CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -West Virginia coach Bill Stewart announced the hiring of three assistants Friday, as he tries to assemble a staff decimated by defections to Michigan.
Steve Dunlap, the defensive coordinator at Marshall, was named the Mountaineers’ assistant head coach in charge of safeties. David Lockwood takes over as cornerbacks coach and Chris Beatty will handle running backs and slot receivers.
Former West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez left for Michigan last month and hired six former Mountaineer assistants and five members of their support staff. That left only defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel and defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich, who were retained by Stewart.
Dunlap spent 17 seasons at West Virginia, serving as defensive coordinator from 1991-2000 under Don Nehlen. Dunlap also was an assistant at Syracuse from 2001-04 and at North Carolina State from 2005-06. He spent one season at Marshall.
“Steve brings a lot to the table. He has just a tremendous insight of the game of football,” Stewart said. “His knowledge is so vast, it confuses me.”
Lockwood spent the past season as secondary coach at Kentucky. He was a four-year starter in the West Virginia secondary from 1985-88 and coached the Mountaineer defensive backs in 2000. He also was an assistant coach at Minnesota, Notre Dame, Memphis, James Madison and Delaware.
Beatty was running backs coach at Northern Illinois last season.
Stewart wanted to get his defensive staff in place first. He is still in the process of hiring most of his offensive staff, including a coordinator, and must replace the program’s entire strength and conditioning staff.
The school said Stewart would make another announcement on Saturday morning.
“There’s no hour glass here pushing us,” Stewart said. “We want the right fit and the right match.”
Stewart was named interim coach after Rodriguez left. West Virginia beat Oklahoma 48-28 in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2 and Stewart was named head coach a day later.
Add A Comment