Roll Out the Carpet

One of college basketball’s great traditions was introduced by Fred Schaus at West Virginia University in 1955. It was during that time that Schaus and Mountaineer supporter Alex Mumford came up with the idea of rolling out an elaborate gold and blue carpet for the Mountaineer players to run out on during pregame warm ups. In addition, Mountaineer players warmed up with a special gold and blue painted basketball.

West Virginia University continued this tradition during the George King era until it was interrupted in the late 1960s. Former Mountaineer player Gale Catlett reintroduced the carpet when he returned to West Virginia as head coach in 1978, and it has since become the highlight of pregame introductions at the WVU Coliseum.