Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which must hurry today or risk going over the 37.5 hours I’m allowed to work in one week.

We’ll be heavy on the NCAA’s special delivery and for that I kind of apologize. There’s some stuff I’ll leave out — you handled the scholarship numbers debate quite nicely — because this NCAA thing is too big and too complex to merely flip through today.

No need for an introduction today. I think everything I think and know can be wedged into the replies to the very smart and very appropriate comments regarding the case.

I will offer four observations. Two might to increase your heartbeat and two might slow it:

1) When did Rodriguez begin closed practices? Prior to the 2005 season.
2) If someone is thought to have done something that merits an accusation from the NCAA and that someone’s job no longer exists, but that someone remains employed by the university, what kind of dirt might that someone have?
3) You’re not going to lose past wins or future television appearances.
4) You’re now a more qualified candidate for the SEC.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, file the appropriate paperwork.

Foul Shot said:

This all just makes us look bad.
Since this all happened on Asbestos Ed’s watch, can he be let go from the emeritus position which is paying that ridiculous salary for doing absolutely nothing?
Also, about the comments regarding Stew, if he was doing wrong, I think he should be cleared out too.
I like Stew and I like his values that he speaks of, but practice what I preach and not what I do just won’t cut it. Especially if WVU goes on some sort of probation.
I agree, I dont see how WVU compares to a USC regarding a probation, but just the thought of us not being clean really bothers me. I guess I would have to have my head in the sand though to think we would be totally clean.

A lot of people were thrown from high horses. WVU could always punctuate a conversation with a rival like, say, Marshall by saying, “Well, at least we do it the right way.” That changes now, no matter how widespread this sort of behavior is today. It does make WVU look bad — not SMU or USC bad, but still bad — and that’s never happened with football here. Let’s give Stewart and Pastilong a look. First, Pastilong wasn’t asked to appear at the infractions hearing, which I thought was strange. Not because I feel he’s guilty, but because he was the AD during the years in question. The NCAA requested the former compliance director appear, so why not Ed? There’s a very serious allegation compliance was making a fuss over the football staff breaking rules and the fuss went uncured. Someone in charge decided to overlook that, right? And it’s the athletic department, and not the institution, that’s charged with a failure to monitor. It’s almost always the institution. As for Stewart, he’s hurt the most, I believe, because everything he says and does in his daily walk contradicts what is said and done by a cheater. I don’t think he’s a cheater, but he’s accused of allowing rules to be broken on his watch. There are clauses in both contracts that say both can be fired for running afoul of the NCAA, but I highly doubt that happens.

Birch said:

You never want to see the words “Major” and “Violation” side by side. You also never want to read ‘Failure to promote…” Then factor in the fact that the NCAA has decided it wants to start flexing it’s muscles (see: Carroll, Pete) then it really starts getting scary. Someone raise the bat signal for Mr. Flaherty.

Said this before, but when the NCAA finds something like this and knows it’s common, it makes an example.

SheikYbuti said:

Ugh. The investigation appears to include the same type of serious “failure to monitor” allegations that, if proven, are thought to be problematic for the football program at UM. The allegations unfortunately also comprise a substantial period of time following P-Rod’s departure. Suddenly, UM’s upcoming appearance before the Committee on Infractions, that school’s proposed sanctions, and the NCAA’s willingness to accept the self-imposed remedy as adequate are all of intense interest around these parts.

I am afraid that this will not be over quickly. You will not enjoy this. I am not your king.

The big sting has to be that WVU and its coach are accused of the very things UM and its coach are accused of. That said, UM’s infractions hearing a week from today will only slightly preview WVU’s infractions hearing. UM/P-Rod are accused of the more serious offenses regarding egregious over-practicing. What hurts for The Product is he can be given a show-cause penalty next week and if he’s found guilty again when WVU faces the music then he’s a repeat offender. Timing is everything.

Alli said:

Okay, so here’s my question: what CAN you do in the winter, spring, and summer? What are graduate assistants and noncoaching staff allowed to do, and what are they not allowed to do? When are you allowed to tape yourself practice and then review that tape?

