I suppose one lasting impact will be two years of probation and the smudge that comes with another batch of rules infractions and penalties. Would you believe this was the school’s sixth major infractions case?  Only 11 Division I programs have had more major infractions cases — Arizona State, SMU, Auburn, Cal, Florida State, Memphis, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Wichita State and Wisconsin. From within the Big East, only Cincinnati has as many as five.

Elite company!

Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned about oversight and the cost involved with letting the clowns run the circus, so to speak. Reading the final report, it was pretty clear Rich Rodriguez was guilty of misinterpreting the rules and allowing rules to be broken under his command — and maybe facilitating that activity.

Bill Stewart was guilty of a rather simpleton offense. He said he just didn’t know what was deemed right and wrong and assumed that which preceded him was permissible because it was happening before he got there. All in all, it’s inexcusable given his position.

And the offenses transcend the coaches. Whatever the coach, whatever the case, someone somewhere should have been able to definitively say, “This is wrong. Stop.” That never happened at WVU. That’s why WVU is in trouble and made to deal with and even publish the negativity.

To me, though, the end here is about how WVU addressed itself in light of the problems and the solutions. The university’s self-imposed punishments were kind of harsh — the Mountaineers removed all that practice time even though the NCAA made no final mention of the secondary charge of exceeding practice time — but also appropriately harsh.

Had WVU submitted light punishments, that increases the likelihood the NCAA says, “Not-uh, you need to do more.” Only the NCAA doesn’t give you a second chance at the first response. If you check in under the expected self-imposition, the NCAA can go over the top with its mandate. That’s what’s so compelling about Ohio State’s case.

WVU removed that possibility with detail in discipline. The recruiting restrictions during the regular season and the offseason seem minor, but loom larger as WVU looks as though it takes this serious, from the top of the operation to the bottom.

And though this didn’t factor into the case or the NCAA’s consideration of it, the hiring of Alex Hammond is an extension of WVU’s compliance strategy, which, of course, evolved when Keli Cunningham was hired even with Patrick Hairston in his (expiring) position. What the Mountaineers are doing is already getting attention.

Finally West Virgina has hired a new employee with experience at the NCAA, law firms, and the US government. But instead of working for the compliance office, Alex Hammond will be working for the football team. Along with traditional recruiting organization functions, Hammond will also be the liaison to the compliance office and admissions. All of those functions have been performed in the football office before, but normally not by someone whose resume does not suggest a future coaching career.