West Virginia’s Vic Riggs resigned from his head coaching position after being with the program for the last 17 years.
According the public records, Riggs made $134,611.71 in 2023 and has hovered in the $130-140K range since 2018. The West Virginia men and women compete in the Big 12 Conference, which will be without Texas for the first time this upcoming season as Texas is moving to the SEC.
Let’s wildly speculate about who might take over this job.
The two most obvious choices are West Virginia alums who are currently coaching elsewhere in the NCAA, to notable success.
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Pablo Marmolejo, Head Coach, Delaware- Marmolejo is a West Virginia alum as he graduated from the program in 2009 before spending the 2009-2011 seasons with the program as a graduate assistant. He graduated in 2011 with a masters in Public Administration. After graduation, Marmolejo moved to the University of Delaware working as an assistant and recruiting director from 2012-2015. He then spent a few years away from collegiate coaching as he coached club swimming with Delaware Swim Team. Then, in 2018, he arrived back at Delaware as he was hired as head coach in May 2018. So far in his second stint with the Blue Hens, Marmolejo has risen the program to be at the top of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). Both teams finished 2nd at the 2024 CAA Championships finishing only behind UNCW. Marmolejo helped coach Toni Sabev to the 2024 NCAA Championships as Sabev became Delaware’s first NCAA qualifier in program history.
Jason Calanog, Associate Head Coach, Texas A&M (Men)- Calanog is also a West Virginia alum as he graduated in 2007. He served as a volunteer assistant for West Virginia during the 2006-2007 season. After graduation, Calanog coached at The Bolles School in Florida from 2007-2015 where he most famously coached Caeleb Dressel. After Bolles, he arrived as an assistant with Texas A&M in 2015 and was promoted to associate head coach in 2019. Earlier this month, it was announced that Texas A&M would combine its men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs upon the retirement of women’s head coach Steve Bultman. With the combining of both programs, the situation for Calanog and the Texas A&M staff is up in the air for the time being. The Texas A&M men swam to a 16th place finish at 2024 NCAAs and were 4th (out of 10 teams) at 2024 SECs. The men’s team tied their program-high with a 10th place at NCAAs in 2021.
Peyton Brooks, Head Coach/Director of Competitive Swimming, Baylor Swim Club- It’s rare for Power 5 programs to hire head coaches straight out of the club or high school ranks, but Brooks is in a bit of a different position because he’s just a couple of years removed from a trajectory in the NCAA that was going to land himin charge of a program anyway. Prior to being hired at the Baylor Swim Club in October 2022, he spent three years as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech, where the men’s team finished 11th at the NCAA Championships. He also spent a year as the head coach at D2 Alderson-Broaddus University in 2014-2015. Brooks is a West Virginia alumnus who swam for four years during the program’s heyday under Sergio Lopez. That included swimming on the 2007 Big East Championship team. He then spent his fifth year as a member of the West Virginia football team as a wide receiver, where he was the Offensive Scout Team Player of the Year.
Bonuses:
Wyatt Collins, Former Texas Men’s Associate Head Coach– With the arrival of Bob Bowman and now the hiring of Erik Posegay, it looks as if Collins will be looking for a new home. Collins was with the Texas men since 2014 starting as an assistant and being promoted to associate head coach in 2021.
Cory Chitwood, Indiana Associate Head Coach– Chitwood has been with Indiana for five seasons now and works primarily with the distance group, including Mariah Denigan who will represent the US in Open Water swimming in Paris. The connection here is having coached current senior Ivan Puskovitch who also has represented the US in Open Water competition as most recently both were at 2024 Worlds.
Damion Dennis, IUPUI Head Coach– Dennis has been the head coach at IUPUI since June 2019 but spent 11 season with West Virginia prior to that. West Virginia has been the longest stop in his coaching career as he has also been at UCSD, Princeton, and Michigan.
Join the Main Street Morgantown family-friendly holiday shopping event from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday (Dec. 13) in Downtown Morgantown.
The event will feature a district-wide scavenger hunt for a chance to win prizes and the opportunity to explore holiday pop-up markets by Hoot and Howl, The Co-Op and Apothecary Ale House.
While exploring downtown shops, participants who spot DASH the Dog can collect stamps. Each stamp brings participants closer to the chance of winning prizes from downtown merchants such as gift cards and goods. To qualify for prizes, completed Downtown Dash Guides with five or more stamps must be turned into Hoot and Howl, The Co-Op, Apothecary Ale House or at Breezeline’s play-to-win tent on Courthouse Square.
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As a break from shopping, parents and their little ones can visit Kids Craft, Cookies & Cocoa Central at the WARD Building to enjoy a complimentary hot cocoa and cookie bar and children’s crafts provided by Hotel Morgan sponsored by Main Street Morgantown and Breezeline.
Visitors can also visit the beautiful 25-foot-tall holiday tree on display at Courthouse Square, a collaboration between the City of Morgantown, Monongalia County and Main Street Morgantown.
Sponsored by Breezeline, the Downtown Dash celebrates the holiday season, promotes walking and shopping throughout the downtown district, and supports local businesses by driving foot traffic directly to storefronts.
WHEELING, W.Va. — The West Virginia First Foundation visited the Wheeling Police Department to commend its efforts in addressing the area’s mental health and opioid crisis.
Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger presented to the WVFF board, highlighting the department’s progress.
Schwertfeger attributed a 14% decrease in Group A crimes from 2024 to 2025 to the department’s crisis intervention program.
“Just another great partnership,” he said. “More collaboration in this area that we are very proud of and we want to keep the momentum going,.”
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WVFF Executive Director Jonathan Board praised the program’s success.
“This in particular, the CIT program, that isn’t just in the ether, but is showing success – actual scientific success about de-escalation, about bringing together services providers and to boots on the ground and first responders, this is vitally important to not only this region but the entire state,” Board said.
The visit was part of WVFF’s ‘Hold the Line’ tour across the state.
