Published: December 05, 2007 11:31 pm      

WVU kicker McAfee receiving death threats

The father of star WVU place kicker Pat McAfee says his son is getting death threats and has had his house and car vandalized.

The usually reliable McAfee missed two short field goals in WVU’s monumental upset loss to Pitt Saturday night in Morgantown.

Tim McAfee told the Daily Mail today that someone posted on his son’s Facebook profile that “McAfee must die.”

McAfee, who lives in Plum, Pa., near Pittsburgh, said his son didn’t want to call attention to the vandalism or threats.

“Pat wanted to just let it go and forget about it,” McAfee said. “But when Pat told me about those threats I couldn’t let it go.”

“I said, ‘You know what, this is ridiculous. It’s got to stop somewhere.”

McAfee first went public about the harassment of his son in an e-mail to the MetroNews Sportsline talk show. The e-mail was discussed at length by callers and hosts Greg Hunter and Travis Jones Tuesday night.

“This is the type of behavior you would see from rabid soccer fans in Europe,” McAfee wrote.

The loss to Pitt erased WVU’s chances at playing in the BCS National Championship in New Orleans next month. The Mountaineers will instead challenge the fourth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., Jan. 2.

“The McAfee family has received support from the TRUE Mountaineer fan,” McAfee said in his e-mail. “We have received countless phone calls and e-mails expressing support for Pat at this tough time.

“Pat has not. He has received actual death threats and people telling him they wished he was dead. E-mails, text messages and other ridiculous behavior. His house and car have been vandalized. Groups of ‘fans’ have stood outside his house chanting negative things. Things have been said to his girlfriend. I am asking that this be stopped.”

McAfee said in the e-mail that Pat was embarrassed about the missed kicks, which would have put WVU up by 10 points by halftime.

“Saturday was a hard day for the players and fans of WVU football and will be remembered that way for a long time,” McAfee wrote. “But the fans need to realize that these are kids who don’t get paid and only try to do their best every opportunity they get.”

He said Pat was broken-hearted about his performance.

“He is in the position he is in from hard work, blood, sweat and now a lot of tears,” McAfee wrote. “I know that a kicker is only worth his last kick, but he has done great things at WVU. I am not saying this as a proud parent, but as someone who has objectively criticized and pushed him all his life to be the best he can be at whatever he does.”

McAfee said there are other venues to vent frustrations with college athletes other than to take them to the source.

“At no time in Pat’s sports life did he say, ‘I want to go out and mess up today,’” McAfee wrote. “I would love to be able to get in front of thousands, no millions, of people and screw up.”

He added, “In the future I pray that the REAL FANS get what they want: a National Championship. But it is not happening this year. We have an opportunity to win a Fiesta Bowl and position the team for great things next year. But if the fans want to make it unbearable for Pat to stay here, that’s up to them.”

The e-mail was posted on the WVSports.com and BlueGoldNews.com message boards and drew responses showing overwhelming support for the 20-year-old junior kicker. There already was an “Official Lynch Pat McAfee Haters Thread” on the BlueGoldNews board.

Some people posting messages at that site were asking that names of those people allegedly harassing McAfee should be revealed so those people can face charges.

Tim McAfee said he’s not necessarily pressing for charges.

“I just want it to end,” he said. “I’m sure it’s a very limited number of people (who are doing this). I just want people to know that they should not be able to do that.”