A West Virginia University (WVU) assistant football coach once touted as the sport’s next big star has been arrested on a shocking strangulation charge, according to the state’s corrections website.
Noel Devine, 38, was booked in a Greenwood, West Virginia lockup on Sunday at 12:45pm and is now being held on $40,000 bail, according to online records.
The circumstances of the arrest have not been revealed. Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office spokespeople did not immediately respond to The Daily Mail’s request for further information and Devine does not currently have an attorney listed online.
In response to the arrest, WVU has put Devine on indefinite leave.
‘Upon receiving information of the arrest, I have immediately and indefinitely put Noel Devine on leave from the Mountaineer football coaching staff,’ WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez said in a statement. ‘Any future decision on his status will be determined after more information becomes available.’
A product of Florida‘s North Fort Myers High School, which produced NFL legend Deion Sanders years earlier, Devine was once among the top football recruits in the country. ESPN went so far as to label Devine football’s ‘next’ big talent at running back.
Noel Devine, 38, was booked on Sunday at 12:45pm according to online records
Forth Myers native Noel Devine enrolled at WVU as one of the top recruits in the country
In fact, Devine was nearly adopted by Sanders after losing both of his parents to AIDS – his father as a young child and his mother at 11 – and watching a friend get murdered at age 16.
Sanders had the permission of Devine’s grandmother to become his guardian, but another family who objected to the arrangement phoned 911 to report the legendary NFL cornerback for kidnapping.
‘I am calling for the possible abduction/kidnapping of one Noel Devine,’ the person told the 911 operator, as reported by ESPN in 2010. ‘The person who is kidnapping – and this is not a joke – is Deion Sanders, the one and only, famous Deion Sanders.’
By 17, Devine was already the father of two children, and while he never became the running back’s guardian, Sanders continued to mentor the young man.
‘He didn’t have any structure and he wasn’t used to it,’ Sanders told ESPN at the time.
Ultimately Devine’s raw skills were too much to ignore for Rodriguez, who was then in his first stint at WVU and about to take the Michigan Wolverines job.
But despite gaining 4,315 rushing yards over four seasons with the Mountaineers, Devine went unselected in the NFL Draft. And although he got invited to Philadelphia Eagles training camp, he would ultimately settle for a four-year career in the Canadian Football League.
Devine later returned to his alma mater in January of 2025 as the assistant running backs coach and offensive analyst.
The Mountaineers are currently 2-0 after easy wins over Coastal Carolina and Tennessee-Martin, but will face their first big test of the season on Saturday against No. 25 Virginia.
