Founded in the year 1867, West Virginia University is a co-educational public research university administered by the West Virginia University Board of Governors. The main campus is located in Morgantown, West Virginia and it has other campuses in Parkersburg Montgomery, Keyser and Charleston.

The athletic teams of the University are known by the name of West Virginia Mountaineer and the team mascot is known as the Mountaineer. A member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Big East Conference, the two major sports at the university are basketball and football.

The football stadium of the team is Mountaineer Field, in Morgantown, West Virginia. Inaugurated on the 6th of September 1980, the stadium features a “Field Turf” surface. The Country Music classic "Take Me Home, Country Roads" by John Denver is traditionally played at home campus-sporting events and on other occasions as well.

The West Virginia Mountaineers football team participates in the NCAA FBS division of college football and the current head coach is Bill Stewart. Prior to this, as the interim head coach, Bill had led the Mountaineers to a victory over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowls with a score of 48-28. He had also served as the head coach of Virginia Military Institute for three seasons.