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Wednesday, 04 August 2010 00:00

Written by Colin Dunlap

As it stood late-Tuesday night, in the aftermath of the story that appeared in Tuesday morning's Post-Gazette, in which Bill Stewart said --- among many, many, many other things --- that he received a death threat last season, I had received at least 85 emails in reaction to the piece. 

Almost all of the correspondences were positive, lauding either the way the story was constructed, or the way Stewart conducts his program.

There are, though, a few issues that must be cleared up in regards to this piece.

1. Some of you have asked, in the emails you wrote (and also provided links to message boards inquiring as to the same) something curious to me: How did it come about where Stewart talked about the death threat? 

The answer is tremendously simple: I was asking him -- in his office in a one-on-one I had set up with him -- if the fans could be a bit too tough on him sometimes. He answered that he tries to block all that out; doesn't let it impact how he coaches his team or leads his young men.

A logical follow-up question from me was, "Well, what's the worst it has gotten, has there been a time where it was impossible to block it all out?"

Only then did Stewart offer the information about the death threat. 

So, for all the conspiracy theorists who thought Stewart had, in some calculated way, manipulated the interview or had some sort of agenda to get a story out, that is the farthest thing from reality. Without patting myself on the back, had I not asked the right question, and been persistent with the line of questioning, the death threat stuff would have not been broached, it would have never come out. 

I asked Bill Stewart a candid, tough question and he provided an honest answer -- no more, no less.

2. I have also recieved links to some things saying, in so many words; this is a reporter from Pittsburgh, why would Stewart choose to share these things with a reporter from, of all places, Pittsburgh.

Well, we cover the West Virginia football beat as extensively as just about anyone else ---- I travel to all road games, of course cover home games and am at all media availability sessions.

I'm not some guy who just swooped in for this interview -- I'm around the program as much as any other reporter.

I trudged through all that rain down at Auburn last year, saw Jarrett Brown get crushed with that helmet-to-helmet against Marshall, went up to the Dome at Syracuse, had a seat for that emotional day when UConn came to Morgantown, was there on that night in Tampa when the WVU secondary didn't look very good and spent a week in Jacksonville for the Gator Bowl, among all the other moments in the WVU season.

I was there for all the games last year, and I'll be there for all of them this year --- I've already booked all the flights and rooms.

So, with that said (and sorry, again, to disappoint all the conspiracy theorists) but my function during the Autumn months for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is to work as the West Virginia University football beat writer --- this assignment (sitting down one-on-one with Bill Stewart) fell squarely within that realm.

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DISCLAIMER

Feel free to spread this post around.

Email it to all your friends, send it to every WVU fan you know, heck, go ahead and copy and paste it onto whichever message board you like --- I'm all about putting an end to the conspiracy theorists.

Oh, and while you are here, if you haven't already, sign up for an account -- it is free and easy, just hit 'Register' at the top right -- and post away. Conspiracy theories are even welcomed (even though some might be vanquished in a subsequent post).  

Comments (3)

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written by wvmountydog, August 04, 2010 - 11:06 AM

Appreciate your coverage; that rain at Auburn was something else. I don't know why, but some of our fans need to question everything about the program. Keep the stories coming.

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written by KeyserCouchburner, August 04, 2010 - 11:21 PM

I always have to laugh when fans make a big deal out of giving an interview or story to a reporter from *gasp* Pittsburgh, the home of the hated Panthers. The PG covers WVU football well, and Colin I believe you are as impartial a reporter as there is out there, sometimes to the dismay of some of us fans who prefer a friendlier slant towards our beloved Eers. Good to see you back on the beat this year, appreciated your NCAA tourney coverage this spring too. Keep up the good work.

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written by Jal, August 05, 2010 - 01:39 PM

Colin

Good job following the Mountaineers. Unless things have have drastically, the Pittsburgh-WVU hatred is overblown. Certainly most fans play with it but when I was on the WVU debate team we used to have a public debate the night before the football game with the Pitt debate team. It was held on the campus where the game was going to played and we debated such topics as Resolved That Pitt is better to come back to homecoming than WVU. Was a lot fun we attended the game next day with the Pitt debaters. We got along very well.

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