The coronation on Sunday was indeed a long time coming for West Virginia’s women’s soccer program and the matriarch, Nikki Izzo-Brown.

Women’s soccer was a new sport and Izzo-Brown, then just Nikki Izzo and barely 25, was placed in charge of building West Virginia’s program from the ground up. Her budget back then was as modest as her coaching resume: All-American player at Rochester and two year’s worth of coaching experience at West Virginia Wesleyan College.

But she was always intensely driven and she never took the ‘Nos’ very easily. Back then her mind rarely drifted too far away from the task at hand – improving West Virginia women’s soccer.

“You’ve always got to remember where you came from,” said Izzo-Brown. “That’s always important. I’ll never forget where this program started and I’ll never forget the people that helped us get to where we are today.”

Where they are today is standing tall as the Big East champion and a legitimate and consistent presence on the national level. Let’s follow Coach’s advice and remember where WVU came from with a story from a night I still remember.

It was Nov. 16, 2001 and WVU had just lost at home to Miami of Ohio, 1-0, in the first round of the program’s second NCAA Tournament. It was somber afterward, of course, but Izzo-Brown was grounded and mindful of the process.

How and why do I remember this? Well, since it was a NCAA championship event, there were certain regulations WVU had to abide by and one was providing the formal postgame interview area. The trouble was that only MSNSportsnet.com’s John Antonik and I were covering the game.

The formal interview went on and Assistant Sports Information Director Phil Caskey, who was then working with women’s soccer, stood at the front of the room and introduced Izzo-Brown — actually, she was just Izzo then — for an opening statement. When she was finished, Phil opened things up for questions and said that if we had one, we were to raise our hand and he would call on us.

I remember looking around the empty room, seeing the rows of vacant chairs, shaking my head and raising my hand. Phil actually scanned the room before calling on me. I asked a question, Izzo-Brown answered and then there was a pause. I raised my hand again, was called on again, asked a question again and got an answer again. John eventually joined in and this went on for a few minutes.

It was all very bizarre at the time and still pretty funny today, but what I remember is that while I felt a little odd, Izzo-Brown seemed very comfortable and I got the impression she felt her program belonged on that stage. The plan she talked about that night has come to fruition and she didn’t really need the Big East title to validate anything.

And so it is that I raise my hand and say “How does it feel?”