Apart from the ticket reimbursement, WVU had no larger expense on its Orange Bowl trip than the food/lodging line-item. Granted, WVU stayed at the Fontainebleu, a famously fabulous place that the night before and the night of the game was asking $569 for a regular room. The bill there, even with discounted rates, was big for about 300 rooms for the team and all its parts, as well as the marching band.

But food has to be consumed, too, and the rates at the hotel were Kilimanjaro steep. It’s convenient to eat at the hotel, either before you leave or when you return, but it just wasn’t smart. So WVU sought a fix and, believe it or not, had it’s head athletic trainer do the job.

And Dave Kerns, it seems, did it with aplomb. Basically, the Mountaineers spent a lot of money on meals, and they had to, but Kerns made sure they didn’t spend as much as was both feared and possible. He got creative, even when at the hotel.

“When we have meals preset they put out pitchers of orange juice, milk, water, those types of things on the table, and that’s where you get into the greater cost, especially in south Florida when the hotels bill you for freshly squeezed orange juice,” he said. “Rather than get into those escalated costs, we put bottles of juice, bottles of Gatorade, bottles of water, cartons of milk on the table.”

The team was controlling its expense and paying for what was consumed rather than what was served.

“I didn’t price out the exact cost of a pitcher of this or a pitcher of that, but what I had heard from people who made previous trips to that specific hotel was that it was $80 or $90 for a pitcher of orange juice,” Kerns said. “You figure you get eight, maybe 10 glasses out of a pitcher. We were getting charged maybe $3 a bottle. For 10 people, you’re saving some money there.”