For nearly two decades, The Smoking Musket has been a home for Mountaineer fans to celebrate the wins, agonize over the losses, debate the coaching hires, and share in all the chaos that comes with being a WVU fan. Now, just in time for an undefeated, “Return the Glory,” “They Know What’s Coming and Still Can’t Stop It” football season, I’m excited and honored to take on the role of site manager and help shape where The Smoking Musket goes from here.
Taking over a site and community with this much
history and love from Mountaineer fans is not something that I take lightly. I fully realize that I haveD’or Fischer-sized shoes to fill and if I’m being honest, I would have never wanted to take on this role without the countless hours of entertainment that the previous stewards of this community gave me. The bottom line is that The Smoking Musket made being a WVU fan more fun for me, and I hope to carry on this tradition.
But I’m not doing it alone.
I’m also incredibly excited to introduce 2 new staff writers who will be joining us in this new era. Here is little bit of each of our backstories so you can get to know us:
Al Rawls- Staff Writer- I didn’t grow up bleeding old gold and blue. I found this program the way a lot of people find the things that end up mattering most, by accident, mid channel surf, unable to look away. What kept me is what keeps most of us: that team has never played it safe a day in its life. Read option before it had a name, a coach who’d rather win ugly than lose pretty, quarterbacks who run like the play design is a suggestion. I’m based in Atlanta, which is where I get to write about the program from now.
My favorite Mountaineer memory happens to have landed in my own backyard. January 2006, the Sugar Bowl gets displaced to Atlanta because of Hurricane Katrina, and Pat White, a kid who hadn’t started a college game before that season, puts up 38 points on Georgia in the city where I now live. With Georgia gaining momentum in the 4th quarter, Rich Rodriguez calls a fake punt on 4th and 6 like it’s nothing. That’s the whole personality of this team in one play call.
Olivia Toland- Staff Writer- I am from Mannington, West Virginia, and I am so excited to be joining The Smoking Musket team and getting the chance to cover WVU sports. I graduated from North Marion High School, where I played basketball and won a state championship my senior year, along with too many other accolades to bore you with. From there, I went on to play college basketball at Fairmont State University.
I have been a Mountaineer fan for as long as I can remember and was a huge Jordan McCabe fan growing up. As much as I love basketball, though, football season has always been my favorite time of year. There is just something about fall in West Virginia and WVU football that is hard to beat.
Since my playing days have ended, I have found a new way to stay involved in sports through writing, broadcasting, photography, and social media. Interestingly, my favorite Mountaineer memory actually came from being on the other side. My final college basketball game was against WVU at the Coliseum, and getting to end my playing career on that court is something I will never forget.
I cannot wait to experience my first WVU football game from the media side, share some stories, and hopefully bring a fun perspective to The Smoking Musket. I am so beyond excited to get started, and, of course, Let’s go Mountaineers!
Dillon Clark- Site Manager- Born and raised in Jane Lew, I’ve been a WVU fan my entire life. I enrolled at WVU for a few years between 2002 -2006 attending football and basketball games religiously and class occasionally. I now live in the Raleigh, NC area, and I’m totally not sad that we aren’t in the ACC where we would have regional rivalries and I would be able to attend multiple away games each year. Seriously, not bitter about that at all. You can expect unrelenting optimism from me with a dash of buried trauma that only WVU fans can understand.
My Favorite Mountaineer memory is making my friends stay for the second half of the 2005 Louisville game and watching what I consider to be the greatest comeback in WVU football history.
Together, we’re going to be expanding our coverage across WVU athletics while keeping the personality, humor, and passion that make The Smoking Musket what it is.
There will be plenty of football. Plenty of basketball. Plenty of recruiting, analysis, opinions, and probably more than a few questionable predictions.
So whether you’ve been reading The Smoking Musket for 15 years or you’re discovering us for the first time, welcome.
We’re excited about what’s ahead.
Let’s make the next chapter a good one, and most importantly…
Let’s Go Mountaineers!
