West Virginia native, WVU alum Sean Merinar living out dream in Mountaineer athletic department

Sean Merinar isn't a name that most WVU sports fans know, but he plays an integral role in the fan experience of the collective Mountaineer Nation.

Merinar current serves as the Assistant Director of Athletics Video Production, an occupation which sees him handle gameday video board activities for every WVU program, as well as game day footage for select road contests. He also films and edits feature pieces on the WVU football team.

But before Merinar occupied this important but often unrecognized role, he was just a young kid from Sand Hill, W.Va, a small unincorporated community in Marshall County. He is a third-generation WVU alumni, attending the school in the footsteps of his grandfather, uncles, and sister. And for most of his life, he has been a WVU fan himself.

"I can remember being here in the Coliseum, probably 8 or 9 years old, for Family Day," Merinar said in a recent sit-down interview. "My pap would bring me and my sister down, and i always say, I remember them playing 'Hit The Road Jack.' And that's part of the reason why I do music for games."

Merinar attended WVU during one of the best eras of success in school history for the football and men's basketball programs, further entrenching him in his fandom.

"I'm really, really lucky too, when I was a student here, it's widely considered the golden age," he said. "Pat White was my quarterback, Steve Slaton was my running back."

He can even recall watching a current coworker, WVU football Director of Player Personnel Rasheed Marshall, as he achieved numerous Mountaineer milestones as a quarterback for the school in the early-mid 2000s.

"When I go to football and I ework with Rasheed now...I watched him throw the quick slant to beat Maryland for the first time in like six game as a sophomore, and now i get to work with that guy," he said. "Like, I'm a fat, dump truck sophomore in the stands crying my eyes out, and now I work with Rasheed. It's insane."

When he took the job with the school, he claims he had no experience running in-venue gameday operations, but with time and repetition he has picked it up and now knows how to deliver a unique gameday experience.

"Obviously I've been to a lot of games, and I knew what I liked and I didn't like," he said. "Over 15 years I've had to learn how to do it on the fly."

Merinar claims he still gets emotional at times working what is essentially a dream gig, and that is is clearly something that has become a very important of his life.

"There's something to be said about what it means to me, I guess," he said.