Why former West Virginia WR Grantis Bell is still grateful for Don Nehlen -

Former West Virginia receiver Grantis Bell recalls maturity distilling from infuriating moments, learning lessons from hard conversations, a college career closing with a touchdown catch against Notre Dame in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl. He paints the progression with reverence and respect for the coach who impacted him throughout the period — Don Nehlen.

“Having him as a coach was a blessing,” said Bell, now 53. “God puts people in our lives for a specific reason, and it’s up to us to figure out why they’re there. Coach Nehlen was there to invoke a lot of confidence and discipline. I’ll always respect what he’s about.”

Bell is a counselor at Pompano Beach (Fla.) High School, a profession that has suited him for 23 years, and Nehlen’s team-first approach remains an influence. It gave Bell a blueprint for galvanizing colleagues on campus, and for guiding two sons through football careers of their own. It also helped Bell work his way onto an SEC officiating crew, where he has served as a back judge for six seasons.

“All the things Coach Nehlen showed us, I still impart them into my job and my daily life,” he said. “Things had to be done the right way, and those that didn’t buy in weren’t there very long.

“When you’re 18 or 19 years old, you can’t figure out why he’s doing what he’s doing. But the older you got, the more you understood Coach Nehlen’s method.”

As a back judge, Grantis Bell still has memorable interactions with football coaches. (Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)

Bell was a sophomore flanker in 1986 when he endured his own run-in with Nehlen during a late-season game in Morgantown. Part of a receiver rotation that included John Talley, Harvey Smith and Calvin Phillips, Bell would take turns running the play call in to the huddle.

“I was getting ready to go run the play in and Coach Nehlen kinda stopped me, just pushed me back on the sideline and somebody else went in,” Bell said. “For whatever reason that just really pissed me off. For the rest of the game I’m pouting and I didn’t want to go back in. At halftime I wouldn’t even go get in the receivers’ meeting. I was just that pissed off.”

Nehlen told Bell afterward: “Sometimes we do things as adults and we don’t know how it affects you, but the way you handled that situation was not the right way.”

Although Bell made only 15 catches for 267 yards that season, he graded out consistently enough to warrant recognition during the team’s Mountaineer Club postseason banquet.

“Everybody wanted to be in the Mountaineer Club, where you go to the banquet and get your jacket or club pin or whatever,” he said. “But Coach Nehlen told me, ‘Sometimes you make decisions that are just not popular with me and you made one there. And because you did that, you don’t represent yourself as a true Mountaineer.’”

Bell left the football facilities building in a huff and hiked back to his apartment thinking, “How dare him!” Yet a moment that might’ve fractured the relationship ultimately endeared the player to Nehlen.

“I had busted my butt, and I thought that was something I had earned,” Bell said. “But I will never forget how that moment defined for me what it meant to be a part of the team. In that 30-minute conversation I matured tremendously, and it has always stuck with me.”

There’s room for another impactful coach in the telling of Bell’s recruitment from Fort Lauderdale to West Virginia in 1984.

Current Marshall head coach Doc Holliday was a first-year full-time assistant when the Mountaineers made an emphasis on finding athletes in Florida. His initial signing class included running back Undra Johnson, receivers Phillips and Robert White, linebacker Robert Pickett and defensive back Andrew Jones.

“When Doc came down here at first, everybody said, ‘West Virginia? What?’ But he didn’t lie to us and he didn’t tell us any stories. He didn’t make promises about playing early, or being All-American or going to the NFL,” Bell said. “He just said we were going to have a great opportunity, that we were going to bring something new to the table with our South Florida speed and the way we play football down here. Doc Holliday was the pipeline for us.”

Bell was proud to be among Holliday’s “first group of Florida kids,” but unlike the others, the 5-foot-9, 150-pounder came aboard as a walk-on.

“That only lasted about four or five days of preseason practice,” Bell said. “Coach Nehlen told me if things opened up he would give me a scholarship, and he kept his word.”

Most of the 1984 class redshirted, setting up an experienced roster that fortified the 1988 team during its historic 11-0 regular season.

In 1987, things weren’t so rosy though. A 6-6 record saw West Virginia lose games to Pitt, Penn State, Syracuse and Oklahoma State by a total of 15 points.

“We felt like we were right on the doorstep,” Bell said. “We looked around the room like, ‘Y’all know what? If we do this the right way, we can be pretty doggone good next year.’ (Quarterback) Major Harris was coming back, so were the receivers and the running backs. Something like 18 of the 22 starters were coming back.”

The only question was whether Nehlen would be back. Players knew he was being courted by Ohio State as the Mountaineers prepared to face Oklahoma State in the Sun Bowl on Christmas Day. After a 35-33 loss in El Paso, Texas, Bell recalled Nehlen informing the team that he was staying. (Ohio State announced John Cooper’s hiring six days later.)

