It's Time to Retire Pat White's Number

No. 5 should never be worn again at West Virginia.

Christopher Gooley-USA TODAY Sports

Pat White checked a ton of boxes during his career at West Virginia. He won a bunch of games, led the Mountaineers to a pair of BCS wins over Georgia and Oklahoma, and set numerous records. He was also named the Big East Offensive Player of the Year in 2006 and 2007. The one box he didn't check? Being named an All-American.

Somehow, someway, one of the nation's top quarterbacks at the time never reached All-American status and because of that, he is ineligible for the College Football Hall of Fame. Pretty wanky, don't you think? To make matter's worse, it's also the reason West Virginia has not retired the No. 5 jersey...yet.

The current criteria is that the student-athlete must have an undergraduate degree from WVU, must be elected into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame, played the maximum number of years allowed by the NCAA, and be selected as a consensus All-American, two-time First Team All-American, or MVP of a national championship team.

The criteria is outdated, especially now that we are moving into this whole new era of college athletics. A higher percentage of a team's roster is made up of transfers and many are leaving early for the NFL Draft compared to just a handful of players doing it years ago. Pat White, like Major Harris, put West Virginia football on the map and is arguably the best player to ever don the Old Gold and Blue.

WVU needs to revisit the criteria and do the right thing - retire No. 5.

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