Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which has completely exhausted the urge to write any more basketball and will instead focus on American Legion baseball … and WVIAC football … and, of course, WVU football.

Finally, right?

It more or less gets started Monday with Big East Media Day in Newport, R.I. That’ll be a big day here, but only because I won’t be in Newport. I’ll try to gobble up what I can and deliver it to you whilst hoping Jarrett Brown doesn’t accuse Craig Turnbull of being bolshephobic. (I lied — I really hope that happens.)

JB and Reed Williams will accompany Oll Stewart and they’ll be as interested as anyone else to see the preseason poll. My best guess? South Florida, WVU, Cincinnati, Pitt, UConn, Rutgers, Louisville and Syracuse. I think 1-2-3 will be fairly close. I wouldn’t be surprised whatsoever to see WVU at the top or in third, to see Cincinnati between Nos. 2 and 5 or Pitt between Nos. 3 and 6. I’d be more surprised if Syracuse wasn’t No. 8 than I would be if USF wasn’t No. 1. Then again, it’s the silly season, so we we can’t put much value into anything just yet.

Fall camp begins Friday when players report and the first of 14 practices (seven open, six closed, one scrimmage) comes a day later. Obviously, Fridays and Saturdays aren’t the most convenient days for the Daily Mail, but the blog never sleeps. It waits. We’ll make use of this space on those days — as well as the others — because it worked pretty well last year, right? 

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, play by the rules or face the consequences.

Alli said:

Here’s something confusing: I heard Heather Bresch was named the new President of Mylan today. 

So glad you mentioned this. I couldn’t find a reason to include it in the blog, but I just can’t ignore this. I won’t. I’m not often floored, but when I heard this Wednesday, I was floored. I mean, literally floored. Someone told me the news at the Puskar Center and I said, “Wouldn’t that be funny!” That person looked at me and said, “Funny? No, no, that’s the truth. It really happened.” Next thing I knew a paramedic was hovering above me, shining a flashlight in my eyes and asking me if I knew where I was. “Oz?” I said. Once I gathered myself, I felt compelled to call Jim Clements to see if Mike Garrison would be the new provost.

Michael said:

Mike- I know I am an OB not an OG but this new format sucks! It looks like an eight grader smoked some weed and did his first PowerPoint presentation.
I know we are in a post literate, manga influenced, graphically dense, content light, adhd era; but you cannot even read a sentence without getting astigmatism.
What, five colors on one page? Jaysus, it looks like a cut and paster’s wet dream. I ‘ll bet if you keep this format that several readers will develop petit mal syndrome… and they won’t even have to read a DM op-ed piece to induce one.  

My bad, didn’t mean to include that. Moving on…

Birch said:

So we’ve dropped from #4 to #6 in the party school rankings? Somehow Oll Stewart will get blamed for this.  

Not fair … but I’ll give it a shot. The rankings are led by football schools and WVU’s football program had a bit of a dip last year, as did it’s party school ranking. It’s fact. Of the top 10, all the schools have a reputable football programs except No. 10 UC-Santa Barbara and No. 4 Ohio U. Then again, Ohio U had quite an effect on its football coach.

Karl said:

For the good of college football, Kiffin needs to fail. I don’t find his shtick funny or cool at all. This guy is a walking sack of bad examples for students.

But the SEC needs a villain… By the way, I’m not sure what disappointed me more: The coverage of Tim Tebow’s Ungodly Snub or the fact it wasn’t The Puppy who omitted Southpaw Jesus.

overtheSEC said:

The QB situation in Knoxville is getting more and more desperate each day. I can only stand about 10 minutes of sports talk radio here (and I change the dial whenever they start taking calls) but most of the radio hosts are second guessing the way they handled Boyd, especially when they didn’t have Plan B immediately lined up. I think they have zero chance with Brunetti. Normally you get your QB committs to help you recruit WRs, not WR committs to help you recruit QBs. Desperate times etc etc
And an “Amen” from here in the Bible Belt to Karl

I’d put it above zero percent, but not by much. Jim Laise, over at WVSports.com, caught up with Brunetti the other day. I won’t spoil it, but Ambles’ pledge was more or less dismissed. That said, I can’t shake this feeling there’s something kids will like about Kiffin. Who knows? Again, this guy’s got my attention, which is probably part of the plan.

Casto said:

Meh. If Lane Kiffin didn’t want Tajh Boyd, why would he want Brunetti?

I follow you, but because he didn’t want Boyd — and has been questioned about it ever since — might mean he wants Brunetti. Don’t underestimate the in-state factor and Brunetti really, really likes UT.

