Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which is this close to self-reporting my work schedule to — what’s that? We’re not unionized? Never mind then …

The rather ridiculous NCAA received a self-report from WVU earlier this month when, after a standard review, the WVU compliance department discovered the football team had mistakenly, as opposed to brazenly or stupidly, violated NCAA bylaw 17.1.6.5.

That little rule covers athletically related activities in the offseason and, specifically, states student-athletes must have two calendar days off per week. WVU gave its players 58 1/2 consecutive hours off twice in February — ending a workout at 6:30 a.m. on a Friday and beginning a workout at 4 p.m. Sunday. Surely you know 58 1/2 hours is greater than the sum of two days, but WVU’s only “calendar” day off was Saturday.

So WVU compliance caught it after it happened, rather than before it happened, and then told the NCAA. WVU punished itself by taking four calendar days off in two subsequent weeks before the start of spring practice, which observes the 2-for-1 rule often applied to secondary violations like this, or spider pads. You remember those.

And WVU doesn’t expect any more trouble from this little incident … no matter the football program is still on probation through July 7, 2013. Maybe it’s just me, but I think that has to be a sigh of relief over there. The probation process is just a pain in the neck in which you have to record and report everything in detail, and one would think part of that would have you looking at every athletically related schedule. And while WVU did have the proper system in place to catch the mistake, it did not, in would seem, have one in place to prevent it.

I thought that would matter.

Listen, this is devil’s advocate stuff. I think it’s an important rule, but also as minor a transgression as you can commit and I can’t believe a school would get in trouble for, essentially, giving players more time off than the rules suggested. I’d say a rule was misinterpreted more than it was broken, or even bent. Understand WVU would have ended at 11:59 p.m. Friday and been back at 12:00 a.m. Monday, allowed for 48 hours, 1 minute of time off and gotten away with it.

Now, I also just happen to be the guy who has twice made a meal out of secondary violations — and one, in particular, is a part of my book. I don’t think this is that … or those … whatever … but what WVU and two former head coaches were convicted of in July in the summary disposition process was a failure to monitor.

To be honest with you, when I saw the headline yesterday, I figured there would be problems attached to the probation because, well, monitoring things adequately would have prevented this, right?

And I was wrong, which is good for WVU. Again, silly violation because it’s a silly rule, and it looks bad only because it happened and who it happened to. The point here seems to be that WVU has a new coach, and you can’t hold what his predecessors did against him, and that this offense is in no way related to the prior ones, which were basically all related to letting too many people do too many things they weren’t allowed to do. Even the failure to monitor is, I guess, unrelated because it’s a failure to monitor totally different things.

Fortunately, we have the tin foil hats and the really enjoyable theories about how this made it to the media. WVU doesn’t go public with secondary violations. They’re too common and too insignificant. Yet this one popped up in the newspaper, quite prominently, and WVU has had to answer to it. Some people sure are having some fun with it.

Also, I made it all week without using this space to push my book. That ends right here, right now. All I ask is you take a look. Pretty pleased with this.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, brace yourself.

JP said:

Keeping in line with the theme of Casazza’s book, this paragraph from today’s article jumped out at me:

Asked if Holgorsen would have a “non-compete” clause in his contract that would prevent the former Texas Tech and Oklahoma State assistant from leaving for another Big 12 job, Luck said he didn’t think that was necessary “and I doubt Dana will go for a non-compete … but there will be a buyout in there.”

It is interesting, because the immediate question would be “Why wouldn’t he sign it?” And it is in other coaching contracts. But in all honesty, Dana wasn’t hired by a Big 12 Conference team. I think it would be hard to apply it. If things got testy, Dana could just point at that if he were asked, “Why not sign it?” And we know how much a buyout is worth, but the guy is building a house here.

SheikYbuti said:

I suspect that what OL really means is that DH is unlikely to agree to a non-compete clause at a price the AD is willing to pay to have it included. At the end of the day, the flexibility is more valuable to DH than his potential status as a recurrent thorn is to WVU.

