Mountaineers Looking to Finish Season Strong Next Tuesday Against Memphis – West Virginia University Athletics

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It’s business as usual over at the Milam Puskar Center, even though it’s not business as usual for Mountaineer football these days.
 
Interim coach Chad Scott made his daily posting on X early this morning. It read “accept both compliments and criticism. It takes both sun and rain for a flower to grow.”
 
Scott’s message yesterday was “be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.”
 
And his posting two days ago … “be real, be yourself, be unique, be true, be honest, be humble, be happy.”
 
Scott was on time for his 11 a.m. meeting with media in the team room to preview this year’s Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl taking place next Tuesday night at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. 
 
He was in the building before sunrise, as he usually is.
 
Scott spent about 25 minutes talking about the team, the approach he has taken to keeping most of the roster intact for the bowl game and what has been going on over there since coach Neal Brown’s dismissal 10 days ago.
 
The outgoing coaches inked 22 players on signing day, a ridiculous number considering these incoming guys will be playing for another coaching staff. The team has had eight practices so far, some more intense and physical than usual, since finding out that Memphis was going to be its season-ending foe.
 
Scott indicated everyone who hasn’t already put his name into the transfer portal is going to play in the game, including top NFL Draft prospect Wyatt Milum, WVU’s homegrown star who recently bagged an eight-point buck up in Preston County.
 
Milum, one of three players who met with the media today after Scott and interim defensive coordinator Jeff Koonz, said he plans to finish what he started.
 
Scott’s message to his guys is to “be where your feet are” and that suits Milum just fine. Milum admits to “living in the now” and doesn’t really look too far ahead, including what is in store for him personally and professionally.
 
Milum was also asked about his Mountaineer legacy and his message to the future Wyatt Milums out there hoping to someday reach their dreams like he has.
 
“You can make it here in West Virginia,” he pointed out, “and you don’t have to leave to accomplish your dreams.”
 
Koonz was asked about his prior experiences with coaching transitions. He is completing his 21^st season in the business, and he explained that he’s been involved in five coaching transitions so far, including some “way more” unsettling than this one.
 
Koonz said he aspires to run a defense on a full-time basis, or even lead an entire team, but family considerations will play a factor in what he does moving forward. He says that’s not an answer he would have given 10 years ago.
 
Senior defensive tackle T.J. Jackson II has not even been in Morgantown a full year after transferring from Troy. He joked that he has been trying to find a way to petition the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility to play another season at WVU.
 
With that likely not in the cards, Jackson said the next best thing will be to bring his daughter back for a game sometime soon to soak up the atmosphere here one more time.
 
That’s how much that past 11 months have meant to him being a Mountaineer.
 
And then there is quarterback Garrett Greene, playing his fifth and final season at WVU. He said he is beginning the long process of cleaning out his apartment, collecting all his gear and removing things from his locker to make room for the next Mountaineer starting quarterback.
 
It was difficult for him to sum up his college career in just a few memories.
 
He bypassed the obvious one – the Oklahoma game when he almost singlehandedly led the Mountaineers to a comeback victory over the Sooners at Milan Puskar Stadium in 2022. That was West Virginia’s first and only victory against Oklahoma since joining the Big 12 in 2012.
 
Had Greene not been on the field that afternoon, the Sooners would have had a clean sweep of West Virginia as conference mates before departing to the SEC.
 
Instead, Garrett picked the opening play of last year’s Dukes Mayo Bowl victory over North Carolina when he completed a long touchdown pass to Traylon Ray that the team had practiced the entire week. They knew the Tar Heels frequently overreacted to motion, and they knew the play was going to work.
 
As for his legacy, Greene said he wanted fans to remember him as a guy “who played his ass off.”
 
Would that be possible if Greene’s final game was the lopsided 52-15 loss at Texas Tech? Probably, but that listless effort seems to be stuck in the back of the minds of those still in the building getting ready for the Memphis Tigers.
 
It was disappointing in every sense of the word.
 
“Nobody wants to go out like that performance at Texas Tech,” Koonz admitted. “I can’t speak for all of the players, but that is certainly a motivating factor for me.”
 
It’s also a motivating factor for Greene.
 
“Texas Tech wasn’t good enough, and I don’t want that to be my last memory,” he admitted.
 
The coaches and players are aware of what’s in store for them next Tuesday night – a motivated and hungry Memphis team wanting to take down another power conference opponent like it did last year when it defeated Iowa State in the Liberty Bowl.
 
The Tigers are also ranked and want to remain in the polls to end the season, and we all know the issues West Virginia has had against nationally ranked teams the last six years.
 
Koonz also pointed out the fact that the opportunity exists for some of these WVU players to win three bowl games during their careers, a rarity anywhere. Regardless, everyone still involved with Mountaineer football right now wants to finish the job they started. They will worry about what happens after the Frisco Bowl on Wednesday morning.
 
They will also leave here taking a piece of West Virginia with them, no matter where their lives take them next.