West Virginia Mountaineers Football at Milan Puskar Stadium
Morgantown, West Virginia, is home to West Virginia University, as well as one of the premier football programs in the Big 12 Conference. The Mountaineers play at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium, whose capacity of 60,000 holds more people than the state's capital and most populous city, Charleston. Built in 1980, Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium replaced the original Mountaineer Field, and was renamed Puskar after the cofounder of Mylan Pharmaceuticals donated $20 million to the university in 2004. The Mountaineers are coached by Neal Brown, who won the 2017 Sun Belt Conference championship with Troy University before replacing Dana Holgorsen at West Virginia after the 2018 season.
West Virginia Mountaineers Football History
West Virginia University first fielded a varsity football team in 1891. It was known as the Snakes until becoming the Mountaineers in 1905. A live Mountaineer mascot, chosen annually among the student body, has been a tradition since 1934. The Mountaineers had much success throughout the 20th century, winning eight Southern Conference titles from 1950 to 1967. The modern era at Morgantown began in 1980, with the simultaneous hiring of Don Nehlen, the adaptation of the interlocking "WV" logo and the opening of the new Mountaineer Field. Under Nehlen, West Virginia became a national power and, with quarterback Major Harris, came close to a national championship in 1988, before losing the Fiesta Bowl to Notre Dame, 34-21.
West Virginia has many historic conference and regional rivals between such schools as Syracuse, Maryland, Penn State, Virginia Tech and Marshall, but conference realignments have made meetings between these rivals more sporadic. The most infamous of these rivalries was the Backyard Brawl, which the Mountaineers played against the Pittsburgh Panthers almost continuously from 1895 until 2011, when West Virginia left the Big East Conference for the Big 12. In 2007, under Rich Rodriguez, No. 2 West Virginia were upset by a 4-7 Pitt team by the score of 13-9, costing them a shot at a BCS title. The Mountaineers and Panthers will meet again from 2022 until 2025 as part of an inter-conference series.