OUR FIRST ISSUE checked in with then-Mountaineer Marching Band drum captain Justin Kline. Now Alisha Pinti, a senior from Bridgeport, West Virginia, heads up the Pride of West Virginia’s 2021–22 corps of seven bass drums, five quads, 11 snares, and 11 cymbals. Here’s your best way to identify Pinti on game day: During the pre-game show, after the drum line marches out to its tunnel cadence and as the announcer introduces the Pride, she’ll be the one out in front of the drum line marking time for the boogie cadence. And when you see that, know that they’ve already been on the field for six hours. The drum captain is motivator, resource, and role model for the drum line, Pinti says. She aims for a balance during field shows. “You have to stay focused, but you also have to take a second to look up at the crowd and hear everybody screaming for the drums and the band,” she says. “It’s a lot to take in, but it’s always very fun.” Rhythm and Boogie
Brown’s Back WVU head coach Neal Brown thinks this could be the year.
two years with the culture within our football program.” The upcoming season’s schedule is
In the first issue of Morgantown magazine, then–WVU football coach Dana Holgerson chatted about the upcoming season. The quirky coach moved on to Houston in 2019, and optimism permeated the air in Morgantown with Neal Brown’s arrival. It’s taken some time for Brown to find his groove, with a 5–7 record in 2019 and a 6–4 record in 2020. This year, Brown says the team’s leadership is better than at any point since he took the job. “As a program, we continue to climb,” he says. “We're making progress. And if you think about it, off the field, we just finished up $5 million worth of program enhancements. That's really had a positive effect. We've got a lot of momentum in recruiting right now, and we’ve made tremendous progress over the last
challenging, with match-ups against 11 Power Five teams. Sportswriters and broadcasters picked WVU to finish sixth in a pre-season poll released July 8. Brown says his team is looking forward to the challenge and predicts success. “If you look at the improvement offensively and defensively, we were one of the most improved units on both sides of the ball. It's like I tell our players: You either prove them right, or you prove them wrong. Our goal this season is to prove them wrong.” The season’s first snap takes place September 4 at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium—home to the University of Maryland Terrapins.
32 MORGANTOWN FALL 2021
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