Some tragic news this afternoon as reports started coming in that former West Virginia Head Coach Bill Stewart had died. Stewart passed away due to a heart attack, he was 59 years old.
During his time as West Virginia's head coach Stewart amassed a 28-12 record with two bowl wins.
The two bowls included the 2007 Fiesta Bowl and the 2008 Meineke Car Care Bowl. During the Fiesta Bowl, he gave his famous Leave No Doubt speech which was later printed on all Nike Pro Combat gear and clips were shown before every home football game.
Stewart's coaching career began at Farimont State as an assistant coach, he later moved onto other assistant coaching jobs at Salem College, UNC, Marshall, Williams and Mary, Navy, Arizona State and Air Force. His first head coaching gig was at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), there he went 8-25 over three seasons and he later resigned due to an incident where he used a racial slur towards one of his players.
In 2000, Stewart was hired by Don Nehlen, who was head coach at the time, to serve as the quarterbacks coach. Seven years later he was moved to tight ends’ coach and assistant coach. When Rich Rodriguez abandoned the team before the Fiesta Bowl, to take the head coaching job at Michigan, Stewart filled the void and led the Mountaineers to a 48-28 upset over the #3 Oklahoma Sooners. The very next day Stewart was announced as the 32nd head coach of West Virginia.
In Stewart's first year as head coach, the Mountaineers went 9-4 which included a win over #25 North Carolina in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. In 2009, the Mountaineers signed Geno Smith (#3 quarterback), Tavon Austin (#5 running back) and Logan Heastie (#8 wide receiver). Once again the Mountaineers went 9-4, while going perfect at home and suffering their fourth loss to Bobby Bowden’s Florida State Seminoles in the Gator Bowl.
In 2010, the Mountaineers went 9-3 in the regular season and ended up losing to NC State in the Champs Sports Bowl by the score of 23-7. Later that year, West Virginia hired Dana Holgorsen as their offensive coordinator and announced that Stewart would coach for the 2011 season and that Holgorsen would take over as head coach for the 2012 season.
Many current and former Mountaineers took to their Twitters to share their thoughts and perspectives on Bill Stewart:
@PatMcAfeeShow: He came over to me after the kick, put his arm on my shoulder pads and said "Great blast buddy. I got chills from how happy I am for you"
@D_Cook25: RIP COACH STEW THANK YOU FOR THE OPPURTUNITY U GAVE ME CHANGED MY LIFE #LeaveNoDoubt I KNOW U LOOKIN DOWN ON #MountaineerNation#SALUTE
@BIrvin_WVU11: So happy I got to talk to coach stew a few weeks ago. Thanks for giving me a chance to b apart of this great university.
Bill Stewart is survived by his wife Karen and son Blaine.
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