UC Prospects Better Than Expected

By Jack Bogacyzk
Charleston Daily Mail
Sports Editor
April 23, 2007


CHARLESTON - The football team motto at University of Charleston is, "Excellence ... It's what we're about."

Perhaps, as the program points toward its fifth season since the sport returned to the former Morris Harvey College after a 46-year absence, the slogan should be, "Surviving is believing."

Last season, Coach Tony DeMeo's team had only six seniors. In 2007, the number is five. If it seems a program just reaching its reconstituted maturity doesn't have the experience it should, you're right.

Those who have been through the reclamation project more than one, really say UC, which finished spring drills over the weekend, seems on the verge of building a Division II name in the sport.

Former Riverside High star Rusty Taylor came to UC for its second season (2004) after a walk-on year at Marshall. The running back and kick returner is a rising senior who has his own personal comeback story, too.

Outside linebacker Kasey Teegardin will play the 2007 season as a graduate student, after he gets his sports administration degree in two weeks. He came to UC from Palm City, Fla., for its 2003 football start-up and has endured more upheaval than he could have imagined.

"Honestly, after what we had when I first got here, I didn't expect us to have nearly as much success as we had after the coaching change," Taylor said. "Coach DeMeo asked us to commit and believe in his goals. I can tell you we have a lot of pride in what we do here every day."

The Golden Eagles were 5-16 in two seasons under Coach Mike Springston, who was hired by UC President Ed Welch to reinstitute football on the South Ruffner campus. It wasn't the won-loss record that got Springston fired. It was lack of player retention, rooted in a lack of discipline.

"I've been here since the start," said the 5-foot-10 Teegardin, a second-team linebacker. "A couple of years ago I was out the door, until the coaching change. Coach DeMeo came in and said, ‘Stick with me, and we'll do it right.'

"I've been more than happy. Staying was one of the best decisions of my life ... I'd be lying if I said I wasn't surprised where we are as a team, as a program. Before Coach DeMeo got here, people were losing faith. Guys were running amok; guys were getting away with stuff. It was going downhill fast."

Clearly, the improvement from 3-7 in Springston's final season (2004) to 8-3 in the DeMeo debut helped sell the new coach's program, but Taylor said it is mostly discipline and drive that has made the difference.

This past winter, the 5-6, 170-pound Taylor learned more about that than he should have, when he missed a team meeting and words went back and forth on who's fault it was.

"I wanted to still be part of this," Taylor said. "It was my fault, and I finally got in touch with Coach, and I was suspended for a while, but now I'm back. You have to earn it here. There's a system, and if you believe in it, it works.

"The team unity here is special. Even in the year I was over at Marshall, I thought it was good that UC had started football and I supported it, came to some games, because I think it's good for the community, and if it's done right is good for the school."

Teegardin and Taylor said last season's falloff to a 5-6 record was a hiccup, due mostly to the fact that UC's roster lacked veteran leadership because DeMeo has built with few junior college signees.

Teegardin redshirted in his sophomore season (2004) because of a lower back injury. He said the climb from 3-7 that season to an 8-3 finish - one of the best improvements in West Virginia Conference history - was instructive.

"I came here with expectations of being part of a winning program," said Teegardin, who was on the verge of leaving UC for MacMurray (Ill.), a Division III program. "Things were bad, and then we had that turnaround.

"I'd like to be a coach someday, and how (DeMeo) turned this around and has built from there is something I can take with me and maybe use in the future. The discipline here, the unity, those are major components."

Taylor said that as he approaches his final UC season, he appreciates what he's been through.

"There's been good and bad we've been through," he said. "You learn from all of it. Our program here has a chance to be really good. It's great to be the guys who were here from the start. If it goes like it can, that's something the few of us left can take pride in."

UC senior Kasey Teegardin cools off during Spring drills at University of Charleston Stadium.

Photo and story courtesy of the Charleston Daily Mail