I know this: I don’t know … and it’s not my six-figure responsibility to know. 

roopoo said:

It’s true the allegations are similar and they slap the lack of compliance, but they seem to do that with everything. Rod had issues in more than one place, while ours seems to solely revolve around GA’s involvement. We submitted we exceeded football activity time ONCE and that was by 1 hour 15 minutes one week in 2006, whereas Rod had exceeded the limits by 65 hours in ONE year. I guess my point is that if you are trying to prove lack of institutional control, I would say it would be an easier sell at Michigan rather than at WVU because the violations at Michigan were more numerous and blatant.

There’s some sense to that and obviously P-Rod and UM are in it much deeper. Then again, WVU didn’t do anything to address the compliance concerns and the problems are alleged to have happened with two different coaches, which is more of a structural issue than an individual one. 

SheikYbuti said:

And let me be the first to introduce an unpleasant, yet inevitable topic. Why would such a shaky, rules-skirting practice have continued long after the former coach was clad in maize and blue? I’m afraid that the most likely answer is that the new coach, ingrained with a career assistant mindset, negligently failed to conduct the necessary top-to-bottom review of the program upon regime change, accorded too high of a priority to effecting a smooth transition, and was perhaps too insecure to quickly place his own imprimatur upon the program.

Well, I might not use the same language, but I think there’s something to all of that. It’s possible Stewart and some other people just didn’t know. Remember when this all began with the Detroit Free Press story last year, Pastilong and the new compliance head said they looked into things and found no wrongdoing. Well, assume they were being honest — as opposed to just saying what they were supposed to say at that point. It’s possible they thought this was all legal … which then gets to a larger athletic department/institutional failure to monitor. And in defense of not just Stewart, but of all coaches, I talked to a college basketball coach last night and he said the rules manual is 400-something pages long … and the test they have to take every year is on two chapters.

Wayne said:

The one thing that concerned me from Sportsline tonght was Hunter’s statement that the top compliance position at WVU was left unfilled for several months during this period.

Good for Hunter. Has to be said. This is about more than one or two coaches. 

Wayne said:

Mike,
Was the top spot in compliance vacant from Cox’s exit in ‘08 till Hairston’s appointment last summer? 

That’d be Chad Wall, who was a graduate assistant running the department for almost a year.

Homer said:

It’s not true that they “cannot” take questions. It’s that they “will not.”

Michigan’s coach and AD didn’t have an issue commenting yesterday.

Birch said:

Are we still on probation from the soccer mess a few years ago? If so, does that cover the entire athletic department or just the soccer program? If we are on probo, then Holy Huggins, grab your ankles fellas.

The previous blog post titled “This will probably anger you” seems pretty fitting right now.

The NCAA wrote to Jim Clements and said his school was a “possible repeat violator,” which refers to the 2007 case against the soccer program. If WVU finds conditions that contributed to that case are still in place today, then, yeah, watch out when the reaction comes. The NCAA doesn’t like when you break rules. The NCAA really, really doesn’t like when it yells at you and you don’t listen. You can’t ignore, or fail to learn from, a probation period.

Alli said:

Right now, I just can’t figure out how big of a deal this is. Are we in serious trouble of losing wins and bowls because of this? I can’t help but wonder if this is a case of the NCAA not clearly defining their rules regarding offseason practices. Could this be one of those gray areas both coaches thought was acceptable? You could argue that Stewart just didn’t know any better (which is a crappy, troubling excuse), but if this was cheating, don’t you think the assistant coaches would have said something to Stewart? Some of these guys have decades of experience at major programs. I think this is a case of the program trying to work around a rule and thinking this was a legitimate way to do it.

As for Dodds blog, I don’t see how the NCAA can legally prevent a team from fulfilling a television contract.

Sheik, at first I was going to disagree with you about whether Michigan’s case has any effect on ours. I thought these allegations could hurt their case, but I couldn’t see how the allegations at UM could hurt us. Now, however, I agree with you. If the NCAA finds that Rodriguez “failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance” at Michigan, wouldn’t it be pretty hard to prove he didn’t do that here?

