(One of the last few reminders, I promise, to vote in and spread the word about our preseaosn Big East football poll.) 

Turns out Joe Alexander’s vocal chords were not injured during his pre-draft preparation and he can, in fact, still speak like nobody’s business.

True to his imperturbable nature, the process never intimidated him. Alexander quickly found comfort in realizing the schedule wasn’t all that different from the routine of the season. He’d travel, hit a hotel, practice, compete and repeat.

In truth, it was pretty easy.

“What is this, really? It’s nothing,” he said. “You’re playing basketball and people are watching. If you’re good, they tell you you’re good. If you suck, they tell you to go back to school.”

His gift of gab is no secret and it was fun while it lasted to cover him and fill a notebook for three years. If he was WVU’s go-to guy on the court, he was our go-to guy off the court.

No pressure, Dee Proby.

Let’s dive like Pete Rose into the Friday Feedback and cross our fingers that no one gets too exuberant about West Virginia’s 145th birthday and we don’t witness anything stupid. You know, like two players at the same position, one who doesn’t get another chance and one who needs to set a better example, hoping to punch one another in the face.

As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, errors can be costly. Oh, and just an FYI, Rich Rodriguez is not in my Morgantown office as I type this.

The 25314 said:

My question is: If Rich Rodriguez was in Charleston, who was guarding Hell?

And the standard is set…

Jake said:

I find Rich Rod being there very interesting. Mike, I’m sure you read his column on Tuesday, but Dave Hickman, in the last bullet of his column says this: “And finally, if Rodriguez can attend Garrison’s deposition in an apparent attempt to rattle the witness, who should WVU’s attorneys take with them to their sit-down with Rita Rodriguz on July 1? Taking suggestions.”

I don’t want to read into that too much, but it made me laugh out loud.

I think this whole thing should to immediate mediation, on live tv, with Jerry Springer as the Mediator.

I have to ask: Are you sure Dave Hickman reads this? Anyhow, yes, that was a fun little addition to the notebook. For the record, I can’t think of a scenario in which WVU would stoop to Rodriguez’s bullying ways when it has so clearly stayed out of the gutter from the beginning. Stick to the law, which should be intimidation enough. Plus, did Rita have a foil at WVU? And was that a cue to commence jokes? And do you have any doubt we’ll be exploring this again before her July 1 deposition?

Homer said:

11 runs and 1 screen pass.  

Ladies and gentlemen, the 12-play playbook, as described by Owen Schmitt.

glibglub said:

For seven-figure compensation, you get 6 reliable plays? At most?  

Imagine how limited the selection was before the contract was amended.

 thacker said:

…or you get ego that prevents ability to adapt. But hey, the university did get to generate all the press behind .00985 seconds worth of shredding of the remaining 10-2/3rds of the offensive plays.

For those who believe the shredding lasted longer, it was actually time spent unjamming the shredder. Cheap paper napkins clog those things rather quickly.

Oh, wow. Remember the shredding incident? Me neither.

Michael said:

Well, well, well.
This just confirms what many of us have been thinking about RRs offense for years. A friend and I would comment that Rich was a high tech Woody Hayes. His play calling was so conservative that it began to be hard to watch, especially after the consecutive USF loss last year.
I guess if you are successful with your offense, you do not change it. But the Pitt game was like” Groundhog Day”…. bubble screen, PW or JB read option & Slaton zone stretch…over and over and over.
The Wanstach puts nine in the box and Rich crosses his arms and bulls ahead w the same 3 plays “by god”.
He then has the temerity( read ego, insecurity) to crack on Stew for stating the obvious….that WVU needs to expand its passing attack in the future.!
Over the last 6 years or so, WVU has been living the law of unintended consequences: major schools bolt the conference & we get better; Beilien’s wife cannot find an acceptable Mo Town coffee klatch & we upgarde to Huggs; finally,Rich Rod blows Pitt then blows town & we upgrade to the Stew’s crew. I hope.

Hmm, never looked at it that way. Unintended consequences. Not bad. Of course, I never understood why Kathleen Beilein was ever a factor and I’m puzzled why she remains one. As far as I know, she had a key spot with the United Way campaign and never asked for special passes or accommodations. I think I spoke with her once in five years and that was at a church shortly before her husband left for Michigan. She never availed herself to the spotlight. Wait…where was I? … Play-calling sure seems like Rodriguez’s on-the-field legacy, though I’ll say he had his great moments to accompany some great failures. Let’s not forget that prior to Dec. 1, 2007, he was sliced bread.

JX said:

When the interview was over Owen got up, headbutted the interviewer then left the room by crashing through the wall and going home to eat a “steak” (what you and I and everybody else would call a full size live cow)

And, while we’re on the topic of Owen Schmitt…I heard a funny, but unsurprising, story about him the other day. Apparently one day, during mini-camp recently, they team was doing some light walk through type things. The players were wearing cleats (obviously), shorts, tshirts and helmets. Anyway, on one play Owen managed to hit somebody so hard it broke his facemask AND the other guys facemask as well.

