During his press conference Saturday afternoon, tight ends coach Michael Nysewander briefly shared his journey to Morgantown.
Being from Alabama, Nysewander stayed home to play under Nick Saban for his collegiate career.
After winning three national championships at Alabama, Nysewander had a short-lived NFL career with the Kansas City Chiefs as a free agent.
Nysewander quickly went into coaching, landing his first job at Florida Atlantic University as an offensive graduate assistant in 2017.
Following his time at Florida Atlantic, Nysewander found himself at Samford as the running backs coach and Ole Miss as an offensive analyst before working under Rich Rodriguez as a tight ends and slot receivers coach at Jacksonville State.
During his press conference, Nysewander shared that he has admired Rodriguez from a young age.
“Me growing up in Alabama, the first time he was here, I remember when I was like 11 years old, I’d go to bed, I’d say my hail mary’s, and then I’d pray Rich Rodriguez would be the head coach in Alabama next,” Nysewander said.
Playing under West Virginia native Nick Saban, Nysewander shared that he see’s similarities between him and Rodriguez.
“It’s funny because him and coach Rodriguez are very similar in my opinion, I think it’s kind of that blue-collar West Virginia type feel,” Nysewander went on to say, “Like I said, coach Rodriguez and coach Saban are so similar in that sense of I’ve never seen better culture builders. It’s the stuff that doesn’t involve really the X’s and O’s of football.”
Rodriguez’s culture building and strong coaching abilities were enough to bring Nysewander with him to Morgantown.
Having lived in the Southeast his whole life, Nysewander expressed his excitement about starting a new chapter in Morgantown.Â
