Bill Stewart

William L.. Stewart (June 11, 1952 – May 21, 2012), nicknamed "Stew", was an American football coach.

Stewart was a 1975 education graduate of Fairmont State College, where he was a three-year letterman and team captain for the WVIAC champions in 1974.

Stewart's coaching career began at his alma mater of Fairmont State, where he was a student assistant coach for a season.

He became an assistant coach at Sistersville High School in Sistersville, West Virginia, in 1975.

In 1977, he moved to Salem College, where he was an assistant football and head track coach for two seasons.

In 1979, he was an assistant coach at the University of North Carolina.

He was also assistant coach at Marshall University (1980), the College of William & Mary (1981–1983), the United States Naval Academy (1984), North Carolina a second time (1985–1987), Arizona State University (1988–1989), and the United States Air Force Academy (1990–1993).

In 1994, Stewart assumed the head coaching position at Virginia Military Institute (VMI).

In three years, he compiled an 8–25 record.

Stewart gave current Pittsburgh Steelers' head coach Mike Tomlin his first job as an assistant at VMI in 1995.

Tomlin returned the favor by vouching for Stewart with the West Virginia University administration.

Stewart resigned in 1996 after making a racially insensitive comment towards a player regarding his on-field behavior.

After what he believed to be excessive celebration by one of his players following a play, he told him "Don't let your actions give people reason to call you a n-."

Stewart was forced to resign and later sued VMI for money he thought he was owed.

Stewart described the incident as "an isolated incident" that happened while he was "trying to help the kid", and has said he never uttered another slur since.

Stewart served as the offensive line coach for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League in 1998.

His line blocked for Mike Pringle, the first 2,000-yard rusher in CFL history.

In 1999, he moved on to be the offensive coordinator of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers where he coached two all-conference receivers and a one thousand-yard rusher.

Head coach Don Nehlen hired Stewart at WVU in January, 2000 as the quarterbacks coach.

Stewart was retained by Rich Rodriguez when he became the head coach after the 2000 season.

He was named interim head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers after Rich Rodriguez left for Michigan in December 2007.

Stewart remained the quarterbacks coach and special teams coach until 2007 when he moved to coach the tight ends and served as associate head coach.

Following Rodriguez's departure to become the head coach at the University of Michigan on December 16, 2007; Stewart was named interim head coach of the Mountaineers for the 2008 Fiesta Bowl.

In that game Stewart led the team to a 48–28 upset win over the #3 Oklahoma Sooners.

During the press conference following the awards ceremony, Fiesta Bowl MVP and West Virginia quarterback Pat White said of Stewart, "He needs that job. He deserves it, the head coaching job."

WVU booster and co-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks Ken Kendrick, however, was unhappy with the hiring of Stewart.

Kendrick called Stewart "overmatched" and said that he was "very concerned" for the future of WVU football.

After leading the Mountaineers to a 48–28 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl, he was named the school's 32nd head football coach on January 3, 2008.

On January 3, 2008, a day after the Fiesta Bowl victory, Stewart was announced as West Virginia's 32nd head coach.

Stewart agreed to a five-year contract for $800,000 a year, totaling a $4 million base salary.

Stewart hired former Mountaineer assistant coaches and players Steve Dunlap, David Lockwood, and Doc Holliday, along with assistant coach Chris Beatty and Dave Johnson.

Stewart was also able to keep defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel and defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich.

On February 6, 2008, Stewart's recruiting class signed 23 letters of intent.

The class did not include running back Terence Kerns, from Hargrave Military Academy, who later signed.

Hawaiian center Benji Kemoeatu signed later in March as well.

Jerome Swinton, a cornerback from Florida, was called “The best football player we have...he’s probably the best football player we recruited," by Stewart. The 2008 class, led by 5-star offensive guard Josh Jenkins from Parkersburg, West Virginia, was ranked 37th by Scout.com and 44th by Rivals.com.

West Virginia opened up the 2008 season with a 48–21 victory over Villanova, in which Pat White threw for a career-high 5 touchdowns.

However, the Mountaineers were then upset by East Carolina, 24–3.

Stewart resigned in the summer of 2011.

He was previously the head coach of Virginia Military Institute for three seasons.