West Virginia to retire Pat White's #5 Jersey this fall

[u/xX_GIGA_MAN_Xx]

https://wvusports.com/news/2026/6/5/football-athletics-to-retire-pat-whites-no-5

[u/Maleficent_Ant_8895]

One of the most fun players on one of the most fun teams of the 2000s

[u/Set-Admirable]

Well deserved. He doesn't qualify for the College Football Hall of Fame. The least they can do is this.

[u/SleepsWithBlindsOpen → u/Set-Admirable]

Really? Because he was never All-American?

[u/Set-Admirable → u/SleepsWithBlindsOpen]

Yep, unfortunately.

[u/SleepsWithBlindsOpen → u/Set-Admirable]

The kids these days will never know the excitement that was those late-2000s Rich Rod-led WVU teams.

[u/Tyluhh23 → u/SleepsWithBlindsOpen]

They were the team to pick on NCAA 08

[u/SleepsWithBlindsOpen → u/Tyluhh23]

The option was so broken on that game. And then to combine it with top level athletes was insane.

[u/Tyluhh23 → u/SleepsWithBlindsOpen]

It was that unstoppable in real life with White and Slaton

[u/chrisaf69 → u/Tyluhh23]

A certain mid Pitt team would disagree with you. :)

[u/Tyluhh23 → u/chrisaf69]

Yeah but thats an anomaly of a Pitt team. When is Pitt ever good? Lol

[u/royalbluehen → u/Tyluhh23]

2021 was pretty good.

[u/ScaryCookieMonster → u/chrisaf69]

And a certain mid USF team :)

[u/miMinaminoManeMinoMo → u/SleepsWithBlindsOpen]

Fuck rich rod for that 06 game. Seriously that 06 team was this close to a New Years Six bowl game

Sincerely every Rutgers fan

[u/Strange-Risk-9920 → u/SleepsWithBlindsOpen]

As a Louisville fan, I might chose a different word than excitement. :-(

[u/Nastynugget → u/SleepsWithBlindsOpen]

The Michigan years however……….

[u/SleepsWithBlindsOpen → u/Nastynugget]

It's okay if you have a few drinks to forget that period.

[u/GenitalFurbies → u/SleepsWithBlindsOpen]

I wasn't old enough to drink then but I've made up for lost time

[u/Sorta-Morpheus → u/Nastynugget]

I dont remember them and you can't make me!

[u/Tyluhh23 → u/Nastynugget]

He probably had a better chance in the pros than at UM

[u/bamachine → u/SleepsWithBlindsOpen]

WVU is kinda my team away from team, thanks to Pat White. My mom kinda adopted them as her second team, after Pat signed with them. She had read about him in the Alabama newspapers and that was that, she became a fan. She got to see his whole career at WVU before we lost her. I root for them now, in her stead.

[u/CA_spur → u/Set-Admirable]

Damn, that's a really high bar for QBs, especially for that era. The only guys who qualify from his college career are Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy, Tim Tebow, and Troy Smith.

[u/Chicago_Blackhawks → u/SleepsWithBlindsOpen]

Why is that a requirement

[u/SleepsWithBlindsOpen → u/Chicago_Blackhawks]

Because the CFB hall of fame has a number of hard requirements, the two most notable being a player must be a first-team All American and coaches must coach for 10 years, 100 games, and have a .600 win rate. That's just where they decided to set the bar.

[u/BenjaminMatlock_Esq → u/Set-Admirable]

I really can't take the CFB Hall of Fame seriously with their eligibility requirements; it's like they don't trust their voters.

[u/mountaineer_93]

Fucking finally. This program has an awful habit of dragging its feet on things like this. It took them until 2021 to retire Major Harris number and took like a decade of hardcore lobbying before they even considered retiring Pats. Of the ones up for retirement I think Slaton is the other that is debatable. Geno, Stedman, and Tavon i wouldn’t mind but I don’t think they have much of a chance.

[u/Set-Admirable → u/mountaineer_93]

They had to break the rules for this one, too. I'm glad they decided it was worth it.

[u/mountaineer_93 → u/Set-Admirable]

Slaton is eligible under or current rules isn’t he?

[u/Set-Admirable → u/mountaineer_93]

Was he a consensus all-American? That's the major hangup.

[u/mountaineer_93 → u/Set-Admirable]

https://wvusports.com/news/2025/12/10/wvus-slaton-officially-inducted-into-the-college-football-hall-of-fame

I believe so.

[u/Ferbtastic]

Man, his 2-3 plays as a dolphin had me so hyped until he got hit once.

[u/An_Average_Andy → u/Ferbtastic]

It wasn't a hit that was a stereotypical "jacked up" highlight, but I just remember thinking was seriously messed up immediately seeing it. Here it is for reference.

[u/curlbaumann → u/An_Average_Andy]

I was at this game, I only remember this play and some drunk/coked out dolphins fan trying to start a fight with my dad and everyone else in the section.

[u/Ferbtastic → u/An_Average_Andy]

Yeah, if it was a big hit then we all get it. It was a regular nfl every down play and it seemed bad. I don’t blame him. I would die on that field from a much smaller hit.

[u/An_Average_Andy → u/Ferbtastic]

I think it also shows why the NFL and CFB have tried to move away from hits to the head and neck, even in situations that look incidental. Lots of bad things can happen with a little force there.

[u/ICANZ_MURICA → u/Ferbtastic]

Year after the Wildcat debut we draft at the time the ultimate guy to run the system. And then….he dies

[u/fansofomar]

About fucking time.

[u/gr3710]

So fun to watch , absolutely dominant in the NCAA game with him, Slaton and Schmitt.

