12-year-old denied coaching job, settles for autograph

Published March 8, 2008 | By Andy

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Who can’t get a kick out of this story. Joshua Irizarry has been a West Virginia football fan since he was 4 and now 12, he’s apparently pretty clever at tricking his opponents in local sandlot games. When Rich Rodriguez left the Mountaineers program for Michigan, Irizarry thought he’d apply for the job.

While WVU President Mike Garrison ultimately chose Bill Stewart to man the head coaching position, he expressed admiration for Irizarry’s spunk. “The lawyer side of me appreciated the arguments he used for why he should be considered for the job,” he told the Associated Press. “The father side of me recognized a young man with a lot of determination and ambition.”

Irizarry, who lives 500 miles away from campus in Southington, Conn., was excited to receive his consolation prize, a written response from Garrison and an autograph from Mountaineer running back Noel Devine.

Good luck to Irizarry in pursuing future coaching ambitions and kudos to Garrison for showing that administrative side of the game still has a human side.