Post by cviller on Aug 29, 2007 18:20:06 GMT -5
By Brad McElhinny
Daily Mail staff
West Virginia University plans to amp up the football team's entrance this year.
The new entrance is a collaboration among three people: Rita Rodriguez, the wife of Coach Rich Rodriguez; Jay Drury, the director of the marching band; and Dusty Rutledge, video coordinator for the football program.
"We started talking about it a couple of years ago, how we can excite the crowd," Rutledge said. "The more excited the crowd gets, the more excited your team will get."
For years, the team has run through a tunnel formed by The Pride of West Virginia marching band. Band members played the theme from "2001: A Space Odyssey."
Now that will be gone.
Instead, the band and the team will participate in a three-phase, increasingly rocking entrance.
It's still a work in progress leading up to this Saturday's season opener against Western Michigan. And Rutledge said he doesn't want to ruin some of the surprise. But he provided a rough sketch of what the entrance will be like now.
The band will still form a tunnel to play the first song, which is relatively slow. Rutledge declined to name the song. A voiceover by Coach Rodriguez comes over the loudspeaker system.
The second song, which Rutledge also declined to name, is somewhat speedier. The band will start to rock back and forth. WVU leaders hope the crowd will be inspired to do the same. There's also a video montage of memorable plays from prior seasons.
During the third song, the tempo goes way up. The song is by speed metal band Metallica, said Rutledge, who wouldn't specify the name of the song. Speculation on the Mountaineer Message Board is that the song is "For Whom the Bells Toll."
As the team bursts onto the field, the band will either jump or raise their instruments over their heads during the third song, Rutledge said.
"It'll be a little bit of a hop," he said. "It'll be close to a minute, so to actually jump for a minute will be difficult."
Fans should participate in the heart-pumping exercise, he suggested.
"Hopefully it's something that the students and alumni and fans at the game will catch on," he said."
The rifle shot and the "Let's Bring on The Mountaineers" traditions will continue.
"They'd probably shoot us if we got rid of it," Rutledge said, "but we don't want to get rid of it."
As always, the program will take place about 2 minutes, 30 seconds before kickoff, about the time the home team has to be on the field according to NCAA rules.
At the beginning of the season, all the action will take place in the southwest corner of the stadium. Partway through the season, once the addition of a two-story, 19-suite structure at the north end of Mountaineer Field is complete, the entrance will switch to midfield.
There's already fan reaction to the new entrance program on the Mountaineer Message Board on the Internet.
One fan wrote, "If this doesn't get your heart pumping, nothing will. The best part is there aren't any words for over 2 minutes, plenty of time to get the stadium rocking and the team on the field.
Not everyone is so excited.
Another fan wrote, "The team has to run out of the tunnel and take the field. All this entrance crap is about which song should be playing as the Mountaineers charge the field. I have never seen so much hype about a damn song as this nonsense."
Others are ambivalent.
"I can't even begin to imagine that song as a good way to introduce the Mountaineers," one guy wrote. "As long as they win, I can put up with racing stripes, NASCAR numbers, gold uniforms and Metallica. But what a price to pay..."
Rutledge said the target audience, even more than fans, is the recruits who visit Mountaineer Field.
"We want one that's fan friendly," he said. "And more importantly we want to find one that's recruit friendly. The crowd really plays into how good a time a recruit has at a ballgame.
"Hopefully we created something that makes a fan want to come back to do it again and makes the opponents not want to come back."
Rutledge's usual job is to get video of Mountaineer games ready for the team to study and to obtain video of upcoming opponents. This is his first foray into pre-game programs.
But he and Rita Rodriguez have talked over the years about other team entrances and how West Virginia's could be improved.
Drury, the band director, met them at the stadium and started kicking around ideas. Coach Rodriguez also participated in conversations about how critical the band's participation is in getting the team excited.
In the past few weeks, all the parties have spent time perfecting the performance for the Sept. 1 opener.
Rutledge hopes students will thoroughly enjoy the spectacle.
"If you're a student be mad," he said. "I don't mean in a bad way. I mean, be about half insane."
Contact writer Brad McElhinny at bradmc@dailymail.com or 348-5129.
