The Charleston Daily Mail Wrote:Former lineman returning to Mountaineers
By Mike Casazza
Daily Mail sportswriter
April 29, 2008

The alumni connections on Coach Bill Stewart's football staff at West Virginia University continue to mushroom.

Stewart said Monday that former Mountaineer offensive lineman Dale Wolfley, who has been the head coach at Phoenix College the past three seasons, is joining the Mountaineer football staff in a "position we're still trying to determine."

Three of Wolfley's Phoenix players are 2008 signees for Stewart's first Mountaineer season. The Arizona junior college announced a week ago that Wolfley had resigned to return to his alma mater and is advertising the Phoenix coaching position at $40,184 plus benefits annually.

Wolfley's teams were 1-9 in 2005, then followed by two 4-6 seasons as he improved the Bears' program.

"He's a tremendous character guy," Stewart said of Wolfley prior to Monday night's Mountaineer Athletic Club scholarship dinner in Charleston. "We've talked about various roles, maybe as a high school relations guy, maybe in recruiting, maybe running camps.

"Dale can help us in football and our athletic department a million ways, but he knows we don't have a coaching job for him. He'll join us in mid-June, before our summer camps start."

Wolfley, 40, could not be reached for comment Monday.

"Leaving Phoenix College was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made," Wolfley said in the announcement on the college's Web site. "But the opportunity to be part of a premier NCAA Division I program is a professional opportunity I could not pass up."

Stewart said he visited with Wolfley while the Mountaineers were in Phoenix preparing for a Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma.

Eventually, WVU's signing class included three of Wolfley's Phoenix players - highly regarded defensive line prospect Tevita Finau, safety Courtney Stuart and cornerback Brantwon Bowser.

"Dale was so classy while we were out in Arizona," Stewart said.

"If he wanted a job, he never brought it up one time. People in our athletic department kept after me that we ought to try and find a spot for him if we could.

"He wanted to get back home. He wants to be back in West Virginia."

Wolfley was as four-year WVU letterman as an offensive guard (1987-90) and a two-year starter for Coach Don Nehlen. He played in three bowls and was a Mountaineer co-captain as a senior.

The Orchard Park, N.Y., native followed his fullback brother, Ron, to WVU.

He spent three seasons with Nehlen as a WVU graduate assistant, helping coach linemen, tight ends and special teams in the early '90s.

Ron Wolfley and another brother, Craig, played in the NFL. Dale Wolfley had replaced Ron as the Phoenix College head coach in 2005.

It seems like old home week around Morgantown since Stewart's hiring. Everybody is going to show up eventually.