Dave Van Halanager

Dave Van Halanger

There isn’t a day that goes by that Dave Van Halanger doesn’t thank his lucky stars for knowing Bobby Bowden. Van Halanger, a Turtle Creek, Pa., native, came to West Virginia in 1972 to play for Bowden after starring in football, basketball and track at Turtle Creek High School.

‘Big Van,’ as he was known at WVU, lettered during the 1972 season before cracking the starting lineup in 1973 at right tackle, where he earned all-East honors in both 1974 and 1975. He was a tri-captain on the 1975 Peach Bowl team and was one of the main reasons West Virginia’s rushing attack was so good that year, opening holes for record-setting backs Artie Owens, Dwayne Woods, Heywood Smith and Ron Lee.

Van Halanger was also one of the reasons the Mountaineers were able to make such a remarkable turnaround from the disappointing season in 1974 to beating North Carolina State in the 1975 Peach Bowl.

“There was a lot of stuff that happened in 1974 that shouldn’t have happened and for whatever reason we were not together in ’74,” he said. “The next year we had a huge offensive line and it was really a big part of that team.”

In addition to Van Halanger at right tackle, West Virginia fielded an offensive line consisting of Al Gluchowski at center, Steve Earley at quick guard, Bob Kaminski at strong guard, and Tom Brandner at strong tackle. All five were battled tested veterans. They were also a very big for the time: Van Halanger standing 6-feet-6-inches and weighing 260 pounds; Kaminski, Earley and Brandner weighing nearly 250 pounds each.

"The first four games of the season we rushed for so many yards because our line took over games,” Van Halanger said. “Plus, we had Artie Owens, Dwayne Woods, Heywood Smith and Ron Lee. We had guys that were really good runners and we blocked for them. That gave our defense a chance to mature and get better and we kept them off the field a lot because we controlled the clock with our running game.”

The tackle says two key moments of the year came at Cal in the second week of the season and at SMU two weeks later. Those two games gave the team the confidence it needed to beat nationally ranked Pitt, and then North Carolina State in the bowl game later in the season.

“I remember going out to SMU and just running like crazy,” he said. “We went to Cal and I think we rushed for close to 400 yards (337).”

Van Halanger believes the 1975 team wasn’t nearly as talented as the ‘74 squad, but they had great character guys in ‘75 that have gone on to do great things in life.

“These guys all had goals and objectives,” Van Halanger explained. “You take Tommy Bowden; all he wanted to do was coach. That was his desire and goal in life.

“Steve Dunlap has worked really hard and did a great job at West Virginia. Now he’s taking over the No. 1-ranked defense in the United States last year at North Carolina State. I’ve been there and I can tell you they’ve got players.

“We’ve got guys that have turned out to be doctors and lawyers,” he continued. “At West Virginia, number one, you got a great education and having Coach Bowden as a coach was very special. He didn’t only help you become a good football player, he turned your life around through Christianity and helping you see that there was a different part of life than football.”

But football has remained a very big part of Van Halanger’s life. He spent a couple of years as an assistant coach on Frank Cignetti’s staff before taking over the team’s strength and conditioning program. He remained in that role for three years on Don Nehlen’s staff before joining Bowden at Florida State after the 1983 season.

Van Halanger spent the glory years at Florida State with Bowden before recently joining Mark Richt’s staff at Georgia, where he remains today.

“I’ve been around some great head coaches and Frank Cignetti gave me my first chance,” Van Halanger said. “On that 1978 West Virginia staff when we went 2-9 there was Nick Saban. I tell people Nick Saban and I got fired at the same time. He went on to become the highest paid college coach in history.”

Van Halanger says a lot of West Virginia’s problems in the late 1970s were taken care of when WVU opened the new stadium in 1980.

“We just couldn’t recruit against Penn State when we had that small little stadium,” he said. “When Frank left in 1979 we open the new stadium in 1980 – we get the new weight room and the new everything. We were close. We played a great Pitt team in Morgantown the last game at the old stadium and they beat us 24-17 and we were driving. They had Hugh Green, Rickey Jackson and all those great, talented players.”

Van Halanger has forged a pretty impressive career himself as strength and conditioning coach. By his own count he’s got two national championship rings, 10 conference championship rings and 32 total bowl rings. He was named the 1993 national strength and conditioning coach of the year, was honored in 1998 as a master strength coach -- awarded to just eight others, and most recently in 2003, was inducted into the strength and conditioning hall of fame.

"I’ve got a beautiful wife, five great kids and I’ve worked for some great people,” said Van Halanger. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”