Yeah, that’s likely and that’s because there’s something of a sliding scale — agree to the no-compete, reduce the buyout, but if he goes to the SEC, which isn’t prohibited, WVU gets less money. Choose wisely, right?

hershy112 said:

“Kilicli is the only senior on the 2012-13 team.”

I thought Dom would be a senior? Did he transfer in as a sophomore? Thought he only had 2 years.

“I think the way he would have helped is he would have limited minutes for Aaron Brown and Gary Browne and probably minimized mistakes.”

Isn’t this how we lost some close games this year? Games in which we had leads of 10+ points, and mistakes let the other team back in. Not saying one side of the argument is wrong, just bringing discussion to the point.

Ah, good catch, Nique will be a senior. That slipped my mind. The second counterpoint is a good one: Dalton Pepper being older and getting more minutes would cover up the younger Browne and Brown and thus erase their critical errors. Now, you’re putting more stock into Pepper than I think we should invest because there was no track record there at all, save one flash in a NCAA Tournament game, but he knew where to go and what to do. We don’t know if he would have done it, but, in theory, he would have been better armed than Browne and Brown. You know what? I’ll allow it.

pknocker40 said:

So next season we’ll have an Aaric (as in Eric) and an Eron (as in Aaron) to go along with the Brown(e) twins. Somewhere in Charlotte, Jeff Mullens nods his head…

What about Randy Galloway?

Bobby Heenan said:

Mike, I’m not sure I 100% agree with this quote: “This year and in past years, WVU has been at its best playing small with three guards or two point guards. ” I think at times this was true when Hinds, Browne, and Truck were all clicking, but in past years I think it may have been different.

It’s obviously opinion, but I thought we played best with our athletic, long line-up of final four fame utilizing only one real guard on the floor at once with other long guys that could defend the guard on the other side of the floor (Ebanks, Butler, Flowers). At times though, the combo of Mazz and Truck both on the floor at the same time did give us some good minutes. On the other hand, if I remember correctly we beat a good Ole Miss team soundly without even playing a single guard.

I felt that (healthy) Mazulla, Ebanks, Butler, KJ, and Wells was our best line up with Flowers getting plugged in there from time to time (look at the minutes from the box score for the UK elite 8 game for reference). That’s 3 legit shooting threats on the floor at once.

The issue is, a player like Ebanks and Flowers (and to some degree Butler) is rare, with his ability to guard from the 1 to the 4, switching on all screens without any loss of efficacy. Also note that the “open-post” offense seemed to run its best when shooters would truly open up the lane by drawing their men outside. Wells, KJ, and Butler took their men out of the lane. You had to respect their 3. Mazulla’s man could “sag,” but he’s going to be defended by another PG, so his help the in the lane is little compared to that of a F/C.

Moving forward, Keaton Miles I believe can defend like Flowers, but he can’t bring his man out of the lane unless he fixes that shot. I really think that if we can just get one more guy between the 2-5 position that can hit some shots, it’s going to help the offense a ton. Noreen at the 3 may be OK on offense, especially if he’s hitting shots, because he feeds the post so well as you mentioned. The concern would be who then guards the 3 on the other end? We’ve gone big in the past and I liked it, but I’m not sure we have that versatile cog that can defend the 2-4 but hit shots on the other end. I think that’s a big piece of the big lineup puzzle.

Excellent. Hmm. This year WVU was effective with the three guards, especially if the matchups were favorable, but it was too hard to get two freshmen together at the same time and play them alongside a player as come-and-go as Truck. Hard to pick a “best lineup” this season, but those were certainly three of the top five players in the meat of the schedule. I think the 2011 team clicked a little bit when Casey Mitchell was suspended and WVU had to play Truck and Mazzulla together. They passed the ball and ran offense much better. There were rare occasions Mitchell joined them and they were tough to harass on offense, especially if Mazzulla got past the pressure or Mitchell got an open look. I think the 2010 team is perhaps misremembered. They were really hard to watch on offense, but they had one guy who could throw it in on his own and they were so good on defense that those two things covered up a lot of stuff. And after guarding that offense for 25 or 30 seconds for 32 or 34 minutes, after going against that switching defense for 32 or 34 minutes, WVU had teams worn down and ripe for the picking. And that tactic was more necessity than design. You’re right, though. Matter of opinion and fun to debate. As for Miles, I think he is more polished than Flowers was as a freshman, but I literally couldn’t go to the Coliseum and not see Flowers in the gym. Miles needs that. And I think you’re going to see a shooter in this incoming recruiting class.