See additional Post by Bump for the Video
Daily Mail staff
West Virginia University plans to amp up the football team's entrance this year.
The new entrance is a collaboration among three people: Rita Rodriguez, the wife of Coach Rich Rodriguez; Jay Drury, the director of the marching band; and Dusty Rutledge, video coordinator for the football program.
"We started talking about it a couple of years ago, how we can excite the crowd," Rutledge said. "The more excited the crowd gets, the more excited your team will get."
For years, the team has run through a tunnel formed by The Pride of West Virginia marching band. Band members played the theme from "2001: A Space Odyssey."
Now that will be gone.
Instead, the band and the team will participate in a three-phase, increasingly rocking entrance.
It's still a work in progress leading up to this Saturday's season opener against Western Michigan. And Rutledge said he doesn't want to ruin some of the surprise. But he provided a rough sketch of what the entrance will be like now.
The band will still form a tunnel to play the first song, which is relatively slow. Rutledge declined to name the song. A voiceover by Coach Rodriguez comes over the loudspeaker system.
The second song, which Rutledge also declined to name, is somewhat speedier. The band will start to rock back and forth. WVU leaders hope the crowd will be inspired to do the same. There's also a video montage of memorable plays from prior seasons.
During the third song, the tempo goes way up. The song is by speed metal band Metallica, said Rutledge, who wouldn't specify the name of the song. Speculation on the Mountaineer Message Board is that the song is "For Whom the Bells Toll."
As the team bursts onto the field, the band will either jump or raise their instruments over their heads during the third song, Rutledge said.
"It'll be a little bit of a hop," he said. "It'll be close to a minute, so to actually jump for a minute will be difficult."
Fans should participate in the heart-pumping exercise, he suggested.
"Hopefully it's something that the students and alumni and fans at the game will catch on," he said."
The rifle shot and the "Let's Bring on The Mountaineers" traditions will continue.
"They'd probably shoot us if we got rid of it," Rutledge said, "but we don't want to get rid of it."
As always, the program will take place about 2 minutes, 30 seconds before kickoff, about the time the home team has to be on the field according to NCAA rules.
At the beginning of the season, all the action will take place in the southwest corner of the stadium. Partway through the season, once the addition of a two-story, 19-suite structure at the north end of Mountaineer Field is complete, the entrance will switch to midfield.
There's already fan reaction to the new entrance program on the Mountaineer Message Board on the Internet.
One fan wrote, "If this doesn't get your heart pumping, nothing will. The best part is there aren't any words for over 2 minutes, plenty of time to get the stadium rocking and the team on the field.
Not everyone is so excited.
Another fan wrote, "The team has to run out of the tunnel and take the field. All this entrance crap is about which song should be playing as the Mountaineers charge the field. I have never seen so much hype about a damn song as this nonsense."
Others are ambivalent.
"I can't even begin to imagine that song as a good way to introduce the Mountaineers," one guy wrote. "As long as they win, I can put up with racing stripes, NASCAR numbers, gold uniforms and Metallica. But what a price to pay..."
Rutledge said the target audience, even more than fans, is the recruits who visit Mountaineer Field.
"We want one that's fan friendly," he said. "And more importantly we want to find one that's recruit friendly. The crowd really plays into how good a time a recruit has at a ballgame.
"Hopefully we created something that makes a fan want to come back to do it again and makes the opponents not want to come back."
Rutledge's usual job is to get video of Mountaineer games ready for the team to study and to obtain video of upcoming opponents. This is his first foray into pre-game programs.
But he and Rita Rodriguez have talked over the years about other team entrances and how West Virginia's could be improved.
Drury, the band director, met them at the stadium and started kicking around ideas. Coach Rodriguez also participated in conversations about how critical the band's participation is in getting the team excited.
In the past few weeks, all the parties have spent time perfecting the performance for the Sept. 1 opener.
Rutledge hopes students will thoroughly enjoy the spectacle.
"If you're a student be mad," he said. "I don't mean in a bad way. I mean, be about half insane."
Contact writer Brad McElhinny at bradmc@dailymail.com or 348-5129.
See additional Post by Bump for the Video
