Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which is installed in three sittings, but is always a finished product within 15 days. Not a lot happening this week, but it was subtly eventful. Linda Burdette-Good retired. Spring football is developing and sides of the ball are starting to take shape. Basketball recruiting is nearing the signing period and WVU picked up a new name. Two in-the-periphery stories got some shine this week and I feel like they’re going to come to light soon.

But enough of that. Plenty to cover, so onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, arm yourself properly. 

Josh24601 said:

Enough of the Mount Pleasant wink-nod affiliation and Elena Kagan non-expiry law degree stories; these tales are played out already. Can’t someone get Daron Roberts a Jimmy Johns sandwich and some Pitt film?

Josh24601 said:

Daron, the truck of life doesn’t need a rearview mirror, cause we ain’t a-goin backwards.

Josh24601 said:

I have to admit though, it’s impressive how Roberts used to sleep at Arrowhead Stadium to ensure that he’d arrive before Gunther Cunningham. There’s a man who never hits the snooze button!

Josh24601 said:

Does anyone know whether Mount Pleasant, Texas has enough oil to light up Mountaineer Field? Or at least gas up Roberts’s comp car?

And we’re off!

JL said:

The mean streets of…Manassas?

Mike, hit us with some knowledge. Is it really that bad? It’s never seemed too bad when I’ve been there, but maybe I just haven’t been to the right (or perhaps wrong) places.

It has some bad spots. Put it this way. When I was younger, we had a game: Byrd, Taney, Buckner. Those were the three streets in Georgetown South — Hogan’s neighborhood — that were perpendicular to a most-traveled road. We had to guess which of the three had a cop car. When we had our own cars, we’d drive through Georgetown South for thrills at night. Doors locked. Windows up. Not a lot of white picket fences. It wasn’t, and isn’t, the First or Second Battle of Manassas, though.

Vito said:

Stewart is a MORON. Is he really claiming that growing up in Manassas is what caused Hogans problems? I too grew up in NY, been to LA and Boston and for Stewart to compare them or even call Manassas as bad as I’ve seen shows the ignorance of him!

… and this is where I’ll stand up for where I’m from. It’s not nearly that bad. I enjoyed my time there. Still get excited to go back. June Huggins thinks my face gets flush when I get an hour or so away.

Dave said:

I’m not sure I connect where a person grew up with a DUI or multiple decisions a kid makes. I guess I just don’t follow “yeah, I know it’s wrong but you have to think about where I’m from …” when it comes to these things.

On a side note, it really makes me wonder … wasn’t he the one who missed the game against UNC for “personal issues” and everyone thought it was due to illness?

Everyone thought it was due to illness or everyone was told it was due to illness? Two different things there.

Casto said:

You guys have never seen Mike’s “Thug Life” tattoo?

You ever seen me walk a sidewalk at night? No you have not. Middle of the street, my man. Hard to sneak up on you if it takes a running start from the shadows.

jtmountaineer said:

Ask John Wayne Bobbitt how dangerous Monassis is.

True.

montanaEER said:

Ask Union Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell how mean Manassas is.

Historically true.

JP said:

This appears to be a case of one legal problem causing another. Hogan will probably come out of this relatively unscathed but if the pattern doesn’t change, things are only going to get worse. Match the mountains Brandon!

Relatively unscathed should include the original charge now, though. Can’t agree to enter a deferral program under the condtion your license is suspended and then get pinched for driving on a suspended license. … But watch it happen. I heard Hogan was very popular among the legal people that day.

jtmountaineer said:

Also off topic, and maybe Mike’s working on a post/article on this for later, but what of Gary Browne, point guard #2 of the 7 incoming recruits?

I wrote about it. I just didn’t post it. Philosophy, I guess. And I didn’t speak with him or his coach, despite my efforts. Long story short, he’s from Puerto Rico and has been playing at a prep powerhouse in Jacksonville. He cleared all of WVU’s compliance censors and has a lot of experience to his name. Nice little prospect. One of seven, yes, but I think you’re going to see an eighth and probably someone big. Phillip Jurick is supposed to visit soon and there are a few other names out there for a reason — Dave Bruce and Ryan Rhoomes are two I’ve heard.

Bill said:

Why does the game need to be a non-home court for WVU? Just because the first game is in Wichita versus K-State? As if the Civic Center won’t be a home court advantage anyway!?!? I’m in the dark here.

Doesn’t have to, but it will be a non-home court. To play it at the Coliseum would enrage KSU. Just standard contract stuff. If one team plays at a seconrady site, the other team will return the favor. Doesn’t have to be the CCC, either. I just suspect it will. Huggins likes to play two there every year and those games aren’t easy to get. Also, this doesn’t necessarily have to be the following year, though I suspect that will be the case, too. I suppose the biggest question is if Frank Martin will be the coach or if he’ll get his game against Huggins as the Miami coach next season. 

oklahoma mountaineer said:

Will WVU get tickets to sell for this or will we have to buy through KState if we want to go……..???? Any insight would be appreciated.