Latin Hillbilly said:

the parallels between the TBA and the Barry Brunetti Affair are just a little unsettling. next thing we know, ambles might bust out a tshirt with his and barry’s face on it. and let’s be honest: vol fans are crazy delusional. certifiable. the t-shirt, the vol fan posturing, and Kiffin’s eventual billboard in Memphis “apologizing” for neglecting the homegrown talent could be an issue.

but im not worried. i have more faith in Barry than Tajh . . . for no reasonable reason whatsoever.

Wait, that BBA? Easy now. It’s a long season. I’ll allow this similarity: What WVU does on the field will matter an awful lot to Brunetti. And I’ll repeat this: WVU better keep Jeremy Johnson on the line, just in case.

Casto said:

Ahh, how I remember those wonderful days, Mike. From 1996-2001, I believe I lived through the absolute peak of WVU partying (and so did you, not to quibble…). I had a friend from PSU email me today about them being number one, how WVU sucked, blah blah blah. My only retort was this: “Congrats, you did it for a year. Now do it for two decades straight and we’ll talk. Otherwise, you’re just clown shoes. A novelty to be noted and dismissed.”

Clown shoes! Yes! Would we agree Penn State is a controversial pick? Is it part of Joe Pa’s swan song? 

Karl said:

Look — No ranking of any scientific merit can seriously put State College, Pa., ahead of Morgantown. Maybe “Best Place to Get Arrested Quietly Drinking a Beer at a Friend’s House.” Whatever. Let them deal with it. This is one of those “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown” situations, where you can be proud of it, but it causes its share of headaches.

I was at school around the same time Mr. Casazza was, and I agree with his “zenith” assessment. I’m sure some things have changed — that was the trend as I was finishing up at WVU — but I have faith Morgantown is still holding its own. We don’t need the Princeton Review to validate us.  

Fear not. Somewhere, the Hardcore Four gathers in its latest reincarnation.  

Country Roads said:

Mike,
Any insight on how this might affect WVU’s chances with Matt Elam and Gerald Christian? I read somewhere that Clark will bring his teammates with him on an official visit, but do we realistically have a shot at landing either of them, especially with Elam committed to Florida?  

It’s interesting, to say the least. Robert Clark’s held in high regard — more on that in a bit — and WVU was pumping fists over his decision to pick WVU for that reason and a few others, namely Dwyer High teammates Elam and Christian. They’re held in higher regard than Clark, especially Elam. If it’s true Clark will bring teammates, figure Elam and Christian will be on that trip. WVU is hot after Elam and probably wouldn’t turn away Christian. WVU feels if it can get a kid on campus, they have a legitimate shot at getting a commitment. That’s always the biggest piece of the recruiting puzzle. Elam’s an interesting case, too. Yes, he’s committed to Florida, but with a self-assigned asterisk. He says a coach at a school recruiting him assured him Urban Meyer won’t be with the Gators next season. That’s given Elam cause for pause.

oklahoma mountaineer said:

Is this kid viewed as a difference maker? Scouts has him as a non-rated player (40 on ESPN)?

Just curious…..  

Fast, physical and at a talent-thick position in a talent-thick area. I’ll defer the rest of my opinion to this man … 

Pretty Boy D said:

Rivals nd SCout Dont Rank Right All The Time. Shut Down Corner. Shut Down Rantavious Wooten to 0 catches, Chris Dunkley to 2 catches for 97 yds. which happen because the safety blitz , nd Orson Charles to 3 catches for 27 yds. All which are top Division 1 recruits.

There you have it. 

Bill said:

I don’t understand why it takes these schools so long to get their act together and publish test scores and grades. I hope either Big Foot or his parents or someone is calling that school every single day to harass them. After all, he is trying to get into college and play football and they are holding up this entire process. Of course, he didn’t do himself any favors not getting his act together sooner.  

I find that highly intriguing, too … basically because I can’t believe that’s the common practice. I’m still told he’ll be here and report Friday.

Alli said:

Yes, let’s blame the media for the hype. Wasn’t it Stewart who bragged about how amazing Finau was? Isn’t he the one who got us all excited in the first place? All the media has done is report what they’ve been told by the athletic department, and that changes every 6 months (or a couple weeks). This means one of two things: the athletic department is clueless, Or, Finau hasn’t been completely honest about his status from the beginning. I’m believe the later. So who is to blame for the hype? I think the man himself might have something to do with it.

