10 questions for ex-Mountaineers

Three West Virginia graduates will be in Morgantown on Saturday wearing red and cheering for UNLV.

All three work in the Rebels' athletic department -- deputy athletic director Jerry Koloskie (1980 graduate), head trainer Kyle Wilson (1982) and assistant AD for operations and facilities Erik Schwarz (1993).

UNLV (1-4) plays at West Virginia (3-1) at 12:30 p.m. PDT Saturday.

This is the first trip back for Wilson and Schwarz since they graduated, but Koloskie visits many times because his parents live in nearby Monongah, W.Va.

Koloskie, Wilson and Schwarz recently spoke to the Review-Journal.

Koloskie

1. WILL YOU have mixed emotions?

Believe me, I love UNLV. I've been here as long as I (was) in West Virginia. But West Virginia's just a special place to me and always will be. That saying back there -- "Once a Mountaineer, always a Mountaineer" -- I don't think you ever lose that.

That's where I was born and raised and went to high school. It's going to be really neat to see a bunch of people. I've been getting a bunch of texts, phone calls, e-mails wanting to know if I'm going to be there.

2. Will it be strange being on the other side?

Yeah, I guess it will be because I'm still a big Mountaineer fan. If I'm going to watch a game on TV, it will be West Virginia. It's always been a special university to me. My dad started taking me to West Virginia games back during the Jim Carlen and Bobby Bowden eras when I was 5, 6 years old, and I never missed a game until I left there.

3. What do you remember about the old stadium?

It was set right downtown in the middle of campus. It was a lot smaller. I think it only held about 35,000 people. I remember trying to get all the autographs from all the players.

4. Are you the one who pushed previous UNLV athletic director Mike Hamrick to schedule this game?

That came about because of the opportunity to play a 13th game (because of the trip to Hawaii). We really had no desire to play a 13th game, except we got phone calls about playing a game at (FedEx Field near Washington, D.C.) They were looking for a Mountain West Conference team and a Big East team, and he gave me some of the names, and West Virginia was one of them. They were going to pay $1 million.

We didn't think we would be selected for that game because they also had Air Force on the radar. What better team to send to Washington than one of the service academies?

So then Mike said, "Why don't we just go out and see if we can get a 13th game?" We had a couple of other teams that had some interest, but West Virginia offered us the most money ($750,000) and it was a good fit."

Wilson

5. What did you think when the game was scheduled?

I was pretty excited. I was a student athletic trainer and worked the very first game in that stadium, against Cincinnati.

The quarterback was Oliver Luck, (Stanford quarterback) Andrew's dad, who's now the athletic director at WVU. I knew him a little bit. May have taped his ankles once in a while.

6. Have you followed West Virginia?

I try to watch football, basketball as often I can on TV. Sometimes they might have a Friday game, and if I'm on the road in a hotel, I get to watch them a little bit.

7. Do you expect to see a much different city?

It's probably grown a little bit. I know the campus has. They keep expanding their facilities. When I was there last, it was 50,000 seats. I think it's up to 68,000 or so. They've closed in the end zone and made it a little bigger, and they have an indoor practice facility that they didn't have when I was a student there.

Schwarz

8. What memories stand out?

I worked with the football team for five years, and my first year we went undefeated and then lost to Notre Dame in the national championship game.

We had another good team in 1989. Major Harris was our starting quarterback. We played Clemson in the Gator Bowl, and we lost to them as well.

9. What was your role with the football team?

I was a student equipment manager. That's how I got into college athletics. I would've loved to have been able to play there, but no one wanted a 5-10, 150-pound high school football player.

10. What did you think when you found out UNLV was going to play there?

That's when Hamrick was our AD, so I called and said, "Whatever I've got to do, I'm going on that trip."

They don't have any pro sports teams in West Virginia, so Mountaineer football is it for those fans. They come from all over the state. They'll be lined up there Thursday night and Friday night.

■ UNLV NOTE -- Rebels quarterback Omar Clayton practiced for the second day in a row and said he will play Saturday at West Virginia. Clayton was listed on UNLV's weekly injury report as questionable with an undisclosed injury.

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914.