Taylor Kennedy: Friends of Coal Bowl should be renewed

“It would be great for our state and our two universities,� Gibson said of resuming the in-state series. “I’m trying to make a big push in making it happen, but I’m only one voice. I’m never going to stop.�

We posted the clip on X/Twitter, and the comments were immediately flooded with heated debates. Many questioned the benefits for both sides, especially WVU, which has won all 12 meetings in series history.

The last game was played on Sept. 1, 2012, in Morgantown, with the Mountaineers winning 69-34.

I, too, think that WVU and Marshall should play. It doesn’t have to be every year, but a home-and-home series could bring great attention to both programs.

I ran a poll on my X/Twitter account and asked, “Do you think WVU and Marshall should play each other in football?� Of 344 votes, 48.5% said “no,� 39.2% picked “yes� and 12.2% chose “maybe.�

Here are a few points as to why I think the Mountaineers and Thundering Herd should share the field again:

Scheduling

This is often the first point of emphasis fans bring up: “How does this help WVU and its schedule?�

Gibson made an interesting point to that end.

“The thing now is that they say, ‘You only hold 30-some thousand at your stadium [referring to Joan C. Edwards Stadium’s seating capacity of 38,016].’ Ohio University only holds 25,000 at its stadium and WVU is going there [the Mountaineers play in Athens, Ohio, on Sept. 6]. It doesn’t make sense how that can happen, but we can’t play a game and keep the money here.�

WVU athletic director Wren Baker didn’t rule out the resumption of the series when we spoke in August, but didn’t provide optimism about it, either.

“I wouldn’t say that we’re never going to play Marshall,� he said, “but it certainly isn’t high on the priority list of the way we’re building our schedules.�

Baker has also said in the past that his nonconference scheduling philosophy for football includes a mix of teams from different levels.

“I think you have to have a Group of Five opponent in those three nonconference opportunities,� Baker told MetroNews in 2023. “I would probably do [a] Power Five, Group of Five and/or another Group of Five or FCS. The difference is the FCS allows you to always ensure that you’re going to have seven and sometimes eight home games, whereas those Group of Five teams occasionally can buy them, but they’re really expensive.

“So, you’re looking at a two-for-one and the math becomes problematic.�

The last Group of Five opponent WVU played in a true road game was Marshall, in 2010 in Huntington.

The other common thing that I hear from people is that WVU doesn’t need Marshall. But Alabama doesn’t need to play Mercer with a few weeks left in the regular season. The Crimson Tide will play Eastern Illinois in their second-to-last game of the 2025 season.

Another example is Oklahoma and Oklahoma State taking on Tulsa every once in a while.

A home-and-home Mountaineers-Herd series would be good for both programs to help with scheduling.

Also, Marshall’s first game in the Gibson era is a road game against the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, Georgia.

The other side of this is that WVU’s nonconference schedule is full until 2028. So far, the Mountaineers have one nonconference game scheduled for that year, a neutral-site game against the Tennessee Volunteers in Charlotte, North Carolina.

State benefits

People who have attended the Friends of Coal Bowl know that it fills the seats.

The obvious storyline is that it’s the only Division I schools in West Virginia playing each other on the field.

Both Joan C. Edwards Stadium and Milan Puskar Stadium have had their venues go over capacity in every meeting since 1997, with four of the six games played in Morgantown bringing in more than 60,000 fans. The 1997 meeting saw a crowd of 65,492.

Two of the Joan’s top three attended games came when the Mountaineers traveled to Huntington.

If travel is an issue, the farthest WVU has traveled for a true road nonconference game since 2010 was LSU in 2010. The round trip was more than 2,000 miles between Morgantown and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

WVU coach Rich Rodriguez, during his first stint, had at least one game each season from 2001-07 in which the Mountaineers traveled 400 miles or more, with the farthest being to UCF (Orlando, Florida) in 2004.

Let’s keep the traveling in-state and have our teams play each other instead of having to go out of state.

Storyline

How unique would it be seeing a game between Rodriguez and Gibson? The two worked together at WVU. So, the first storyline is a former boss going against his former assistant. That’s like Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi battling each other.

The other prominent storyline is two Mountain State natives coaching West Virginia’s two Division I schools against each other.

Rodriguez has been outspoken in regard to the potential for the game coming back.

“Gibby is a great friend of mine and was a great staff member. We are still very dear friends,� Rodriguez said on ESPN before his introductory news conference in December. “You think I’ve spent one second thinking about Marshall, [then] you’re wrong. I could care less what’s going on in Huntington.�

Gibson understands that line of thinking.

“I get it. I was on the other side of this rivalry at WVU,� he said. “Nobody wanted to play Marshall, for a lot of different reasons. The biggest reason was that you didn’t want to lose to Marshall.�

I understand that no one wants to lose a rivalry game, or to an in-state opponent. However, sorry for bringing up a bad memory for WVU fans: they’ll always remember the Mountaineers’ 2007 loss to Pitt, 13-9. That’s still talked about.

So, that chatter would be inevitable if the game were to be played and WVU were to lose. There’s no escaping that.

I just think that there are certain cards in place that could help reignite that flame. Personally, I’m all for the two teams playing. There would be great storylines all around. Plus, what better way to showcase our state than with our two schools facing each other?