Lonnie Galloway leaves WVU for Louisville

In a shocking move, Lonnie Galloway has left the West Virginia football program.

Late Sunday night, after the NCAA Tournament hype died down, reports surfaced that West Virginia wide receivers coach Lonnie Galloway would be departing Morgantown for Louisville.

Charleston Gazette-Mail beat writer Mike Casazza was first on the news that sent shockwaves throughout the West Virginia fanbase. Galloway has spent the last three seasons with the Mountaineers and will begin anew as a co-offensive coordinator for the Cardinals.

Not only is the news surprising because spring practice just opened for the Mountaineers, but also because Galloway recently signed an extension with the Mountaineers.

Related Story: Galloway signs extension with WVU

Just last week, Galloway looked to be locked up through the 2018 season as the team’s wide receivers coach.

It was an unprecedented move for the WVU football program because Galloway was not a coordinator. He was, however, one of the top recruiters on the staff. Galloway was also key in grooming professional talent at the wide receiver position. Players like Kevin White, Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey and Mario Alford all flourished under the watchful eye of Galloway.

He would have been key in bringing more young talent to the Mountaineers.

But as Galloway becomes the second coach to recently leave the WVU program, there may be cause for alarm within the football offices at the Milan Puskar Center.

In February, Brian Mitchell left the Mountaineers for the same defensive assistant job at Virginia Tech. With Galloway now gone, and the contract of Joe DeForest not renewed, there are now four new assistants joining Dana Holgorsen’s staff.

Blue Adams, hired last week, replaced Mitchell as cornerbacks coach; Matt Caponi replaced DeForest as safeties coach; Mark Scott was promoted to become special teams coordinator and Joe Wickline was brought in as the team’s offensive coordinator.

The hiring of Wickline, who came to WVU after being let go at Texas, could have signaled the beginning of the end for Galloway at WVU.

Galloway likely felt entitled to the position for his years of service, not only at WVU, but among the Division I coaching ranks.

Galloway was already the team’s associate head coach, so his responsibilities were right up there with the coordinators (Wickline and defensive coordinator Tony Gibson). His new contract indicated that West Virginia thought highly of Galloway, but it wasn’t totally in line with that of a full-blown promotion.

That’s what he’ll get at Louisville.

With the Cardinals, Galloway will be the co-offensive coordinator with Chris Klenakis.

Klenakis has nearly 30 years of experience in college coaching. When he was at Nevada, Klenakis produced a book and video set regarding the pistol offense.

He is a mastermind of the run game. Add that with Galloway’s track record of producing NFL talent, the Cardinals could quickly develop into one of the nation’s most versatile offenses.