Remember when nearly 14 months ago Director of Athletics Ed Pastilong mapped out his retirement? It was thought then the two most important words in the deal were “Mike Garrison.”

Pastilong, 65, and WVU President Mike Garrison had been talking about the new deal “for several months,” Pastilong said. “We finally got a little down time here to work on things.”

It wasn’t much of a secret WVU was angling for some sort of a culture change at the top of the athletic department and some reasoned for quite some time Craig Walker was the heir up until his alleged entanglement with Heather Bresch. Remember, Pastilong was just kind of there for some big events in the athletic deparment.

Well, Garrison is gone, Walker is no longer an option and things are OK at WVU. In recent months we have, of course, heard some whispers change might not be afoot with the aforementioned no longer in the mix. Get ready to hear a lot more of this now that WVU has a new president. 

MetroNews asked Pastilong if he’d talk about the possibility with new WVU President Jim Clements. “I love West Virginia University and if there’s anything I can do to help our new president and our athletic department in particular and the university and state, I’m certainly willing to have those discussions with him,” Pastilong said.