LB coach Andrew Warwick’s decision to join WVU was no-brainer, trying to instill history of program in players
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MORGANTOWN -- Andrew Warwick was one of the quieter staff changes for West Virginia football this offseason. The biggest moves were hiring Rick Trickett as the new offensive line coach, Jay Boulware to coach Cam Cook and the rest of the running backs and finally landing on Deke Adams to coach the pass rushers. But the Mountaineers made an in-house change and promoted Warwick from senior defensive assistant and assistant linebackers coach to full-time linebacker coach.
In his first year as the linebackers coach, Warwick has his work cut out for him. Reid Carrico and Chase Wilson are gone to fight to make NFL rosters, and Ben Bogle is at Arkansas, leaving the only returning linebacker, who played significant snaps, at Ben Cutter.
Warwick's room consists of Cutter, youngster Cam Torbor and a few freshmen, and a bunch of veteran transfers. He has to figure out what athletes are ready to play in just a few days.
Warwick laid out what linebacker at this level looks like.
"So much of linebacker play is quick decisions and game-time decisions," Warwick said.
Warwick's had to make a lot of decisions over his life in his path to becoming the linebackers coach at WVU. Warwick is from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and went to Knox College, where he played tight end and receiver for three years. No, Knox College isn't in Knoxville, Tennessee. It's in Galesburg, Illinois, and has Division III football.
"Knox College, the greatest Division III school in the country," Warwick said.
Warwick had the choice to go there kind of made out for him. It was a "family tradition," as he called it. His brother went there and really loved it, so it was only right for him to go there.
"Really nice college, so it was a no-brainer for me," Warwick said.
What he wanted to do for a career was tough to figure out, though. Warwick was injured his sophomore year, and at a Division III school, playing professionally wasn't going to be an option. He went to school to be a lawyer, but he learned that wasn't going to work out.
"Somewhere around the Federalist Papers, starting to read this, I'm not getting use out of this," Warwick said.
When he was injured, Warwick's head coach gave him a clipboard and told him to coach just to keep him involved in the game. That's when he realized what he wanted to do, and that was coach football.
"That's kind of when I got bit by the bug," Warwick said. "I was like, 'Hey, that's what I want to do.' I enjoy teaching, and I love football.'"
Warwick bounced around and earned his first Power Four gig under Dabo Swinney at Clemson as a graduate assistant. He worked his way up to be the defensive assistant on that staff, and in 2016, he was part of the National Championship-winning team.
Warwick took the defensive coordinator job at Jacksonville State in 2018 (Rich Rodriguez wasn't there at the time). The Gamecocks had the nation's 15th-ranked defense under Warwick. He joined Troy's staff a year later to coach linebackers, and he eventually became the DC at Wofford. He was at Wofford from 2022-24, where he was comfortable.
"I really enjoyed, I was at Wofford before, really enjoyed it," Warwick said. "It’s a great institution. A lot of great people. There is nothing negative about that."
But then the job opened at WVU for a senior defensive assistant spot. It was a step down from his current DC spot, but coaching for the Mountaineers wasn’t a job to pass up.
"Look around, right? Come on," Warwick said. "But when you look around here, like West Virginia is the type of place you want to play at. This is the type of place you want to coach at. I came running."
Warwick instills that same sentiment in his linebacker room. A lot of the linebackers are new, or were born in 2008, so they don't know the history of the program. Warwick grew up watching the glory days of Rodriguez, Pat White and how physical the team was in the early 2000s.
Warwick wants to show his players how easy of a choice it was to pick WVU and how it’s a privilege to play for the Mountaineers. He wants his room to show that honor on the field, and play physical.
"One of the most winningest teams that never won it," Warwick said. "To have a chance to come here to be a part of a staff and a head coach that allows me to be who I am and embraces that as the standard. Yeah, I’d love to be a part of the staff that can change that narrative. We’re trying to push for it."