MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — When Matt Lacy stepped down as the Morgantown High football coach in November, the Mohigans sent out a slogan that became the mantra of their coaching search, “Back to the future.”
The meaning was simple: MHS wants to return to the days where it was a powerhouse Class AAA program during the early to mid-2000s, winning four state championships from 2000-05.
On Tuesday night, Sean Biser was approved by the Monongalia County Board of Education to be the 16th head coach for the Mohigans, tasked with bringing MHS back to the standard it set two decades ago.
Biser, 49, comes to Morgantown after spending the last 16 seasons at the helm of his alma mater, Keyser, where he has plenty of success. The Golden Tornado had a 127-58 overall record under Biser and missed the Class AA playoffs just twice during that span and reached the state quarterfinals in eight of the last 12 seasons, including last year.
“It was a long process for me making the decision to apply,” Biser said. “This is home for me, here in Keyser, and it’s always been near and dear to my heart, but I look at it as this is an opportunity to better myself and better my situation. I lived in Morgantown before and I liked it when I was there in college. It’s intriguing and Morgantown is a growing place and I think there’s a lot of opportunity for me there and for my family.”
Last season, Keyser went 10-2 and fell to Bluefield in the state quarterfinals, but in the prior 11 games, the Golden Tornado outscored opponents by an average of 50-4 and had eight shutouts.
Prior to his time at Keyser, Biser went 30-23 in five seasons at Hampshire, making the Class AAA postseason three times — the only playoff appearances in school history.
Biser originally wrestled at West Liberty, but the itch to play football was too strong, so he transferred to WVU to play under coach Don Nehlen in the early 1990s as a walk-on. While there, he also wrestled one season under Craig Turnbull, but was eventually offered a scholarship in football and stuck it out on the gridiron from there.
As an offensive guru, Biser hopes to bring the Mohigans back to the scheme that helped MHS win four state titles in six years under Glen McNew and John Bowers in the Wing-T.
“I’ve played in the spread, I’ve coached in the spread, I’ve played in the I(-formation), I’ve coached in the I, and the Wing-T is what I love,” Biser said. “We dabble in some spread principles, but we’re a Wing-T base — that’s where everything starts for us.”
Biser’s ideal defense isn’t set to one front, but at Keyser, he primarily used an 8-man front with multiple looks thrown in. Biser said he will learn what personnel he has at MHS before deciding what base defense he would like to run.
The Mohigans are coming off a 3-7 campaign and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
“We are very excited to welcome Sean Biser to the Mohigan family,” said Bowers, who is now the athletic director at MHS. “Sean comes to us after leading Hampshire the playoffs in three out of five years and having a great run of playoff berths at his alma mater, Keyser. Our Mohigan teams will be disciplined, strong and very well coached under coach Biser. We look forward to his leading our players and coaches to all be better in their roles to put Mohigan football back on the map.”
