West Virginia Football Becomes A Target For Rex Ryan

Jul 23, 2013; Dallas, TX, USA; West Virginia football head coach Dana Holgorsen speaks to the media during the Big 12 media days at the Omni Dallas Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

While Dana Holgorsen is concerning himself with Big 12 counterparts Bob Stoops, Art Briles and Bill Snyder, New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan is concerning himself with Dana Holgorsen.

Ryan is never one to bite his tongue. On Monday at Jets training camp, he fired off to ESPN New York’s Rich Cimini about a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report, which quoted several West Virginia Mountaineers lamenting a lack of leadership in their disappointing 2012 season.

Chris Adamski’s report stems from a press conference in which Holgorsen said, “We have to develop leaders. It was a big issue on last year’s team — in a bad way.”

No players nor Holgorsen are quoted naming names, including that of former Mountaineer and current Jet quarterback Geno Smith. Yet Ryan goes to the trouble of filling in the blank in his rebuttal.

"“It tells me I’m glad my kid never went there, I can tell you that much. I don’t get that. Geno was a tremendous player for West Virginia."

Indeed, Smith was tremendous at WVU. He led the Mountaineers to the most points in Orange Bowl history — coincidentally, against a Clemson Tigers program where Ryan’s son is now a walk-on as Cimini reports — and last year passed for 4205 and 42 touchdowns. Smith registered Heisman caliber numbers, though fell out of the conversation because of the team’s struggles. Those struggles were due largely to one of the most porous defenses in the nation.

Perhaps it’s on defense where West Virginia football was lacking leadership. Maybe it’s on the line, where new offensive line coach Ron Crook discussed needing someone to step up during spring practice. No one player or unit was called out specifically.

There is logic to Ryan’s leap. As quarterback, Smith was West Virginia’s face and default leader. But Smith is one of 13 starters from last year’s West Virginia team no longer in the program. Only four teams in the entire FBS are less experienced: FIU, Troy, Louisiana Tech and defending Big 12 champion Kansas State.

West Virginia was a team playing in a new conference, in just its second year under a new coaching regime. It was a program in flux, and a 2-6 finish was the culmination of those growing pains.
Aug 9, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith (7) looks to pass in the second quarter of a preseason game against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
West Virginia’s search for new leadership was inevitable amid so much upheaval.

Criticism of Smith has been consistent, which he said he anticipated once the going got tough in an interview last year.

Anonymous scouts took seemingly arbitrary shots at the quarterback before April’s NFL draft, and his stock seemingly slipped. He went from rumored No. 1 overall pick to second rounder — though it’s worth nothing just one quarterback went in the first round.

The various slights could only grow the chip Smith spoke of having on his shoulder last October, thus fueling his drive for success. Or, it could be the latest unnecessary sideshow in the ongoing Jets circus.

Smith’s arrival in New York invokes memories of another first year quarterback, who came to the Big Apple with a lingering collegiate controversy.

Maybe Mark Sanchez’s career trajectory would have been exactly the same had he rejoined the USC Trojans for 2009. Maybe not.

Former USC head coach Pete Carroll had plenty of criticism directed his way from Southern California media for questioning Sanchez’s decision to leave college with a year of eligibility remaining.

Last year, Ryan joined in when he lofted thinly veiled jabs at Carroll, now the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.

Seattle won that week’s game, 28-7. Sanchez went 9-22 and continued the myriad struggles that have recently plagued him, playing behind a thin offensive line and without consistency from the skill positions around him.

These are the same problems Smith faces if he supplants Sanchez as Jets’ starter.

Ryan’s defense of his players is admirable, but the carnival barking and calling out of college programs does nothing for his club. With all the transition West Virginia football is undergoing heading into the 2013 season, this is one distraction Dana Holgorsen’s team can ignore.