down!"

Carpet roll

In 1955, Fred Schaus and Alex Mumford devised the idea of rolling out an elaborate gold and blue carpet for Mountaineer basketball players to use when taking the court for pre-game warm-ups. In addition, Mountaineer players warmed up with a special gold and blue basketball. The university continued this tradition until the late 1960s when it died out, but former Mountaineer player Gale Catlett reintroduced the carpet when he returned to West Virginia University in 1978 as head coach of the men's basketball team.

Pageantry

Mascot

West Virginia Mountaineer

The Mountaineer was adopted in 1890 as the official school mascot and unofficially began appearing at sporting events in 1936. A new Mountaineer is selected each year during the final two men's home basketball games, with the formal title "The Mountaineer of West Virginia University." The new Mountaineer receives a scholarship, a tailor-made buckskin suit with coonskin hat, and a period rifle and powder horn for discharging when appropriate and safe. The mascot travels with most sports teams throughout the academic year. While not required, male mascots traditionally grow a beard. Jonathan Kimble, a Franklin, WV native (pictured) is the new 2012-2013 WVU Mountaineer, Kimble officially took over as the official mascot at the annual spring football game.

Logos

Designed by sports artist John Martin, The "Flying WV" is the most widely used logo in West Virginia athletics. It debuted in 1980 as a part of a football uniform redesign by Coach Don Nehlen, and was adopted as the official logo for the university in 1983. While the "Flying WV" represents all university entities, unique logos are occasionally used for individual departments. Some examples include the script West Virginia logo for the WVU Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, and the interlocking WV logo used in baseball.

Songs

The official fight songs of West Virginia University are "Fight Mountaineers" and "Hail, West Virginia." "Hail, West Virginia." was composed by WVU alumni Earl Miller and Ed McWhorther in 1915 with lyrics by Fred B. Deem. The "Pride of West Virginia" Mountaineer Marching Band performs the second verse of "Hail, West Virginia" as part of its pregame performance at Mountaineer football games. The band's pregame arrangement of "Hail, West Virginia" was arranged by WVU's 7th band director - Dr. Budd Udell. The line "Others may be black or crimson, but for us it's Gold and Blue." is in reference to Washington & Jefferson College, an early rival.

In addition to the official fight songs of West Virginia university, the fan response to John Denver's "Country Roads" (arrangement by Dr. James Miltenberger) has made it the unofficial song of the university and the state of West Virginia.

The West Virginia University Alma Mater was composed in 1937, and is sung before every home football game.

Colors

The upperclassmen of 1890 selected the official colors of "old gold and blue" from the West Virginia state seal. While the official school colors are old gold and blue, a brighter gold is used in official university logos and merchandise. This change in color scheme is often cited for the lack of a universal standard for colors during 19th century when the university's colors were selected. Additionally, the brighter gold is argued to create a more intimidating environment for sporting events. The university accepts "gold and blue" for the color scheme, but states clearly that the colors are not "blue and gold", to distinguish West Virginia from its rival school the University of Pittsburgh.

Marching band

Main page: West Virginia University Mountaineer Marching Band

The West Virginia University Mountaineer Marching Band is nicknamed "The Pride of West Virginia". The 390-member band performs at every home football game and makes several local and national appearances throughout the year. The band was the recipient of the prestigious Sudler Trophy in 1997.