I find a lot of logic in what you say, but I have some issues, too. One, we can’t say that a coach — any coach at any school — wouldn’t cheat. We don’t know that. And if they’re looking for ways to work around rules, which is creating and maximizing an exception, isn’t that, in essence, cheating? Yes, it’s possible neither coach thought it was inherently bad. It’s also possible they did know. Same goes for the assistants and all the other underlings. As for the “big deal” component, it all depends on to what degree you value rules, ethics and adhering to instructions, no matter how ambiguous they may be. And I wouldn’t worry about vacating past wins or future postseason/television appearances. 

roopoo said:

One thing to note, the NCAA has never leveled post season bans and televsion bans to a school that didn’t have ineligible athletes, so Dodd should actually do his job and be a journalist instead of spouting off that WVU is in HUGE trouble. Where was he when the allegations were levied at Michigan? Which included exceeding practice time by 65 hours in one year and a staff member that openly lied during the investigation. The big question here is of misuse and overuse of staff and if anyone knew it was wrong. It would probably interest everyone to know the same investigation is occuring at ECU right now too. This is happening everywhere, WVU, seemingly as usual, was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Bingo. I wouldn’t worry too much about that stuff. The things the NCAA asked for are fairly common requests. The penalties, I was told, are most likely to be probation and a reduction in practice time and/or the number of coaches allowed to participate.

Dave said:

How interesting could the allegations get? What if it is found, believed or advertised that WVU cannot provide the NCAA with some of the requested documentation and it is announced that it was possibly shredded?

Would WVU call on RR to the hearing with the NCAA since he was involved (as he has to do with UM)?

What about the perception that a guy could land two D1A programs on probation simultaneously and still have a job?

I don’t know about the first two, but I know the last would be simply amazing.

Karl said:

Guess Stew’s 16-20 scholarship limit per year is going to work out just fine.

I see you working.

glibglub said:

I was just glad that Ollie got to the end of his statement without pulling a Dakich.

I know he knew about this NCAA “issue” when he was hired, but I honestly have no clue if he has signed a contract yet. Wouldn’t that be something? 

the 25314 said:

I’ve always contended that The Product got more out his players than Stew. Turns out he’s just a better cheater.

On a side note, in some twisted way it pleases me that the week The Product is accused of over-practicing is the week of the collosal #3 vs. #5 Louisville game.

Obviously, Scott Kozlowski was not involved in the 75 superfluous minutes. Because it was all his fault, remember?

SheikYbuti said:

Mike speaks to us, like the chorus to the verse; chop another line like a coda with a curse. And we come on like a freak show takes the stage.

I give you the games you play …

 The 25314 said:

Alabama rode their Heisman-winning running back on offense and wasn’t concerned about spreading the ball to a Sophomore slumping Julio Jones. WVU would score more points if it was comitted to the running game instead of trying to find touches for Tyler Urban and Bradley Starks.

Stewart’s declaration ignores the fact that not only did WVU score more points before he took over, they ran the ball more – conservative football. Stewart is making a name for himself as talking out both sides of his mouth. (i.e. “We’re going to use the hole field. Throw vertically. Give our QB audible powers. Open up the passing game. Be aggressive.” And then after poor performances say that we need to be a ball control team and rely on the defense.)

He has no true identity. He’s conservative when he should be aggressive (Jock on a dive out of the ACE on 3rd and 9 at Cin) and aggressive when he should be conservative (throwing the ball around against Auburn and FSU).

Can’t bicker with that at all … but if he has no identity, is that not an identity?
/ducks brick thrown at head

Mack said:

“What they’ve hired me to do is win football games. ”

Correct. Anything less than 10 wins (which counts a loss to LSU and one Big East loss) is a huge disappointment this season.

I don’t care what Stewart’s gameplan is, he’s just not a smart man.

Stewart’s set the bar pretty high this year and people aren’t going to forget those words. Either they’ll get there and Stewart has the “I told you” card to play … or they don’t and everyone reminds Stewart. I like his verve though.