I can’t confirm this…but I was told this by somebody I trust. So, take it for what it’s worth. That said; when you stop and consider who were’ talking about here would that story being true surprise you at ALL?

Yeah..me neither.  

I have nothing to add to that. Could I have e-mailed a Seahawks scribe and checked this out? Sure. But did I ever check with Owen to see if it was true that he’s the reason Waldo is hiding? No.

oklahoma mountaineer said:

The Decision Makers piece is noteworthy in a couple of ways: 1) great place for practice of RRod’s talking points — definitely has them committed to memory at this point, and 2) was it me, or did you get the feeling that he was trying to get a couple of ideas out for what the money could be used for — miner’s childrens scholarship, helping out with the continued growth of the program…..

Interesting.

After reading some transcripts, I refused to didn’t catch the show, despite some peripheral efforts to get me in front of a TV. However, I’ve heard that very point a few times which is, indeed, interesting. It’s not exactly waving a white flag, but can Betsy Ross be too far behind?

Mack said:

I know you don’t claim to be an expert on recruiting… but you do follow the football team presumably more than all of us. Has recruiting actually gotten better since Rodriguez left? The same? Worse? Still too early to tell?

What, you don’t envision me at the Fishbowl moderating a roundtable discussion on the merits of Phoebus High in Hampton, Va.? I’m hurt. I mean, I know PowerPoint! I have a laser pointer! I’m also very intrigued by what’s going on with recruiting because it does seem healthier. I was told yesterday that Rodriguez had six top 150 recruits in seven years and that WVU already has six committed to next year’s class alone. I’m not sure that’s entirely accurate, but it’s not inconceivable. Now some perspective: Rodriguez and his staff made marginal recruits very good players. In their early years here, they couldn’t recruit at a very high level. They dug deep, found good prospects and coached them up. Over time, they won some games and boasted some stars and then used that to recruit a few levels above where they were before. It’s cyclical and in his last two years, Rodriguez had two really, really good classes, though he tried to take one with him to Michigan. Not to diminish what Bill Stewart and his assistants have done thus far, which does seem pretty remarkable, but they’re benefiting from the success that preceded them. This is not to say the head coach and his assistants aren’t winners with great personalities, an eye for talent and good connections in fertile areas. They have all that, as well, and what’s happening in the Tidewater Region of Virginia with running backs/slot receivers coach Chris Beatty and in Florida with fullbacks/tight ends coach and director of recruiting Doc Holliday are pretty good examples. The thing to think about is what if this year builds on itself like the ones to precede it?

JP:

Here’s hoping we have a good season this year and don’t scare all these allegedly good recruits away with a berth to the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

Bingo. 

Karl said:

One thing I find interesting is how far apart Scout.com is with its main competitor, Rivals.com, on its ratings of some of WVU’s players. Heastie is #1 with Scout, but only in the 30s under the other ranking. So he’s either a can’t-miss prospect or an average good D-I school recruit. Same with Snook — he’s either #2 or in the 40s, although they have him at different positions.

It’s an entirely subjective process. There’s so much and so little information out there and it’s filled with variables — personal opinions, wanting to be different, relationships with players and coaches, quality of competition, interpretation of statistics, interested colleges and universities, so on and so forth. Remember that thing Mack said about me not being a recruiting expert? There’s a reason.

jmbwvu said:

Karl – The exact same thought entered my mind. I’m a rivals.com guy and when I saw Heastie at #1 I thought “didn’t I just see him in the 30’s on rivals.com” But whatever, if someone, anyone has a WVU recruit as the #1 player in the country at their position I’ll surely refer to him as that.

Anyone know the skinny on Kerns?? I haven’t heard anything for a while except for the perpetual “he’s working on his eligibility”.

Kerns is still working on said eligibility. Coaches expect new numbers soon. He’s got a shot but — and this is just me — the number of running backs WVU is recruiting raises an eyebrow. The last I heard was Kerns’ GPA was a little lower than expected and that he had to retake an ACT or SAT to get the score up a little bit and push the sliding scale in his favor. Didn’t sound too hard, but who knows that the real deal is? 

JP said:

Apparently Marcus Vick did not get the memo at Va Tech that although cars can outrun bicycle police, they cannot outrun radios.

Michael was lonely…

Erinn said:

Don’t worry … it seems customary at Mountaineer Field to replace the replay of a questionable call with an image of the Flying WV. It doesn’t matter how state-of-the-art equipment is or will be, people in the box don’t seem to want to show the replays that could incite a riot ended in pepper spray. Thank God for TiVo.

This would not happen in the Premier League.

Mack said:

Nothing will beat the 2000 opener when the announcers said, “Check out the brand new video board that cost a billion dollars!” and they cut to the video board which was not working yet.

I disagree. What if it happens in 2008? I talked to someone this week and said, “So construction is supposed to start and finish over the summer and not interfere with the season?” The reply: “That’s the plan (nervous laughter).”

And on that note, enjoy the weekend!