Two of the three new West Virginia football staff members named today by head coach Bill Stewart have deep West Virginia ties.

Steve Dunlap, a Hurricane, W.Va., native who was a former Mountaineers player and longtime Don Nehlen assistant, was named assistant head coach and safeties coach. He was defensive coordinator last year at Marshall after a long career that included stints at Syracuse, Navy and North Carolina State. He spent 17 years under Nehlen at West Virginia, once becoming a finalist for the Broyles assistant's award as a defensive coordinator. Calvin Magee, who had been the assistant head coach, and Bruce Tall, who had coached safeties, followed previous Mountaineers coach Rich Rodriguez to Michigan.

David Lockwood, a Media, Pa., native and former Mountaineers defensive back, was named secondary coach, replacing Tony Gibson, who left with Rodriguez. Lockwood was a four-year letterman as a defensive back and member of the undefeated 1988 Mountaineers that lost in the Fiesta Bowl to Notre Dame. He coached defensive backs last year at Kentucky after previously working at Delaware and James Madison in Division I-AA along with Memphis, Minnesota, Notre Dame and West Virginia (2000).

Going outside what Stewart called "the Mountaineer family," he also hired former Northern Illinois assistant and longtime Virginia high school coach Chris Beatty to coach running backs and slot receivers in Magee's place at West Virginia. However, Stewart added, Beatty's precise role is subject to change: "Right now . . . that's my thinking. That's where we are at this point."

That was key to what Stewart didn't announce today: the completion of a staff with candidates in flux.

Reports in West Virginia media had head-coach candidate Doc Holliday -- another former Mountaineers player and assistant -- coming from Florida to fulfill the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator duties, though that hiring has hit a snag. Onetime Pitt assistant Charlie Taafe also was in talks with Stewart, but media reports about his candidacy reportedly caused his employers to ensure he will remain head coach of the Canadian Football League's Hamilton Tiger-Cats, with whom he is under contract through 2009.

"Regarding other people, we're still in conversation with many great coaches throughout America," Stewart said in an afternoon conference call in which he took no questions. "There's all these names leaking out. There have been so many names coming out I would like to rein everything in. The cart's getting way ahead of the horse. Way ahead of the horse. We're taking our time. I'd rather go wiser rather than sooner."

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