WHEELING — It’s a great time to be a Mountaineer.

That was the recurring theme Monday night as the WVU Coaches Caravan rolled into the River City Restaurant, attracting a crowd of nearly 300 Blue & Gold partisans.

Coaching heavyweights Bob Huggins, Dana Holgorsen and Mike Carey were joined by golf coach Sean Covich, athletic director Shane Lyons and Tony Caridi, the voice of the Mountaineers, for a program spewing WVU athletic success stories.

Caridi noted that the Mountaineers experienced their best athletic year ever. Lyons reinforced that premise.

“WVU is only one of three colleges to to have its football and both basketball programs finish in the top 25 nationally. The other two were Florida State and Louisville,” Lyons noted. “We had six of our sports teams finish in the top 25 with five coaches receiving major awards.

“It all started back in the summer when Ginny Thrasher (WVU sophomore) won the first gold medal in the 2016 Olympics (10m air rifle). Then football wins 10 games and both our basketball programs had great seasons,” he added. “Two of the most impressive accomplishments were our women’s soccer team playing for a national title and our rifle team winning its fifth straight national championship.”

Lyons also noted that the Mountaineers’ baseball and women’s gymnastic squads are also nationally ranked while the volleyball and wrestling teams are showing solid upward mobility.

Huggins was the life of the party, trading comical jabs with his fellow coaches. He did turn serious when directed questions about his team.

When asked about the six-minute replay review which gave physically exhausted Gonzaga time to regroup in the final moments of their NCAA tournament game, Huggins delivered a novel idea.

“I think every game should have four officials. One can sit at the scoring table and be in charge of reviews. As the game goes on we rotate those officials, keeping them all fresh,” said the Indian Valley South High legend. “We would give the oldest official the first break and keep rotating in order to avoid such long delays.

“I think we can have another successful season if our guys play as hard and with as much passion as we did this year. People ask me how can your guys play so hard. I tell them there are some things we vote on as a team like what uniforms we are going to wear, but playing hard is not one of them,” he added. “I am also pleased with the progress of Chase Harler. He is in the gym every day. He has a great motor. It is up to me to put him in the right positions.”

The former Wheeling Central star played in 16 games this past winter as a true freshman.

Holgorsen, meanwhile, enters his seventh season in Morgantown on solid footing.

“When we first got here one of goals was to improve on our team depth. We kept building and building on it,” Holgorsen said. “Now we are at the point depth-wise where we can hang in there and win close games in a Power 5 Conference.

“Even though we have a new offensive coordinator (Jake Spavital) things won’t change much. We know each other quite well and he knows what I like to do offensively,” he added. “I just need to learn to relax on the sidelines and not cost my team any penalties. But I will never lose the passion.”

BUBBA’S WVU BITS

THE CROWD featured many noteworthy individuals, including Mary Hennen. The Mount de Chantal grad owns the distinction of becoming the first WVU women’s basketball player to reach the 1,000 scoring mark. The 5-11 forward played for the Mountaineers from 1976-79 compiling 1,111 points, 890 rebounds, 118 assists and 113 steals. She is still the school’s second all-time in rebounding average (10.6 rpg).

THE MOUNTAINEERS musket-toting mascot Troy Clemons was one of the more popular guests. The Greenbrier County native is in his second year in that role.

WHEELING WAS the second stop caravan stop. It began with a Charleston visit and will be in Parkersburg this evening.

HARLER WAS the BMAC scholarship recipient. BMAC also made an $8,000 donation to WVU, drawing praise from Caridi and Lyons.

HUGGINS said he has more than 200 WVU pullovers when asked whether he wears the same one every day. He added that no school in the nation has better camaraderie amongst coaches than WVU.

HOLGORSEN’S charges kick off the 2017 grid campaign on Sunday, Sept. 3 against Virginia Tech at FedEx Field in Landover, Md.