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What motivates Mountaineers in June

June 16, 2015 by Mike Casazza

Fun story here … again … and I’m starting to worry worried I’m not doing my share during these down days. But these aren’t duldrums for everyone, and West Virginia’s football team is hard at work lifting weights, watching cut-ups from the spring and doing brisk walk-throughs (no football, please!) during the summer workout windows.

It’s not especially fun work. It’s better than nothing, but it’s not a lot more than nothing, either. Still,it’s necessary, and it requires a focus to stay tuned for the (up to) eight hours a week. There needs to be a light to chase, a carrot to pursue, and the motivations are different for everyone.

But Bill Snyder has become such a gentleman through the years and his letters have become so treasured that getting a letter from Snyder is a goal for some, including WVU’s Clint Trickett.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the note came. Trickett sustained a concussion in West Virginia’s 26–20 loss to Kansas State on Nov. 20 and had to leave the game in the third quarter facing a two-touchdown deficit.

“Sorry I didn’t get to see you after the game Clint. Wasn’t aware that you had received a concussion. I hope the symptoms are gone by now & that you will be back soon. Always appreciate you as a young man of great values as well as being an excellent quarterback. Pulling for you to finish off the season at your best. Warm Regards Coach Snyder.”

Trickett, of course, has the letter. He’s taking it with him to East Mississippi Community College, where he’ll start his career as a quarterback coach.

At some point, the letter will hang on his wall. He’ll have framed a memento, essentially, from the injury that ended his playing career. “He’s the foundation of what a coach should be,” Trickett says. “When you think what a coach should be, you think of Bill Snyder. The handwritten letter epitomizes it.”