Newly hired West Virginia offensive line coach Ron Crook will have just over a week now to familiarize himself with his new players before the start of spring practice. The former Stanford assistant was officially announced as West Virginia’s new assistant coach this week, replacing Bill Bedenbaugh, who left for Oklahoma.
“Things kind of blew up a little bit before anything actually happened, which happens a lot in this profession,” Crook said of the move on the MetroNews Statewide Sportsline. “I had first talked to Coach Holgorsen a little bit and things went viral and everyone was saying it had already happened. It got a little bit stressful, but when it finally happened, it was quite a relief and a big moment of excitement for me and my family.”
Several factors played a role in Crook’s desire to join West Virginia’s coaching staff. One of the biggest was the opportunity for Crook to return to his home state after growing up in Parkersburg.
“(West Virginia football) is something that as a child or a kid growing up in this state you always want to be a part of,” Crook said. “This was really the first time I had a chance to be a part of it. It was also a chance to work with Coach Holgorsen and his staff and learn from them. I had a really good situation (at Stanford), it was fun and there were a lot of positives to it, but all of the things together (at West Virginia) made it a good deal and a perfect situation for me.”
The direct connection for Crook to West Virginia’s current coaching staff was another recent addition, Tony Gibson.
“He had just come back to the staff and that said something to me, because he was in a pretty good situation himself (at Arizona),” Crook said. “That made me realize that there must be some pretty good stuff going on here. Just being an offensive coach, you watch coaches that have success and Coach Holgorsen didn’t really know me, but I certainly knew who he was.”
And as for the coaching style he’ll be bringing with him to West Virginia?
“You don’t change the way you coach,” he said. “You’re in a different situation, but in the end, you still coach the fundamentals and it still comes down to blocking and tackling. If you can go out and coach your guys to be better blockers, then you’re giving yourself a chance to go out and win games and be successful.”
You can watch the complete Sportsline interview with Crook above.