MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – For Neal Brown, West Virginia’s season opener against James Madison is a debut. For Dukes coach Curt Cignetti, it’s a return.
In an unusual twist, the home coach’s experience in his home stadium pales in comparison to a visitor who will be ending a 35-year hiatus from the town where he grew up.
Stranger still, Curt is the first Cignetti that will coach a game at Milan Puskar Stadium – a facility that his father Frank pushed for relentlessly before being denied the opportunity to ever use it.
Fighting for a stadium, but losing on the field
Frank Cignetti is not remembered fondly by the West Virginia record book.