Yeah, I wasn’t clear on that. I’d imagine WVU will make them available. Let me check on that for you.

Mooresville Jeff said:

Maybe he just said it for affect, but the last quote from Coach Stew concerns me. “Do I stick with the lesson plan or do I deviate from the subject to get to the means?”

Neither. You let Coach Holgs call the shots on offense.

Stood out to me, too, but I think we can assume Stewart can object to moving on if he believes there are issues being left behind. Does anyone listen? We don’t know that.

MontanaEER said:

M-Jeff, same reaction here. Does Stew really even have a say so here? I mean, after 6 spring ball practices, does he step in and tell Holgerson, “Sorry, son, but you had your chance, and this ain’t working.” Eh, no. Seems an impotent comment.

He wasn’t inferring he’d shut down the installation and go in another direction. He simply wants to make sure the first two weeks were good enough to justify moving forward. Remember, those last two weeks/six practices feature two scirmmages, which are not practices in practical sense. There’s no installlation/revisiting there. It’s live.

Bill said:

Mooresville – I had the same exact reaction. I think its kinda sad that Stew really thinks he’s going to make any changes on offense, or even try to coach the offense differently to get to the desired result. He needs to step back, and give the new offensive staff enough time to do their jobs. They’ve proven they know what they are doing…..he has not.

I see that, but perhaps in your view it’s good to see he’s active in this and not a bystander. I think some people assumed he’d just show up and collect paychecks.

The Artist Formerly Known As EER96:

I’d like to thank Coach Burdette for bringing in Kristin Quackenbush…man she was hot!

It’s the little things.

KMS said:

Kristen Quackenbush was a big name on campus when I was there. I don’t recall her “hotness”, but she was one heckuva gymnast.

I think Mary Lou spends most of her time in Fairmont now. Maybe she’s looking for a job?

Interesting name. That would be a yurchenko hire.

WVManiac said:

Mike,

How about the Head Coach at Michigan? While many of you may not know her she is a WVU Alumnus and performed? under Linda Burdette.

The reason for me wanting her for the WVU program is not her ties but her winning record. She really turned Michigan around and I think was close or won a National Championship.

Can’t see it happening because Bev Plocki is so well-situated in Ann Arbor. She’s a helluva coach, though. And honestly, what type of street cred would Luck have if he pulled a Michigan coach to WVU? I’d be stunned if there wasn’t a conversation at some point.

The Artist Formerly Known as EER 96 said:

Hey, how about Quinton playing a little round ball? I’m sure Huggs could introduce him to the treadmill!

Actually, Q was a really good player in high school.

Dave said:

Having your own circumference at 400# has its advantages.

What’s a ref going to call if you have your own gravitional pull?

Ah, a sportscenter highlight for a striped one to trump the “giving him the business” call …

“Holding … Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation #67 on the offense … 10 yards from the spot of the foul. Repeat second down.”

Well done. You get the “He was giving him the business” reset … the original version!

overtheSEC said:

I read the first two paragraphs of the excerpt and knew it was a Hertzel article even before mousing over the link to confirm it was a Times article. What do I win?

Pop-up ads and disturbingly loud music in an embedded ad!

KMS said:

Thank you. Thank you very much.

I will bask in my 15 minutes of blog fame. If only I had played my bracket in a pool with a considerable payout (sigh).

We’ll let it go a little longer. After all, I’m angry I didn’t name the post “KMS One.” Bad job by me. Maybe we’ll have a prize next year. We can step into a world like that.

Karl said:

I actually picked UConn in my work bracket and still lost the pool to a guy who didn’t pick a single correct Final Four participant. In fact, mine was one of only two out of 24 brackets to have a single FF team right. Madness indeed.

Indeed. Loved the tournament — always do — and I had a real hard time watching the final. Hate to blame Butler, but I find it harder to believe the credit given to UConn’s defense.

jtmountaineer said:

Didn’t stay up to watch the game, but did Sir Charles Barkley have any parting words for the national champion Big East Huskies?

He did. Congratulatory, even.

Karl said:

I like Charles, but I would like to point out to him and all of the Big East haters that our ninth place team just won the national championship and our 11th place team reached the round of 16. Exactly who would they have cut from our 11 bids?