It’s a really weird and chaotic situation, huh? I think you could argue he perhaps hasn’t been as straight-up as needed, but I also think he’s been largely absent from the process. That’s either innocent or conspicuous. The athletic department has been on top of this lately, but, yes, maybe because it wasn’t before. I guess my point is the entire thing has been dizzying and, per my opinion, not entirely aided by a media that’s somewhat obsessed with this status. That story, by the way, was the first one I’ve written on the topic. I’m more proud of that than my 237 stories on Joe Alexander.

Bill said:

RE: Finau: I’ll believe it when I see it. LOL.

Question – when did this mysterious player last play football?

That’s the dirty little secret here. He hasn’t played since the 2008 season. He completely sat out last year. I’m wondering if, how or when this guy will be able to contribute this season — and don’t believe for a second he’s redshirting. That’s a gamble not worth taking.

rekterx said:

I suppose then, that Huggs knows where he can get this money?

The thing about this whole project is that there has been no lack of coverage stating the fact that millions of dollars are needed. But no one has stepped up and forked over the money. Maybe fund raising hasn’t been as aggressive as Huggs wants. But this project has not been hid in a corner.

Right you are, sir. Omar Minaya might think I was angling for a job in the basketball office. I spoke to a few people this week who are informed. Two things I thought were interesting came up in conversation. First, there’s a belief this can be done cheaper, but Huggins believes, and perhaps rightfully so, that if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing spectacularly (ie, hall of fame to be included). Second, there’s another belief we’ll never see this thing built because the response where it matters has been so so-so.

roopoo said:

I still say West ends up paying for a large portion of the facility.  

I can say with firm certainty that will not happen.

Mack said:

On some level, shouldn’t it make people happy that an organization is having a tough time raising $26 million for a basketball practice facility?

I believe that level is called Division III.

Josh24601 said:

Circumspect is no condition for a college sports fan, Mack.

Excellent use of circumspect.

Bryan said:

Is Long the only player from the recently signed recruiting class that didn’t qualify? If so, that has to be some kind of record (the good kind) for WVU. It seems in the past at least five or six guys each year would not make it because of academic issues.  

Long and a junior college receiver, Terence Moore, didn’t make the grades. OK, two receivers and WVU could use a few of them, but that’s a really, really low/good number. Oll Stewart: Character, not characters.

oklahoma mountaineer said:

Mike,

Is the rumor on his “re-opening” his recruitment accurate based on what you are hearing?

Yep, but that’s natural. If you’re rooting for him to get here — he’s regarded as one of the best receiver prospects to come out of D.C. in many, many years –you can feel good about a few things: WVU has a great relationship with Hargrave; he didn’t go to a juco; he didn’t go to another college that would have admitted him as a non-qualifier; he’s working to get here in January rather than just taking a year off. That said, he’s out there now and anyone can make a run at him.

One Stew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest said:

Does anyone else here think that “8.5 wins,” whatever the hell that means, is an extremely disappointing year? I know we lost the services of Mr. White and are thus “reloading” but the thought of winning 9 games does not excite me in the least (now keg stands in the Pit, that gets me fired up), but the thought of losing to Cincinnati/Rutgers/South Florida makes me throw up a little in my mouth.  

Depends who you ask. I like Toronto.

Mack said:

Scooter Berry is about to begin his junior season. I think we deserve a blog post on how this is possible, considering he was recruited along with Jason Gwaltney back in 2004.

What a story Scooter Berry’s career is, really. We forget he was basically a throw-in with Gwaltney, his half-brother. He came as a fullback, but basically a buffer and someone who’d make Gwaltney feel more at home. Whoops. He ended up enrolling as a greyshirt in January 2006 and redshirting the 2006 season. Now he’s one of the best at what he does. You’re right, I need to delve into this.

ffejbboc said:

Mike, sorry but “West Wing” just doesn’t get it done. This is a no-brainer. The new steakhouse establishment should be called “The Logo.” Period. End of story.

Two months ago, I’d agree, but we’ve recently learned he doesn’t particularly care for “The Logo” as a nickname. I’m going to devote more time, space and energy to this one, as well. Maybe right after I figure out who’d want to date-rape Frank Solich.

thacker said:

A steak house just ain’t goin’ to satiate the ‘beast’ nor will 18 thousand holes of a game that is best suited for clubs made by Remington or Winchester.

I have to admit, I felt a little bad for thacker when I saw the news of the steakhouse. It pretty much ends whatever dreams he and others fostered for West one day being the WVU A.D. Between this and his golf tournament and other philanthropic deeds, he just doesn’t have the time. Then again, this is West and this is West Virginia. The two are tied together.

John Radcliff said:

I think last year was an example of how bad things can happen when you change and entire coaching staff, lose key players, and still expect a shot at the national title. I’m not pointing the finger, because I’m as guilty as anyone else.

