“I am very excited to be working with Steve Dunlap,” Stewart said in his first official announcement of staff additions. “We are very pleased to be bringing him home. He is a Hurricane native, and I have known him for 30 years. He has coached every position, and has been a very successful coordinator. He brings a lot to the table, and his knowledge is so vast, it confuses me,” he joked.
“We are also bringing home David Lockwood, who will also coach on the defensive side. He is coming back to us from the University of Kentucky, and he is also a former player here at West Virginia. He was a coordinator at Minnesota. He also coached on the offensive side at a couple of schools, and brings great insight to our coaching staff.”
Stewart also announced that Chris Beatty will join the staff as an offensive coach.
“Chris Beatty is a tremendous young football coach,” Stewart said. “He did a tremendous job in high school, and he has winner stamped all over him. I first met him in 1994, when I was coaching at VMI and we played East Tennessee State. He was a standout wide receiver there, and he is a dandy. He is a great player, he had a great career in the Canadian football league.”
RIFLE REPORTS
An unofficial all-time record for participants on a WVU football teleconference was set. More than 50 media outlets, including at least three from Canada, participated.
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Stewart believes that his defensive staff is one of the best ones in the country, and that Jeff Casteel is the best kept secret in the nation. The addition of Dunlap and Lockwood, who both have coordination experience, gives him one of the best in the nation. Dunlap will be an assistant head coach in charge of the safeties, while Lockwood will tutor the cornerbacks.
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Beatty will coach the running backs and slot receivers.
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Stewart noted that he has talked to coaches on all levels, from high school through the professional ranks, in the hiring process. He said he wants to make sure that he gets the right coaches for the job, and that he has not set a deadline for completing his staff. He did note that his priority was to complete the defensive staff, which today's announcements confirmed.