Charleston Daily Mail, Friday March 21, 2008

Tinsley will recruit southern West Virginia athletes

New Tech coach has busy year ahead of him

by Derek Taylor, Daily Mail sportswriter

MONTGOMERY -- Scott Tinsley's first day on the job as head football coach at WVU Tech was busier than the former Nitro coach had anticipated.

After all, there is plenty of work to be done at the new gig.

Tech announced the hiring of Tinsley, who has spent the last six years as the Wildcats coach, late Thursday morning. Tinsley replaces Bill Kehrer, who finished the 2007 season after former Coach Shane Beatty resigned after the second game of the season.

Kehrer resigned in January, leaving Tech without a coach at the peak of recruiting season.

"Based on the review of our top candidates and what was deemed important by the (WVU Tech) administration," said Tech Sports Information Director Kenny Howell, "the administration definitely wanted that southern West Virginia presence back to football at Tech.

"Most of the impact that Mr. Tinsley is going to have is we wanted to emphasize the impact on West Virginia that the school has had in the past no matter what its affiliation, be it with the West Virginia Conference and the NCAA or the Mid-South Conference and the NAIA."

Tech, which left the West Virginia Conference and the NCAA Division II ranks after the 2006 school year, has played in the Kentucky-based Mid-South Conference of the NAIA ever since.

In two years of NAIA play the Golden Bears have won just two games against 20 losses. In fact, Tech has not fielded a winning team since the 2003 squad went 6-5, the only time since 1989 that a Tech team finished above .500.

"We're going to try to get as many of the good, quality athletes as we can from southern West Virginia," said Tinsley, who coached two Kennedy Award winners at Nitro.

Quarterback J.R. House won the award in 1996 and 1998 while Tinsley was the Wildcats' offensive coordinator. Running back Josh Culbertson won the Kennedy in 2005, when Nitro reached its only Class AAA title game during Tinsley's tenure as head coach.

"I think we have a lot better shot of getting people there to watch us play if there's people playing that the fans have been reading about in the local papers for the last few years," Tinsley said of his projected emphasis on home-grown talent.

Former West Virginia University running back Pat Randolph was considered the front-runner for the position through last week. However, Randolph -- who served as the offensive coordinator at NCAA Championship Subdivision Series (formerly Division I-AA) member Howard last fall -- fell out of favor with Tech brass late in the hiring process.

In an ironic twist, Tinsley's hire may cost Howard even further. Nitro quarterback Michael Scott and wide receiver Marcos Valentine were recruited by the Bison through National Signing day on Feb. 6, although neither signed a national letter-of-intent.

Now, both obviously are prospects for Tinsley's first team at Tech.

"I assume he was in contact with many players that were non-committed -- particularly his own players," Howell said. "Hopefully, this will draw in a good bit of the talent in the southern part of the state. We're trying to remember that Tech has a strong past, present and a future of being affiliated with southern West Virginia."

Tinsley's pull with in-state players could become even more pivotal if and when Tech returns to the West Virginia Conference. His presence in the Kanawha Valley and southern West Virginia could pose an immediate threat to the recruiting efforts of University of Charleston Coach Tony DeMeo.

It could be similar to the in-state success of second-year Fairmont State Coach Mike Lopez. The Falcons signed 16 in-state players among their 36 recruits for the Class of '08.

Tinsley admits his first concern is success, not conference affiliation. As a result, a war with UC - at least for the time being -- will remain outside the lines.

"I think that any real rivalry between us and UC will be in the recruitment of players," Tinsley said. "I think we can be successful with local kids."

In January, Tech officials said the school was considering a possible return to the WVC, although conference officials, at the time, said the process could take as many as four years.

Tinsley, who also serves as the girls basketball and softball coach at Nitro, said he will be paid approximately $57,500 per year at Tech.

The promise of a steady paycheck to do what Tinsley has shown to be his greatest proficiency had a large influence in his pursuit of the job. After working for the City of Nitro during the 2007 football season, that job disappeared soon after the season ended.

"I was close to leaving last year and then the job opportunity that the City of Nitro came up with swayed me to stay," Tinsley said. "Once that job wasn't there I had to find a way to make money."

Tinsley will continue to coach the Nitro softball team through the 2008 season. However, Tinsley will have to give up the girls basketball job, which he says will be more difficult than leaving the football program.

"With football, sure I'm going to miss the Friday nights at Nitro High, but I'm replacing it with football," said Tinsley, who guided five of his six Wildcat teams to the playoffs. "In basketball, we never have accomplished the ultimate goal of winning a state championship and I hate to leave it unfinished."

The move to Tech is Tinsley's second head coaching job at the collegiate level. He coached at West Virginia State from 1992-1994, leading the Yellow Jackets to an 11-19 record. His first season yielded a 6-4 mark, the last time State had a winning season before the 2007 team finished 7-3.

Tinsley's career record at Nitro was 49-22.