In case you missed it, Christian Brand, the former Capital High standout, predicted this week's West Virginia Open might be the "best ever'' because of the location and field.
THE VIEWS from here:
In case you missed it, Christian Brand, the former Capital High standout, predicted this week's West Virginia Open might be the "best ever'' because of the location and field.
One could call it youthful enthusiasm.
Then again, Brand may be dead on.
The Berry Hills course is expected to be very challenging. And the field of golfers is, well, stellar.
Barry Evans, who once won the national Club Pro Championship, will play on his home course. He recently shot a 69 on the final day of the latest CPC in Greensboro, Ga., to finish 24th. Brad Westfall, our state's beloved Blackbeard, also played in the CPC.
Check the 1 p.m. group of Jonathan Clark, David Bradshaw and Pat Carter. Clark won the event the last time it was at Berry Hills. Bradshaw is going for his third straight Open title. And Carter has 12 state Amateur crowns.
Forget the golf ball. That's top flight. Which should provide good theater for state fans.
Spoke to Don Nehlen, the winningest football coach in WVU history, on Tuesday. Seems he is slowly, but surely, recovering from triple bypass surgery.
"I'm a lot better now than I was a week ago,'' Nehlen said from his Morgantown home. "When they split your chest open, it's hard to do much because you're so weak. But I'm now able to walk three to five minutes at a time. I still have chest pain, but I've come a long way in a week.''
Nehlen's road to a diagnosis is quite a tale.
"Whenever I'd talk to [ex-Ohio State coaches] Earle Bruce and John Cooper, they'd tell me to get my heart checked," Nehlen said. "They said even though I'm retired, I had 43 years of coaching, which was a lot of stress. I felt good, so I never [had the heart checked].
"Well, I was in Charleston for a Billy Stewart fund-raiser and in a foursome with Chris Wallace and Dr. [Kishore] Challa, one of the nicest men I've ever met.
"Chris told me Dr. Challa had a [CT angiogram] machine that could test the heart, so I asked him and he said he'd do it the first thing in the morning.''
Thankfully. The tests showed Nehlen needed surgery. Immediately.
Since the surgery, Nehlen said he's received a lot of support calls, including those from ex-Nebraska coach Tom Osborne, ex-Syracuse coach Dick MacPherson, ex-BYU coach LaVell Edwards and ex-Baylor coach and AFCA president Grant Teaff.
"I'm the luckiest guy in the world," Nehlen said, "but it's going to take me a while to get back to normal. It's like playing 10 Nebraska games in a row - after losing 16 starters.''
WVU fans may remember that Nebraska whipped Nehlen's Mountaineers 31-0 in the 1994 Kickoff Classic at Giants Stadium.
THE VIEWS from here:
In case you missed it, Christian Brand, the former Capital High standout, predicted this week's West Virginia Open might be the "best ever'' because of the location and field.
One could call it youthful enthusiasm.
Then again, Brand may be dead on.
The Berry Hills course is expected to be very challenging. And the field of golfers is, well, stellar.
Barry Evans, who once won the national Club Pro Championship, will play on his home course. He recently shot a 69 on the final day of the latest CPC in Greensboro, Ga., to finish 24th. Brad Westfall, our state's beloved Blackbeard, also played in the CPC.
Check the 1 p.m. group of Jonathan Clark, David Bradshaw and Pat Carter. Clark won the event the last time it was at Berry Hills. Bradshaw is going for his third straight Open title. And Carter has 12 state Amateur crowns.
Forget the golf ball. That's top flight. Which should provide good theater for state fans.
Spoke to Don Nehlen, the winningest football coach in WVU history, on Tuesday. Seems he is slowly, but surely, recovering from triple bypass surgery.
"I'm a lot better now than I was a week ago,'' Nehlen said from his Morgantown home. "When they split your chest open, it's hard to do much because you're so weak. But I'm now able to walk three to five minutes at a time. I still have chest pain, but I've come a long way in a week.''
Nehlen's road to a diagnosis is quite a tale.
"Whenever I'd talk to [ex-Ohio State coaches] Earle Bruce and John Cooper, they'd tell me to get my heart checked," Nehlen said. "They said even though I'm retired, I had 43 years of coaching, which was a lot of stress. I felt good, so I never [had the heart checked].
"Well, I was in Charleston for a Billy Stewart fund-raiser and in a foursome with Chris Wallace and Dr. [Kishore] Challa, one of the nicest men I've ever met.
"Chris told me Dr. Challa had a [CT angiogram] machine that could test the heart, so I asked him and he said he'd do it the first thing in the morning.''
Thankfully. The tests showed Nehlen needed surgery. Immediately.
Since the surgery, Nehlen said he's received a lot of support calls, including those from ex-Nebraska coach Tom Osborne, ex-Syracuse coach Dick MacPherson, ex-BYU coach LaVell Edwards and ex-Baylor coach and AFCA president Grant Teaff.
"I'm the luckiest guy in the world," Nehlen said, "but it's going to take me a while to get back to normal. It's like playing 10 Nebraska games in a row - after losing 16 starters.''
WVU fans may remember that Nebraska whipped Nehlen's Mountaineers 31-0 in the 1994 Kickoff Classic at Giants Stadium.
Since I checked on Nehlen, I figured, what the heck, I might as well call his partner in coal: ex-Marshall coach Bob Pruett, who agreed to shed retirement back in February and become Virginia's new defensive coordinator.
Pruett said he's back at work, teaching at the Cavaliers' youth football camp. And, yes, recruiting.
"We've got 16 commitments, which is the school's best ever [at this point],'' Pruett said. "Coach [Al] Groh said there are only three other schools with more.''
Pruett, who recruits West Virginia and the Tidewater area for U.Va., said he's enjoying himself.
"I really am,'' he said. "I miss the interaction with the fans, but the good Lord meant for me to work with kids. It's been a lot of fun so far. Of course, we haven't played yet.''
When the Cavs do, there could be a problem. See, Virginia's first 2008 game is against Southern Cal.
Could this be a repeat of Pruett's last game as a defensive coordinator, when the 1995 Florida Gators gave up 62 points to (watch how neatly this ties back to Nehlen) Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl?
"Hey,'' Pruett laughed, "at Marshall we played [then-No. 9] Ohio State and [then-No. 3] Georgia back-to-back. So what the heck? You can't see what you look like until the picture is taken.''
For what it's worth, I received an e-mail with NBA Draft odds. Yes, NBA Draft odds.
The odds of Huntington native O.J. Mayo being the No. 3 pick: 2 to 5. The odds of WVU standout Joe Alexander being the No. 8 pick: 1 to 2.
So there you have it.
Question for Shaquille O'Neal: If I put together my column in a freestyle form and taunt the heck out of you, is it then OK to say, the next day, aw, I was just kidding?
And finally . . .
Fans of ex-Nitro and ex-WVU quarterback J.R. House are now able to give him a lift in his chosen profession of baseball.
House, as many know, is a catcher and first baseman for the Houston Astros' Class AAA affiliate of Round Rock. Before Tuesday's game, House was leading the Express in hitting with a .309 batting average with 30 RBIs and five home runs. He was tied for 15th among Pacific Coast League hitters with, among others, Trot Nixon.
Anyway, the legion of House fans can help by voting for the ex-Wildcat as an all-star at the PCL Web site.
Up to 25 times.
Reach Mitch Vingle at 348-4827 or mitchvin...@wvgazette.com.
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