In reflection, Mullen handled himself better than I or anyone I know could. I’m hopeful, but my expectations have been taken down a notch. It’s not a bad thing. The big wins are a lot more fun when you don’t “know” they are going to happen.

Well said. Right now, the best thing about year two is it’s not year one. There’s promise and potential in that thought alone.

oklahoma mountaineer said:

The problem really boiled down to the same as the Product’s in Michigan….you desire to change the offense and you are going to take your lumps when you do it, period. And, I guess, you’re honeymoon period is the time to do it, because at that point, you’ve established what you do recruiting-wise, and you have played the transition card.

That said, we had a veteran O-line with demonstrated competence in run-blocking and the best spread-option quarterback in NCAA history. Even with the change, and a couple of better breaks, we are talking 11-12 wins.

I think this year, although a transition year, should be better. Senior QB who has been on the field, tested defense, and 3/5 of the O-Line with playing time over the last couple of years.

Teams with our talent level don’t rebuild, they reload….the peg on the board for this year may not be top 10, but there are no 5-7 win seasons that are acceptable either.

That said, with a couple of breaks, we could be looking at 10+ wins too.

Well, I’ll pick on one thing there. Stewart and company weren’t ushering in culture change like P-Rod was in Ann Arbor. WVU had the parts but didn’t have the plan.  This year you’ll probably see a better match, which is natural. The biggest break for WVU this season could be a weak conference.

Karl said:

I can’t let these guys off the hook for what happened last year. Bottom line, I feel like we were sold some fugazy goods.

The whole reason for retaining Bill Stewart, as I undesrstood it, was to preserve some continuity within a program that was firing on all cylinders. We lost the coach who built this amazing scoring machine, but we were keeping around a guy who still new how to operate it. The reason — we had a team built to win titles, now.

Bill Stewart bolstered that expectation. All preseason, he talked about how the offense was fundamentally the same, we were just going to pass some more. Mullen himself once said something like “It’s still going to be Pat White’s offense.” When you hear things like that, then this record-breaking offense can’t score a TD against East Carolina, you’ve got a right to be angry.

When was it ever said we were scrapping the WVU offense and installing a whole new system in its place? If rebuilding the program was the goal, would you really have felt comfortable hiring Bill Stewart to do that? No knock on him, but he had one awful stint as a head coach in the FCS. A program as established as ours should have gone with a proven program builder, and then maybe we could cut them some slack for the players’ learning curve.

So now it’s Bill Stewart, like it or not. I think the evidence points to this being the start of a decline in WVU football. What I’ve seen to date is a head coach and coordinator who are not capable of consistently beating teams with markedly less talented players than theirs.

The bright side, as J. Radcliff said above, is it’s sometimes fun going into seasons with low expectations and being pleasantly surprised. The UNC bowl game gave us some cause for hope. I like Bill Stewart, I’m just not sold on him as the leader of a top notch program. I hope I’m wrong.

I’ve spent some time recently think about this and looking back on what I wrote and I really thought Stewart was the right guy because of that continuity. The goal is to win and win big, so why not work with what you have and the guy who knows what you have best? I think we can agree that, when combined with the collective talent, experience and chemistry of the team and coaching staff, the continuity just didn’t hit. This is the last “continuity” season, which makes it a pretty important one. It could be the decline. It could be the ascent back toward where WVU once was — and not too long ago — with these new classes and younger kids ready to pick up and take off again.

pazzo said:

Karl,

I understand the criticism, but you gotta remember that this “amazing scoring machine” scored 7 points against a crappy Pitt team in what should’ve been a ticket to the Championship game, but instead was Rod’s last game and the beginning of a chaotic offseason. And that was WITH Owen, Reynaud, and Slaton. That amazing offense needed to be tweaked. People were starting to catch on (like S. Florida two years in a row) and if Rod had realized that before the Pitt game, he might have just won a championship for his alma mater.

The need to tweak and stay ahead of the teams catching up was mentioned a lot last season — and WVU did beat USF, which had had WVU’s number the previous few years. It’s a process that had to begin sometime. I see the value in doing that and I really believe it was overlooked in the past, like the notorious example mentioned above. So things changed. The results weren’t ideal. I suppose you could say it just didn’t work very well for WVU last seaosn, one that still ended with a 9-4 record, a bowl win and a heck of a lot of momentum headed into the offseason. I don’t know what else to say without quoting Lion King.

Mack said:

Rodriguez didn’t even adapt his pregame speech… you thought he was going to adapt his offense?

Enjoy the weekend!