Pitt? Notre Dame? Good point. I didn’t see Barkley in the parts that offended Big East fans, but wasn’t he kind of right about it? The conference did, to a measurable degree, underperform. I know UConn got it done and, in the end, validated a lot, but some of the teams had bad showings. I did catch the halftime part in the Kentucky game, but wasn’t he right there, too? The Wildcats were too athletic for WVU and WVU couldn’t keep it up if it kept allowing Kentucky to shoot the high percentage. I think he nailed that. I guess I thought he was great. He was pretty open about not knowing a lot about he college game as it is, but he also seemed like a fan of all he was witneessing, too. It seemed, to me, he had a lot of fun. I like that because far too often you see grizzled vets who have no emotion. I want more of that Gus Johnson dynamic.

Jeff in Akron said:

Casteel has been through this before, the defense managed to get a top ten rating in 2007. I believe P-Rod would still be the coach at Mchigan if Casteel had followed him there. To me, the defense has as much talent this year as at any other time since Casteel became coach, its just young.

I know everyone thinks that this offense is going to throw the ball, and they are. But, if the offense runs 90 plays a game and throw it 55 (a high number even for a Holgorsen offense) of those plays, that still leaves 35 runs. The record for pass attempts in a season is 419 by Bulger in 98. 50 passes for 12 games equals 600 attempts, that is a lot of passes.

The goal on rushing downs is to average over 4 yards per run, that equals 140 yards rushing per game and 1680 yards for the season. With the size of the offensive line averaging around 6′4″, 300lbs, those numbers could go up in a hurry.

Look, I am not a Nehlen throwback, WVU will certainly be excitng to watch and Geno should re-write the passing yardage record next year for WVU. Still, the running backs are going to get the ball with room to run. There is depth at the running back position, one of them will get an opportunity to rush for 1,000+ yards. If Casteel recognizes the potential problem for his defense, you can bet that Holgorsen does too and has an answer.

I’m with you on all of that — I don’t know about the talent yet, but they’ve recruited really well that past few years — and I hope people get I was just presenting a topic Jeff Casteel was willing and able to address. I have, obviously, no idea how it’s going to turn out, but I think it’s going to be very interesting to watch. I also want to point to your last sentence. Holgorsen isn’t a dummy. He isn’t going to be reckless or leave his defense hanging. That’s where I think we’ll get a good look at this dynamic: How does one side help the other?

Parks said:

With it being opening weekend, isn’t this game one that ESPN could actually use for a Friday night/ Sunday night marketing and be better than say Western Kentucky vs. Louisville (just an example of the sort of game I envision that’s lined up right now) or some other game like that they have on the list too? That’s not a slam on any team, just a “rivalry” game to kick off the season opposed to FCS vs BCS seems like a good idea for them to use. There’s no way it’s the Thursday night season-opening game, though, right?

No, no chance.

Sam said:

I don’t understand why WVU can’t suck it up, offer the game to Marshall in perpetuity with two home games for every one away game, and play it as the season opener. If Marshall refuses that offer end the series and take the hit politically. Somebody somewhere has to man up on this.

Perpetuity is a bit long, but I think that’s the general gist of what’s been happening. WVU won’t do 1-for-1. Marshall, I think, struggles to understand and/or accept the problem WVU can/will have in the future with TCU and perhaps Villanova in the Big East. The Herd also won’t drop the ECU argument.

Jeff in Akron said:

Sam, for what its worth I agree with you. “IF” the game is going to be played, 2 for 1 it should be. Plus, as an opening day game each year it might draw some interest from the networks, at least regionally. That would add revenue for both schools, and WVU wouldn’t have to take it on the chin financially when they travel to Huntington. Luck is constantly searching for increased revenue sources, the only way for Marshall to stay on the schedule is if they become one.

Marshall’s stadium has a capacity of 38,000, ECU has a capacity of 50,000. Should Marshall work on that, and draw even with ECU’s attendance numbers Luck may rethink the 2 for 1 idea. Put bluntly, if Marshall wants to play with the big dogs, they need a stadium to do it in. Along with the associated infrastucture.

I’ve been suggesting WVU v. MU as the season-opener — or nothing else — for two years. Feels like the only way WVU fans care, and if the game is at Marshall, that matters.

ffejboc said:

Does Millard actually have a legitimate shot to unseat Geno, or is this just Spring football hyperbole?

He’s not beating out Geno.

Karl said:

Sounds like a bunch of Millarchy.

That, too.

Bill said:

Um, is anyone else surprised that you can take part of a class on a cell phone to get into college? I understand that smart phones have internet and all….but still.

Somewhat, yes, but I wonder what class it was. Introduction to Bubble Breaker?

glibglub said:

Kids have been phoning it in since before the rotary dial was considered high tech.

Rings true to me.

Parks said:

Hell, E.T. phoned it in, and that was what 82?

Enjoy the weekend!