Letter From The Director

Welcome all veterans and new members to the 110th season of the WVU Marching Band!  Since its inception in 1901, the award-winning WVU Band has dramatically evolved in size, reputation, membership diversity, and performance style/quality.  The band’s reputation around the University, the state, the region, and the nation shows that we are firmly established as one of the premier collegiate marching bands!  Demand for acceptance into the WVU Band continues to remain strong and we are once again nearing record enrollment with the current size of the 2011 band!  You should be extremely proud to be a member of such a respected organization, and we hope this 110th year can be the best one yet for the WVU Band!

This upcoming 2011 season is going to be filled with great music, challenging drill moves, and lasting friendships. As you may know, expectations are high for our football team once again this season as the Mountaineers have a new high-powered offense brought in by our new Head Coach Dana Holgorsen, which will feature our potential Heisman Trophy candidate Geno Smith and our other offensive weapons.  As the pre-season pick to be the BIG EAST champs, an exciting year undoubtedly awaits us on the gridiron!

Our home football schedule is both challenging and exciting, as we again have seven home games this year, including several national TV home games already confirmed and big games including the annual "Backyard Brawl" with rival Pitt, a visit by in-state foe Marshall, conference games against UConn and Louisville, and the big game against top-5 ranked LSU!

We have a fun and rewarding travel schedule that features away game trips to the Rutgers game in New Jersey (with a side trip to New York City), and the Cincinnati game, which will be played this year at the Bengals' NFL stadium in Cincinnati.  A trip to Charleston, WV for the annual Daily Mail Band and Majorette Festival, a performance at the T.O.B. Chapter 13 Championships in Lewis County, and a performance at Mountaineer Field for the Morgantown High School Band Spectacular round out the projected field performance schedule.

We have balanced the schedule to the best of our ability and have managed to keep as many open weekends as possible.  As usual, we will end the season with our annual concerts and band banquet as we head down the home stretch to what will hopefully be our 10th consecutive bowl game!  Things are shaping up for another outstanding performance season for “The Pride!”

As far as the 2011 Band Staff is concerned, we are happy that many familiar faces will be returning for this season, but we do have to say "good-bye" to a few folks.  Our former Graduate Assistant, Allen Heath, has graduated with his Master's Degree, our former color guard staff - Lindsay and Emily, have both decided to move on, and from the percussion staff - Martin "Spike" Johnston has also moved on.  We would like to congratulate all of them for their good work with the band over the years, and wish them all the best of luck.  So, we are also very happy to announce a few additions to the band staff for this season.  Joining the drumline staff will be former WVU Drumline member Jonathan Shank, and working with our color guard will be Drew Farris and Heather Hazucha.  Johnny Leonard is our new Graduate Assistant, and is one of our former trumpet section leaders who is also returning to WVU to begin work on a Master's degree after spending several years teaching public school.  We welcome all of these folks to the WVU Band family as new staff members for 2011!

Again, to all of you - welcome to the band!  We hope you are starting to get mentally "psyched" and physically fit for the season - it won't be long until it is here!  We hope your membership in the band will provide you with a positive experience that will enhance your overall collegiate life here at WVU.  And, of course, we want this season to provide you the opportunities to meet new people, rekindle old friendships, and to have a lot of fun.