By Mickey Furfari
MORGANTOWN — Paul Woodside thinks Tyler Bitancurt, West Virginia’s redshirt freshman kicker, is going to be a smashing success.
He should be qualified to know. Woodside was WVU’s first placekicker to earn All-America first-team honors from 1981-84.
What’s more, he coached Bitancurt for three years at West Springfield High School in Virginia.
“He was an outstanding player in soccer and he was a good learner for football,” said Woodside, who has been coaching young kickers for nearly 20 years. “Tyler is phenomenal.
“I think he’s the best kicker I’ve seen come out of high school. He’s going to be special at WVU.”
Even more so than Woodside was at the same stage?
“Hands down!” the 46-year-old Falls Church, Va., native replied. “Not even close!”
Bitancurt commented last week, “That’s really an honor coming from coach Woodside. He is the best coach I have ever had.”
Asked whether he influenced the youngster’s decision to enroll at WVU, Woodside said:
“Let’s put it this way, I suggested that he go up there. I told him the timing couldn’t be better. Pat McAfee was a senior, and he could take over as placekicker after working out with him for a year.
“Now he has four full years to be a Mountaineer.”
Bitancurt is off to an impressive start. He made all five field goals he attempted in the team’s first three games. Those were from 45, 38, 32, 31 and 28.
He also has made 11 of 12 extra point tries. He takes full blame for the lone miss against Auburn.
“I just hit it to the left,” Bitancurt explained.
“That was a wake-up call for me. I need to stay focused on everything, even extra points.
“I was braced to make my first field goal and also my first extra point.”
Woodside, who played one year in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs, said he doesn’t want to put pressure on his prized pupil. But he believes the youngster is capable of booting field goals as far as 55 yards. His longest in high school competition was 52 yards.
Woodside’s longest field goal at WVU was 55 yards for a record which still stands. That came against Louisville in 1984. He also made a 53-yarder against Syracuse.
For his college career, Woodside made 74 of 93 field goal tries (79.6 percent) and 101 of 103 PATs.
His 327 points were the most by a kicker at WVU until McAfee broke the record with 384 points. That tops all scorers.
Woodside is in the WVU Sports Hall of Fame. He’s also on the all-time team for the period of 1980-89.
He and wife Theresa reside in the Washington area.