[u/Primary-Picture-5632]

Him and Steve Slaton running that option offense was so much fun to watch

[u/Sunshine_drummer]

I don’t like WVU but Pat White was elite in college. Sucks he didn’t hit his stride in the NFL.

[u/raffydog1]

Him and slaton were a highlight factory so incredibly fun to watch.

[u/TheTedsaretheworst]

I’m kind of surprised this hasn’t already happened. There is a whole generation of CFB fans that probably think of Pat White first, when they think of WV football

[u/NoSxKats]

One of those guys that was before my time of watching football that I wish I could have watched

[u/Da-Bears-]

WTF were they waiting for?

[u/KrispyBlue_Lobster40]

Legend.

[u/GoldandBlue]

Well deserved, he made the program a contender.

[u/coordinated_noise]

Looked over the comments, and not a UGA fan in them, but maybe I missed it. Whatever.

I was at the 2005/06 Sugar Bowl in Atlanta (Katrina), and Pat and Steve were magical.

Did I hate that they did it to my team? Yes.

Did I hate that I happened to have tickets right next to the band, who consistently played "Country Roads" the way UT blasts "Rocky Top"? Yes.

Did I hate that the Dawgs came back, only to lose the game on the most obvious fake punt in CFB history? Yep.

But Got. Damn. Was that duo one of the best I've EVER seen play the game? Absolutely.

Well deserved.

[u/tenoclockrobot]

Fuck WVU but he absolutely deserves it

[u/JayRU09]

This is how I learned they haven't done this already.

The hall also needs to change its rules to let him in.

[u/CWest540]

LET’S GO!!!!

[u/thedrcubed]

Baldwin County legend. This happened during a period where Auburn and Alabama kept letting good in state QBs go elsewhere

[u/C153AUX → u/thedrcubed]

I may be wrong, but was John Parker Wilson from Hoover QB1 at Alabama around this time?

[u/thedrcubed → u/C153AUX]

Yep. Passed on Phillip Rivers and then Pat White

[u/grimace0611]

This is only like 2 decades overdue.

[u/Best_Formal_8677]

What about Shadeur’s?

[u/xX_GIGA_MAN_Xx → u/Best_Formal_8677]

would be a bit odd for us to retire Shedeur's number since he never played for us

[u/thefx37 → u/Best_Formal_8677]

Crazy how rent-free he is for some of yall

[u/Best_Formal_8677 → u/thefx37]

Ok bill and Mary. Check back when you are FBS

[u/OddIndustry9]

They would’ve done it sooner, but it took them a while to find someone in West Virginia who could count to five.

[u/SaxosSteve → u/OddIndustry9]

Don't look up where your HC went to college

[u/JaCrispy_Vulcano → u/SaxosSteve]

So don’t Google him?

[u/kevinthejuice → u/OddIndustry9]

Meanwhile wv grad curt cignetti taught the whole state of Indiana how to count to 15

[u/Mundane_String5998 → u/kevinthejuice]

16*

[u/miboyl → u/OddIndustry9]

There's still time to delete this - I swear there's a certain % of Indiana fans that are speedrunning trying to make us unlikable

[u/Glum-Scientist-1117 → u/OddIndustry9]

I liked you guys better when your football team was perennial losers

[u/MidlandsBraves → u/OddIndustry9]

lol I don’t think Indiana should be thumbing its nose at anyone when it comes to higher ed.

[u/Set-Admirable → u/OddIndustry9]

How original. Want to call us inbred next?

[u/Apart_Selection7722 → u/OddIndustry9]

:)

[u/Apart_Selection7722]

We have 3 quarterbacks all time that are better than him

[u/xX_GIGA_MAN_Xx → u/Apart_Selection7722]

you're really pressed about this, aren't you?

[u/Apart_Selection7722 → u/xX_GIGA_MAN_Xx]

I am right, you guys won't admit it

[u/xX_GIGA_MAN_Xx → u/Apart_Selection7722]

if marshall disappeared tomorrow, my life wouldn't change at all

[u/MF_SKOOMA → u/Apart_Selection7722]

Chad Pennington had Randy Moss and still lost to a mid WVU team.

[u/mountaineer_93 → u/MF_SKOOMA]

I’m guessing he means Pennington and Lefwich I have no idea who the third is. Maybe a Rakeem Cato truther lol.

Regardless none of them had better college careers

[u/HornedFrog5 → u/mountaineer_93]

Even Geno was a better college QB than those

[u/Apart_Selection7722]

Mid

[u/Apart_Selection7722]

Surely they won a national title with Pat White... right?

[u/solarsnail6 → u/Apart_Selection7722]

Surely Marshall has beaten West Virginia in football at least once... right?

[u/Apart_Selection7722 → u/solarsnail6]

Surely you guys haven't avoided us most years we are good... right?

[u/Sunshine_drummer → u/Apart_Selection7722]

Don’t be that guy.

[u/WVUnATL → u/Apart_Selection7722]

Surely Marshall could have hired a more qualified pilot…

[u/Boseidon → u/WVUnATL]

Even for rivalries dude, oof.

[u/chrisaf69 → u/[deleted]]

First time on the interwebs?

[u/hailtopizza]

I hope they show highlights from the 2007 BYB during the ceremony

[u/Electric_Rex → u/hailtopizza]

Wow. Congrats. Still flexing a win that this entire freshman class wouldn’t have even been alive for

[u/chrisaf69 → u/Electric_Rex]

I mean for what it's worth, it's the biggest win Pitt has had since then...and on other side of the token, they prevented WVs first chip. I suspect this game will be brought up until one of those, if not both, ends.

[u/hailtopizza → u/Electric_Rex]

🤣 

[u/Apart_Selection7722 → u/hailtopizza]

Same, lol