JJ said:

I loved watching the spread offense as perfected by White and Slaton. Sometimes I catch myself watching Chip Kelly’s Oregon team and get nostalgic for those days. But WVU has different players now and a different offensive philosophy. And I’m O.K. with that. But if they are going to change, they need to figure out who they have and how to best use them. Rod caught lightning when Bednarik was injured. But once he caught it he recognized what he caught and ran with it. Sometimes I worry that Stew might not always be able to recognize what he has. If by “conservative” Stew means unable or unwilling to make smart in-game adjustments then I will be sorely disappointed. Maybe in-game adjustments are really difficult to implement at the college level. To me this ability is the difference between good coaches and great coaches. I doubt that Stew is in charge of the adjustments, but he is the head coach, so, fair or not, the buck stops with him. I look forward to this season because I think Stew does have a plan, and while it may not be spectacular, I think it is a robust plan. If Stew can continue to win 9 or 10 games a year it makes me sound spoiled to complain about that. But I guess that’s what Pat White and Steve Slaton will do to you.

Jimmys and Joes over Xs and Os, right? I used to think coaches coached Monday through Friday and played Saturday. I’m not as convinced. Systems are no longer as convincing or superior as they once were and both you and Stewart combined to explain why.

Jeff in Akron said:

In the past, to stop WVU, all you had to do was stop number 5. As I look at the team this year, there is the potential for more diversity. If teams simply shut down number 7, WVU still has weapons to win the game.

As I blogged earlier, this may be the first season in a number of years that WVU enters with the defense being the strengh of the team. The 2007 defense was good, but they were not the strength of the team.

Nehlen tried to grind a game out, and pull out a win. P-Rod simply wanted to outscore people and turn the scoreboard into a pinball machine. Neither won a national title at WVU.

The promised land, for WVU, lies somewhere in between.

Devil’s advocate: How do you win if, hypothetically speaking, Devine is out for three games? Do you feel that good about his backup (quick: Name the backup!) or the passing game? Not ridiculing, just wondering.

Spatial Angel said:

ESPN Insider is reporting that Stew has banned shovel passes and bubble screens.
(sigh) another dry dream

Sorry.

The Artist Formerly Known as EER96 said:

Spatial Angel:

For your sake, I hope the fisrt play from scrimmage this year is not a bubble screen or a shovel pass. However, the smart *ss in me thinks it would be comical if Mullen runs a bubble screen on the first play just to get the crowd going.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see Geno throw a deep ball right off the git?

Wouldn’t it be nice if Geno threw a bubble screen to Jock, who was behind the line, and then Jock flipped a shovel pass to Noe,l who was “blocking” on the play before he leaked out behind the pursuing defense? Or would your head explode?

glibglub said:

So the president gets railroaded into hiring a coach, and the compliance office can’t get results when it points out rules violations? It all certainly makes WVU look institutionally weak.

Timing is everything … or did I say that already?

Drew said:

It’s not just the method by which Stew was hired, or the the method by which he appeared to have been hired.

He was head coach for what, 2-3 weeks? Before that it was a trainwreck at VMI where he was asked to resign. If we had lost that game there is no chance he would have been hired.

Why would you allow such a small period of time to decide the future of the program? How does an interrim coach getting one win mean he’s competent to control the entire program? How could it possibly be clear how much win he was truly responsible for?

I don’t think he deserved to be hired because he wasn’t qualified. He would not have even been a candidate had the previous coach not left before the bowl game and needed an interrim coach.

3am hire or not, it was borderline crazy to hire someone with his resume.

Drew, you’re needed in a hospitality suite ASAP.

JP said:

BTW, Fred Pickett is booted from Marshall’s team. Anyone still mad he didn’t go to WVU?

I know someone who isn’t — I’ll stop.

notruB said:

The pizza delivery men in Morgantown aren’t upset that Pickett didn’t go to WVU.

You’re welcome.

Jeff in Akron said:

So, I guess that means that we don’t have to listen to an Oll Stew analogy about Sands, Hogan, etc. being WVU’s version of Pickett’s fence. I was actually looking forward to that one.

I’m actually upset Pickett’s high school coach didn’t follow news of the dismissal by saying Pickett rushed into his decision to take part in the alleged wrongdoing and wanted to take it back.

overtheSEC said:

If there was ever a smoking gun for our inferiority complex as a fanbase, it was the day we collectively and unintentionally picked our most hated rival–and the team responsible for handing us the most devastating loss in school history–to finish first in the conference.

… and then there was Thursday.

Josh24601 said:

Just a tremendous caboose on that poll. Tremendous.

Enjoy the weekend!