West Virginia
West Virginia University faculty express symbolic no confidence in President E. Gordon Gee
West Virginia University faculty approved a symbolic motion on Wednesday expressing no confidence in President E. Gordon Gee as the university addresses a $45 million budget shortfall.
The university is struggling with the financial toll of dwindling enrollment, revenue lost during the COVID-19 pandemic and an increasing debt load for new building projects. The budget shortfall is projected to grow as high as $75 million in five years.
The faculty resolution on Gee said his administration’s poor planning, faulty decision making and financial mismanagement has significantly contributed to the crisis. It called into question Gee’s “ability to responsibly, honestly and effectively lead, facilitate and participate in decision making.”
“I must say that if I had done all of those things, I’d probably vote no confidence myself,” Gee told the faculty prior to the vote.
The votes, which serve as a symbolic gesture to express the faculty’s collective thoughts, were held a month after the university Board of Governors gave Gee a one-year contract extension. Gee announced a week later that he plans to step down after his contract expires in June 2025.
The university’s faculty assembly also was voting on a second motion calling for WVU to freeze ongoing academic program and faculty cuts.
The university is proposing cutting 32 programs — 9% of the majors offered on its Morgantown campus — including its entire department of world languages, literatures and linguistics, along with graduate and doctoral degrees in math, music, English and more. The Board of Governors will conduct a final vote on the cuts next week.
While the university recommended eliminating 7% of the total faculty in Morgantown, critics said that estimate approached 16%.
Hundreds of students held a protest last month while the American Federation of Teachers called the cuts “draconian and catastrophic.”
Gee has served two stints as WVU’s president. After taking over in 2014, his promise to increase enrollment to 40,000 students by 2020 never materialized. Instead, the student population has dropped 10% since 2015, while on-campus expansion continued.
WVU has spent millions of dollars on construction projects in recent years, including a $100 million new home for the university’s business school, a $35 million renovation of a 70-year-old classroom building and $41 million for two phases of upgrades to the football team’s building.
KenPom predicts how West Virginia will fare in Big 12 play
West Virginia has closed out the non-conference portion of their schedule and is now onto Big 12 play.
KenPomery, an advanced statistical website for college basketball, uses efficiency to measure how good a team is. KenPom also predicts how the Mountaineers will do in Big 12 play and the percentage chance they give WVU to win each game.
Overall, KenPom projects West Virginia to go 9-11 in conference play, having them finish the regular season with an 18-13 record. They also give WVU at least a 40 percent chance to win 12 of their 20 games against Big 12 opponents.
December/January
The first month of conference play shapes up to be the hardest for the Mountaineers. Out of the 11 losses KenPom projects, five of them come in the first month of conference play. Two games against Houston, a trip to Kansas, and a home date against Iowa State make the first month of the year very challenging.
There are plenty of close games as KenPom gives WVU a 51 percent chance to beat Arizona at home, a 48 percent chance to beat Colorado on the road, and then a 54 percent chance to beat Kansas State on the road.
In WVU’s four projected wins, their average margin of victory is 4.3 points. In their five projected losses, the average margin of defeat is 6.6 points.
February
In February, West Virginia has eight games, and KenPom projects the Mountaineers going 4-4 during the month.
Their wins include home dates against Utah, BYU, Cincinnati, and TCU. All their projected losses that month come on the road.
The average margin of victory in the month is 4.8 points, while the average margin of defeat is 6.5 points. During February, West Virginia has a three-game stretch, which includes a road game against Baylor (ranked 18th by KenPom), a home date against Cincinnati (ranked 21st), and then a trip back to Texas to face Texas Tech (ranked 13th). This also all comes in a week, spanning from Feb. 15-22.
March
The month of March is a quick three-game stretch before the Big 12 Tournament begins. However, two of the games take place in the state of Utah, as WVU faces BYU and Utah, both on the road.
The Mountaineers are projected to lose both games, with an average margin of defeat of 3.5 points. Their win over UCF, they’re projected to win by eight points.
Overall
Out of WVU’s 10 home games, they are projected to go 8-2, with the losses coming to Iowa State (ranked fifth) and Houston (ranked fourth).
Out of WVU’s 10 away games, they are projected to go 1-9, with the lone win coming on the road against Kansas State (ranked 90th).
All Big 12 teams are ranked 104th or better, and out of the 16 teams, 14 are ranked inside the top 76. Nine teams are ranked inside the top 48, and WVU’s current ranking of 48th by KenPom is ranked ninth in the league.
The Big 12’s overall rating is +17.19, according to KenPom. That ranks third out of all conferences as the SEC (+20.10) is first, and the Big Ten (+17.39) is second.
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Western Illinois wide receiver Matthew Henry has been in contact with West Virginia and is working on setting up an official visit to Morgantown.
Henry, 6-foot-1, 175-pounds, is coming off a season with the Leathernecks where he hauled in 64 passes for 1,211 yards and 6 touchdowns.
He previously spent two years at DII Livingston where he was productive with 66 catches for 840 yards over two seasons.
The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (WVDNR) announced that hunters harvested 17 percent more fall turkeys in 2024 compared to last year.
“West Virginia is truly a top destination for turkey hunting, and our thriving turkey populations are a testament to the success of sustainable wildlife management,” WVDNR Director Brett McMillion said. “These efforts ensure that hunters, whether seasoned or just starting out, can continue to enjoy abundant opportunities for years to come. We encourage everyone to experience the incredible hunting opportunities our state has to offer by purchasing a 2025 license and planning a trip in the new year.”
According to preliminary hunting data from the WVDNR’s electronic licensing and game checking system, fall turkey hunters harvested 1,130 birds in 2024 compared to 967 birds in 2023. The fall 2024 harvest was also 17 percent above the five-year average of 968 birds and similar to the 10-year average of 1,132 birds. Although fewer counties have a two-week season this year due to a lower spring harvest, the fall harvest was consistent with long-term averages.
Click here to download West Virginia’s 2025 fall turkey harvest numbers by county.
Fall turkey harvest numbers are influenced by hunter participation, but also depend on the current year’s brood production and mast conditions. This year’s brood survey results were 4.5 percent above last year’s and 5.1 percent above the five-year average, indicating that the 2024 harvest might be slightly above last year’s harvest.
Five out of six districts reported increased fall turkey harvest compared to last year. District 3 had the highest harvest with 289 birds, followed by District 1 with 191, District 4 with 180, District 2 with 169, District 5 with 160 and District 6 with 141.
Counties with the most harvests were Randolph County with 77, Nicholas with 66, Greenbrier with 57, Pocahontas with 53 and Mason with 41. All of these counties except Mason County had a four-week season.
All hunters 15 and older are required to have a valid West Virginia hunting license and valid form of identification while hunting, which can be purchased at license agents across the state or online at WVhunt.com.
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