COLLEGE PREGAME
OU vs. Kansas: 6:30 p.m., Norman, TV: Fox
STILLWATER — The Wickline boys live in the mountains. The Wickline girls live on the Plains. They’ll be together this weekend in Stillwater.
“That’s our home,” Joe Wickline said.
Mike Gundy’s blocking savant from 2005-13, Wickline is in his third year as West Virginia’s offensive line coach. The ninthranked Mountaineers play the Cowboys at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
Wickline is doing in the Allegheny Mountains what he did in Payne County; producing a formidable line for a prodigious offense. Only this time, Wickline is getting
help from his son.
Kelby Wickline is a Stillwater High School graduate who has taken a circuitous route back to Boone Pickens Stadium. He was a Pioneer senior in 2014, his dad’s first year as the O-line coach at Texas. Then Kelby Wickline spent a year at Texas-San Antonio, transferred to Jones County (Mississippi) Junior College in 2016 when his dad moved to West Virginia, then joined the Mountaineers himself a year ago.
Kelby Wickline is a backup but played a huge role in a 42-41 victory at Texas two weeks ago, replacing star tackle Yodny Cajuste when he was ejected in the first half.
And all long, wife Nicki and daughter Lauren have remained in Stillwater, on the Wicklines’ spread outside town, where they have animals galore and their property abuts Gundy’s land.
“It works out,” Wickline said of the split family. “Let me tell you something, Oklahoma State and West Virginia University have a lot in common. Great people, salt of the hearth, great fan support. Administration … first class.”
Nice of Wickline to say, considering OSU sued him for taking the Texas job. The parties settled out of court for $250,000 — OSU sought $600,000, claiming Wickline breached his contract by taking a lateral job.
Now, OSU misses Wickline terribly. Wickline’s recruiting was questioned in his later Cowboy years, but his lines annually produced. That hasn’t been the case since; Josh Henson is Gundy’s third offensive line coach in the five years since Wickline departed.
“Bygones are bygones, things happen for a reason,” Wickline said. “If you work hard and you stay the course and you treat people right, things have a way of working themselves out.”
Dana Holgorsen was Gundy’s offensive coordinator in 2010, a transformational year for the Cowboy offense. Holgorsen became the WVU head coach the next year. Holgorsen and Wickline are not similar personalities — think free spirit and drill sergeant — but now have meshed in two locales.
“Joe’s kind of an odd guy, but people tell me I’m an odd guy,” Holgorsen said. “Maybe it’s the oddness that is making the chemistry work so well. I understand him. He understands me.”
Wickline’s parents grew up in West Virginia; his father played football at both WVU and cross-state Marshall. Now Wickline’s son is a Mountaineer.
“Fun in the beginning,” Joe Wickline said of coaching his son. “Wouldn’t trade it for anything. Fine young man. But when you hold people accountable, there’s some dynamics involved. We’ll have a dad hat and a coach hat, and I’ll flip ‘em.”
All the Wicklines will be together Saturday in Stillwater, where they’ve made a home and where Joe Wickline has made a legacy.