Plenty of West Virginia ties for Rebels

Nobody was happier with the news Wednesday that UNLV would be playing a football game at West Virginia next year than senior associate athletic director Jerry Koloskie, the man who along with athletic director Mike Hamrick helped to broker the $740,000 payday.

The school should clear an extra $600,000 after expenses for playing a 13th game next season, something that certainly doesn’t hurt in these extremely difficult economic times. But Koloskie (1980), as well as longtime director of athletic training Kyle Wilson (1982) and assistant athletic director for operations and facilities Erik Schwarz (1993), are all graduates of West Virginia. Hamrick, meanwhile, graduated from college a couple hours south in Huntington at Marshall.

“From the time I was six years old until I left (for Iowa State in 1980) I never missed a football game,” Koloskie, who was on hand when WVU upset eventual Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett and Pitt in the annual Backyard Brawl in 1975, said. “I’ve never been to a game in the new Mountaineer Field which they built after I left. I still have a lot of friends back there and my parents live nearby in Fairmont. I’ve always wanted to go back there for a game but it has never quite worked out.”

Koloskie did get to go back to Morgantown once with UNLV as basketball trainer for Jerry Tarkanian on Feb. 27, 1983. The No. 1 rated Runnin’ Rebels, perhaps still smarting from an 86-78 loss to Leon Wood-led Cal State Fullerton three nights earlier, lost that one, 87-78.

“It will be a great time of the year to go back there,” Koloskie said of the Oct. 9 date. “The leaves should be turning and the weather will hopefully be nice. It’s going to be a lot of fun for me.”

Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium has a reputation for being one of the rowdiest in the nation … and for good reason. Many fans begin showing up and tailgating on Friday in anticipation for the game the next day.

“I talked a friend of mine and he plans on getting there on Thursday night,” Koloskie said. “People drive in a day or two early from all over the state. Games there are a major happening. It should be fun.”