For many players on West Virginia’s roster, having only three wins in the second week of November is close to the end of the world. For Wil Schoonover, his perspective on wins and losses is quite different.
Wil Schoonover had always dreamed of playing at West Virginia University. The Moorefield, West Virginia, native played baseball and football as well as wrestled in high school. At Moorefield High School, Schoonover was a three-time all-state linebacker, and was an all-state running back. He also was a state champion wrestler and was named all-state in baseball twice.
“I played running back and safety in football, I was a catcher and center fielder for baseball, then wrestled at 182 in wrestling,” Schoonover said. “Was good at all three, had a lot of success.”
In 2016, after he left high school, Schoonover tried to go to Glenville State University to pursue football. During that fall, Schoonover was in contact with the university, who said he was unable to play football.
“They kept calling and they’re like you have a red flag. I knew I failed this class,” Schoonover said. “And they were like ‘yeah you’re a non-qualifier in high school so you can’t play this fall.’”
After not being eligible to compete in athletics, Schoonover decided to take his life down a different path and join the United States Army. Schoonover had the opportunity to play football, baseball, or even wrestle at other schools, but he felt a calling to the Army.
“For me, I wanted to serve my country. I was very patriotic all growing up, so I did,” Schoonover said. “I left Glenville mid-December and I was flying to Fort Benning on Valentine’s Day.”
Schoonover would go to Georgia, attending Fort Benning for basic training and jump school. In September of 2017, he would go to Alaska, before December 2017, less than 12 months after he decided to join the Army — Schoonover was off to Afghanistan.
“Went to Fort Benning for basic training, went to jump school in Fort Benning as well,” Schoonover said. “Learned how to jump out of an airplane and then I went to Alaska in September, and then I was deploying to Afghanistan in December right before Christmas.”
Schoonover would arrive back to the United States in June of 2018. There, he would try out for the reconnaissance-sniper platoon and made it.
“I grew up real fast, especially when you have six to eight drill sergeants yelling at you — that was a big learning experience,” Schoonover said. “The structure and the organization of the United States Army, it molded me into the guy I am today. It gave be a big perspective on life. How to lead people, how to treat people, and just overall life in general.”
Schoonover would leave the Army in 2020, hoping to be able to re-live out his dream of walking on at WVU.
“When I got out, I planned on walking on at WVU in the summer of 2020 and COVID, they didn’t have any of the walk-on tryouts,” Schoonover said.
He would be in contact with people from the compliance office to try and play football, but they said he would not be eligible to play that fall due to academic and Big 12 restrictions. Schoonover’s next option was to go to a non-Power Five school.
Because the decision was made so close to the beginning of the 2020 season, Schoonover decided to push pause on football again and begin to work.
Schoonover would join the Region Seven Workforce in West Virginia. There, he would help many youths out, but they would also help him without knowing it.
“I was supervisor of a youth development group. I had kids from 14 to 24 years old,” Schoonover said. “Some of them were good things looking for a good working environment, like their first time working. Some of them were not as good. Maybe didn’t go to school, had a bad home life, had drug issues. I got to teach these kids career skills.”
“We would go to rivers, wildlife management areas and pick up trash. I would give them power point presentations of how to save money — the difference between what you want and what you need,” Schoonover added.
Schoonover said he recognized the impact he had on many of the youth he helped, but knows they also helped him learn about himself.
“I really take pride in that. They probably learned a lot from me, but I really learned a lot about myself in teaching these kids, being their role model and as their boss,” Schoonover said.
In January of 2021, Schoonover would find himself searching for a purpose. He would find that purpose in baseball.
Schoonover’s boss contacted Doug Little, the head coach at WVU Potomac State College. Little said it was a good idea to bring Schoonover in, and in the spring of 2021, he was playing for the Catamounts.
“At this point, I was kind of bored with my life. I was just working and I was really eager to play football, couldn’t do that,” Schoonover said.
That season, Schoonover would be the backup catcher, playing in 12 games, hitting .350, with nine RBI, and a home run.
Following the season, Schoonover had finished up everything he needed to fully enroll and play at WVU. He was originally told by compliance he was good to go, until he got a call that summer on the way to the beach.
“[Compliance] calls me back and he’s like yeah you got one more thing, I’m like what now. I was like I’ve been through all this, what can you tell me right now, what’s going on. He said you need a science class,” Schoonover said.
Schoonover would take an online biology class, and would then start at WVU on the first day of school in 2021.
More than a year later, Schoonover is where he always dreamt of being. Schoonover always looked up to another Moorefield native — Reed Williams.
Williams played at WVU from 2005-2008, and has always been one of Schoonover’s heroes.
“A big hero of mine, a great friend of mine as well,” Schoonover said of Williams. “I talked to him numerous times when I was in the Army just about life in general.”
That relationship with Williams, now goes deeper than football. Schoonover said the two talk weekly, and if it was not for Williams, he doubts he would be playing for West Virginia.
“Me and him text each other maybe once a week kind of see what’s going on, how the guys are doing. Great relationship, great dude, great role model. He’s been like a big brother to me,” Schoonover said. “I probably couldn’t have done it without him.”
Schoonover would end up not playing last year, saying it took him a lot longer than expected to get into football shape.
“It took about a full year. When I got back, I thought that I was ready, of just working out on my own and it was kind of hard to always stay ready and not have to get ready,” Schoonover said.
Now, Schoonover is the defensive play caller from the sidelines, and plays when needed on special teams.
The Mountaineers have lost three weeks in a row, and also sit at the bottom of the Big 12 conference. Schoonover’s perspective helps him lead others in the midst of the losing streak.
“Just got to take ownership of what happened, forget about it and realize what ain’t working, ain’t working and what working is,” Schoonover said of what his mindset currently is. “Keep doing what’s right, keep working hard, and don’t worry about what’s happened, worry about this week. Worry about today.”
That worry of today is something Schoonover experiences. He says dealing with a loss on the football field is a lot easier than dealing with a loss on the battlefield.
“Here, you lose a football game, everybody wakes up the next day, you prepare, you eat,” Schoonover said. “In war, that’s not such the case. If you’re not perfect, you’re not prepared, something bad happens, you freak out, someone dies. I think someone dying is serious. I think having someone die and have them shipped back across the ocean in a box, I think that’s terrible. I hate thinking about that.”
Schoonover is closing in on his final days at the place he had always dreamed of being at. Following graduation, Schoonover will intern with Mike Joseph and the strength and conditioning staff. Following that, he says, he will work for the Department of Defense.
Whether it be in five years, 10 years, or 50 years, Schoonover will never forget his time in the Army, or his time at West Virginia. He has always wanted to be at West Virginia and is finally finishing there, more than six years after he left high school.
“I wanted to play here. I wouldn’t have went anywhere else. I just wanted to play for the old gold and blue,” Schoonover said. “It’s like a dream come true and kind of feels like a relief finally. Getting to live a childhood dream and working hard to get to this point and finally everything came together.”
Top photo by Dale Sparks, All Pro Photography