The next year in training camp, when Bell was a fifth-year senior, he recalls “we had gotten to a comfort level where we could approach Coach Nehlen and speak our minds, sorta kinda.”

The receivers were in a position group meeting when Nehlen walked in. “We told him, ‘Yeah, Coach, we’re glad you didn’t go to Ohio State. But you knew we were going to be good and that’s why you didn’t go.’ And he said, ‘Maybe you’re right. But the important thing is I’m here now.’”

Bell has had the chance to tell West Virginia’s Don Nehlen (above) about the impact he made on him. (Courtesy of WVU Athletics)

Optimism abounded that 1988 could be special, though Bell admits, “we didn’t know just how special.” With Harris zooming to a top-five Heisman finish, West Virginia scored 41 rushing touchdowns and Bell was one of three regulars who averaged more than 20 yards per catch. That mixture of talent combined to average 44.8 points per game, still a school record three decades later.

That explosive output predated the spread offense, so Nehlen had the Mountaineers running 74 percent of the time. Phillips led the team with 24 catches while future second-round draft pick Reggie Rembert caught 23. Among Bell’s 15 receptions were three touchdowns, including a 60-yarder against Boston College.

“When we got to 4-0 and started climbing the rankings, that’s when you started feeling a different vibe around campus,” Bell said. “You’d walk into a classroom and instead of a professor starting the class with what we were going to work on, they’d talk about ‘Who are we playing this weekend?’ It was just amazing to see the pride people had in West Virginia football that year.”

Notre Dame ended West Virginia’s hopes of a national title by winning the Fiesta Bowl 34-21, though Bell owns one good memory from his final college game — beating future NFL Pro-Bowler Todd Lycht for a 17-yard touchdown.

“Too bad the TV cameras only show the catch — they don’t show the downfield move that I put on Todd to get open,” Bell said. “He was completely lost on that play.”

Bell spent a year on the Redskins’ developmental squad, before playing a season in the WLAF and two more in the Arena League. His son Myles, a defensive back, is a sophomore at UConn.

Having climbed the officiating ladder, Bell has worked the past two College Football Playoff semifinals, including Clemson-Notre Dame in 2018. It was there during warmups that he re-introduced himself to Lycht, who was then an Irish assistant.

“Todd said ‘Man, I know who you are! You got me good!’” Bell recalled. “But I told him ‘Y’all got us better at the end of the day.’”

After a stint in high school coaching, Bell was drawn toward officiating in 2008 when the NFL put on a clinic for former players. He learned there would be no shortcuts, spending two years working youth leagues before getting a crack at his first high school varsity game.

“You start from ground-level, and you’ve got to go through all the channels and work your way up, just like if you’re working for a company,” he said. “Officiating is not something you fall into. There’s definitely a training ground.”

Soon he got a chance to work Division II games in West Virginia, which in turn earned a recommendation to join the FCS Southland Conference. A year later, he became a supplemental official for the American Athletic Conference and the SEC, which meant working scrimmages at schools such as USF, UCF and Florida. The big break came when SEC officiating coordinator Steve Shaw scheduled Bell for a nonconference game at Alabama.

“It was nerve-wracking because some people told me Steve was coming and that he was coming to see me work,” Bell said. “But I knocked it out of the park — had a couple flags and was in good position.”

In the spring of 2014, Shaw called with an offer for Bell to join the SEC’s full-time rotation. In addition to those two Playoff assignments, Bell has worked New Year’s Six bowls on three occasions.

“Being a former player, I can see things coming and sort of picture what’s about to happen, but it’s also about how I prepare to officiate a game each week. My wife will tell you: I’m gonna spend 30 hours a week going over film, going over rules, going over mechanics — doing something that’s getting me ready. I have a day job as a counselor, but this is definitely my night job.”

Grantis Bell has paid his dues in the officiating ranks. (Harry Aaron / AAF / Getty Images)

More than a quarter-century since his last game as a player, Bell remains in playing shape thanks to working out six days a week.

“Lifting, running, sprint work, backpedal — you do it all,” he said. “You’re talking about being on the field for more than three hours, for 150 to 200 plays … and the last thing you want to think about is how tired you are.”

Among the guys keeping tabs on Bell’s officiating career are Holliday and Nehlen, now two decades into retirement at age 84.

“I’ve thanked them for giving me the opportunity and I’ve shared with them the impact they made on my life,” Bell said. “And they’ve always expressed how proud they are of my development as a man.

“It was tough being in Morgantown when I was from South Florida, but I wouldn’t change anything. If I had it to do over again I’m going to the same place, because it gave me an opportunity to grow by dealing with all the types of people.”

(Top photo: Courtesy of WVU Athletics)

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