The Friends of Coal once again sponsored the Marshall University “Paint the Capitol City Green” event in Charleston on August 18. The event featured new Head Coach Doc Holliday and his 2010 edition of the Thundering Herd football team as they prepare for the upcoming season.

More than 500 people attended the event at the Embassy Suites Hotel. West Virginia Association Senior Vice President Chris Hamilton spoke to the crowd and presented Holliday, Athletic Director Mike Hamrick and Marshall University President Steven Kopp with commemorative plaques for the upcoming Friends of Coal Bowl matchup September 10, between Holliday’s Herd and his former team, the West Virginia University Mountaineers.

West Virginia Coal Association Vice President Jason Bostic is the guest for the current episode of The Coal Seam, airing through the end of the month. The episode looks at the environmental and regulatory issues currently confronting the mining industry in Appalachia.

A new episode will be filmed next week to begin airing throughout September that will feature former West Virginia University and Marshall University head football coaches Don Nehlen and Bob Pruett.  Nehlen and Pruett will discuss the upcoming Friends of Coal Bowl and the outlook for the upcoming football season for both universities. The show will also feature clips of previous games and their roles as FOC spokesmen and the current challenges facing the state’s coal industry.

The Association and the Friends of Coal continued its outreach efforts this past week with a day at the West Virginia State Fair. Located next door to the West Virginia Building, the tent was staffed throughout the day on Friday, August 20 and saw a great deal of foot traffic. Visitors were provided license plates, stickers, information about the mining process and its role in the West Virginia economy and saw displays about surface mining, post-mine land use and the process of restoring the land. More than 200 people signed a petition to support coal mining in our state as new members of the Friends of Coal.

Former Mountaineer Football Coach Don Nehlen will visit with ICG Eastern’s families during their Annual Outing on Saturday near Summersville.  Last week, Coach Nehlen and Coach Pruett also participated in George Washington High School’s annual football fundraising dinner in Charleston and they will tape the upcoming version of our television interview program, The Coal Seam, on Tuesday.  They will also assist in the production of radio ads promoting the industry and the upcoming Friends of Coal Bowl.  Those ads will begin immediately running on MetroNews’ statewide radio network.

A new round of Friends of Coal radio and television ads are being created that will launch with the beginning of the fall football season. The radio ads will feature FOC spokesmen and former WVU and Marshall football coaches Don Nehlen and Bob Pruett. The initial ads will focus on the Friends of Coal Bowl.

Future ads will also focus on the six annual scholarships – three at each school – funded by the bowl. A new television ad(s) that will also be launched on the web is also being developed that will focus on the scholarships and the commitment the industry has to education.