Despite the fact that the 2009 West Virginia Mountaineer football season has just four games remaining and almost assuredly is bound for a bowl game, there is one theme that seems to linger among the fanbase, one that might have been expected to have dissipated by now: seemingly constant evaluation, and often disapproval, of the job being done by head coach Bill Stewart.

Though Stewart is 16-6 at WVU, including two bowl victories, the first being a Tostitos Fiesta Bowl thumping of Oklahoma, many feel his team is taking a backseat to Big East teams such as Cincinnati, Pitt and South Florida. UC beat WVU last year in Morgantown and is the clear favorite to win the league this year, Pitt has beaten WVU two years in a row and is firing on all cylinders this season, and USF has won three of the last four meetings with the 'Eers.

“I’m a guy that doesn’t believe in finger pointing,” Stewart said, then pointed his thumbs up towards his chest. “I’m a guy that believes in thumb pointing -- it all starts with me.

“Nobody is going to tell Bill Stewart and his football team, we’re right where we should be!” Stewart exclaimed. “The march is on.”

Clearly, there is reason for concern, if you are a WVU fan. But that concern need not be confused with mass hysteria or panic.

“We have a good system,” said freshman backup quarterback Geno Smith, who will likely take over at quarterback next season. “Everyone is just learning. Coaches are learning. Players are learning. Everyone is trying to learn and progress as much as we can.”

What Smith spoke about is understandable. When Rich Rodriguez left his head coaching duties at WVU in 2007 to take the same job at Michigan, Stewart stepped in, making his mark on the program in ways far different than the Rodriguez regime.

Fifth-year senior quarterback Jarrett Brown admitted WVU is still going through some growing pains, but said the team has bought into what Stewart and his staff are selling.

“We’re all in. We have no choice but to be all in,” Brown said. “You got to believe in what we’re doing. We got to put all of our trust into the coaches because if we don’t, we’ll second guess ourselves. That’s not the way you want to go out on the field.”

Fifth-year senior linebacker Reed Williams, who like Brown has seen a revolving door of coaches come and go within the program recently, believes the team has faith in the new staff, as well as the new scheme.

“Absolutely,” Williams said. “I think coach Stew has put more pressure on his players. Instead of it being more top-down managed, I think it’s more bottom-up.”

Stewart explained, “They trust. They better trust me. They better trust the coaches.”

Continuing, Williams explained, “What we really concentrate on as seniors, is having a big role on this team. It’s something that he really stresses. He puts it in your hands to see what you can do with it.”

Looking closely at the staff’s situation, just two coaches, defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel and defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich, stayed behind in Morgantown instead of heading to Michigan with Rodriguez. In came assistants Doc Holliday, Steve Dunlap, Dave Johnson and David Lockwood, all returning to their alma mater, all with different philosophies compared to their predecessors. Joining the veteran coaches were three younger, offensive minds in coordinator Jeff Mullen, Chris Beatty and Lonnie Galloway.

The defense retained the same scheme, but Mullen brought with him a more balanced version of the spread offense, one that elects to go to the air much more often than what Rodriguez dialed up. In trying to find a new identity, the WVU offense sputtered at times last year, averaging 24.5 points a game, compared to 39.6, posted during the previous season. This season, WVU has upped it’s scoring average to 29.8 points.

Progress can be a slow process.

“Once everything gels and everybody is on the same page and we have that team chemistry, it could be dynamic. ,” said Smith. “The amount of time that coach Mullen puts in and all of his staff puts in, they really come up with good game plans week in week out.”

But of the occasional struggles on offense, some of which partly cost WVU six losses since Stewart took over and handed the offense over to Mullen, Smith said, “It ultimately boils down to us just executing on the field. It’s basically about the players putting up points. You could draw up any kind of play, but you’ve got a guy there that’s going to go up and get the ball, who is going to go out there and outrun someone, just make a play in all.

“That’s really what wins games.”

Looking at the current personnel in place, much of the offense is still made up of Rodriguez’ recruits. It’s not to say players such as star running back Noel Devine, Brown and shifty slot back Jock Sanders can’t flourish in Mullen’s offense. They have, at times, and will continue to do so.

Devine is No. 2 in the Big East in rushing yards per game, Brown is No. 2 in the conference in total offensive yards a game and Sanders ranks No. 2 among league leaders in receptions per game.

“I think as an offense, we’re putting up pretty good numbers,“ said Smith. “We’re really meeting a lot of goals, it’s just unfortunately, we haven’t got the victories that we’d like to.”

Stewart said, “I don’t like guys that waste talent. My fuse with them is very short.”

But to properly execute a balanced offense that legitimately has viable options in the passing game, relevant personnel has to be in place. It’s no secret that the main job of receivers in year’s past was to run-block for speedy running backs and quarterbacks.

Notably, that system worked quite well -- WVU annually finished among the nation’s top 10, if not top five teams in terms of rushing offense. But currently, WVU has scaled back to the No. 31-ranked rushing offense.

Save Tavon Austin, who is the lone Stewart recruit getting significant reps at receiver, the receivers of yesteryear’s offense make up the majority of the unit, at this point.

It’s not to say WVU does not own talented players at many positions, receiver included.

“I think we got great guys in place right now. Jock is one hell of a receiver. [Alric] Arnett is a scary receiver himself,” Smith said. “Wes [Lyons] is a mismatch in his own way. Bradley [Starks] is probably one of the fastest receivers in the nation.”

However, the Mountaineers’ passing offense currently ranks No. 53 in the NCAA, which is a marked improvement from year‘s past when it finished in the 100s, but it‘s still hardly an eye-opening stat. Arnett leads all WVU receivers in touchdown catches, but that total is just three.

“I think our offense hasn’t reached it’s full potential yet,” Smith said.

Brown said, “There’s always room for improvement. You can’t always be content where you are.”

How can WVU improve, you ask? That may be the million dollar question right now.

Here are a pair of possible solutions:

Effort and attitude seem to be in the right place, including among younger players such as Smith, who will be counted on to carry the team in the near future. “We’re definitely buying in. We listen to coach Stew and we believe in what he says and we’ve bought into his system,” said Smith. “He says, ‘Give a little extra.’ We all try to give a little more and get these last couple of wins.”

Of course, top-notch recruiting may also serve as the remedy.

Addressing the way corner back Keith Tandy struggled in containing South Florida receiver Carlton Mitchell in last week’s road loss, Stewart said, “Does that mean we need to recruit bigger, faster, stronger guys? That’s up to you to decide.”

Williams said, “I think what Doc Holliday and Chris Beatty and what some of the other guys are doing recruiting wise is amazing. I see guys, talent walking through this hallway, that was never there before.”

Like Williams, Smith sees an influx of talent that will soon be bound for Morgantown. To him, that alone will shape the future state of the program. 

“However they are recruiting or whatever their tactics are, whatever comes into place, I’m pretty sure our coaching staff is going to work with them and be successful,” said Smith. “Next year, there is going to be a lot of competition going on at a lot of spots. Everything is going to be up in the air. That’s really going to determine how good this team is going to be.”