Foul Shot said:

Boy I sure hope these guys can shoot.
It will be tough watching a third straight season of brick laying.

Bob Huggins is inclined to agree … but it’s dangerous to rely on freshmen on the perimeter.

MooresvilleJeff said:

Foul Shot rues more foul shooting…me too!

Me three.

50yrfan said:

Police in Morgantown arrested West Virginia University freshman center Pat Forsythe and former forward Tommie McCune Tuesday night on charges they used stolen debit cards. Mike, how do you see this playing out?

I don’t think you’ll see anything more. McCune is already gone and had apparently made up his mind before this happened. I believe it happened the day before Selection Sunday, so it’s not related to his one-game suspension when WVU won at Pitt. Forsythe has a lesser degree of guilt, and though seemingly not innocent and not free from consequences, I don’t think he’s going anywhere. But without all the facts, who knows?

Pete Weber said:

Thanks for the vine.

“Who do you think you are? I am.“

Pete Weber’s Sunglasses said:

I will crotch chop all over this blog, and anywhere else I damn well please.

I believe you. Honest.

pknocker40 said:

There’s an anecdote in Mike Leach’s book describing an instance in which he called Four Verts like 6 times in a row to start a game, subbing in four fresh receivers each play while the secondary was left for dead. So, uh, I guess there’s no such thing as too many receivers in this offense…

Alleged instance? Why won’t you call it an alleged instance?

SheikYbuti said:

You mean college baseball!! And soccer…zzzzz.

GVZ may have some legitimate excuses relating to why his 2012 team appears to be underperforming. Explaining the previous 15 incarnations of his team, however, may take a bit more doing.

Hey, that’s fine. The body of work can’t and won’t be ignored. I don’t much care for the opinion of people who have just arrived on the scene, or are provoked only by the ousting of Oll Stew.

WVU79 said:

Sheik, I totally agree with you. I believe that GVZ has had more than his fair share of time to turn the WVU program into a competitive one. If the previous AD didn’t want to pony up to improve the program you would think that GVZ would have left for greener pastures if he had any desire to coach something other than a mediocre program.

Anyone else wonder why there is only one Senior on this year’s team?

I think it’s past time to bring in a new head coach to go along with a new ballpark.

I suppose that’s fair … but if the AD didn’t want to fire the guy, then is the guy going to quit? Hard, for me, at least, to arm myself with that.

oklahoma mountaineer said:

Baseball has never been a priority at WVU….good or bad, it is what it is. He has achieved only when his players over achieve relative to their pub. He has problems relating to players — Pat White refused to play for him….so there’s probably a good chance his days are numbered.

If you pay a guy nominally to his peers and he stays……there’s probably a reason and loyalty is not it.

Careful, please. People get this wrong all the time. Pat White never met Van Zant before Pat White basically said Van Zant had no interest in black baseball players — which was a hell of a thing to say about a guy you’ve never met or approached to discuss the possibility of playing baseball. And Pat White had, up to that point, never expressed any interest on playing baseball at WVU. How in the world is that Van Zant’s cross to bear?

johnny oz said:

I was talking last week with a gent who coaches the local American Legion baseball team. Not long ago, he approached GVZ about hosting the state legion tournament at Hawley Field. While perhaps inadequate for Big 12 play, Hawley is a lovely ballyard and would be a wonderful venue for such a tournament. GVZ advised him that the field would cost $1,500 per day. That response alone is enough for me to wish “our state university baseball coach” a quick good-bye.

Well, that response is what the university would have him give. That’s the rate and the rule.

glibglub said:

Speaking as someone utterly disinterested in baseball, one can see how the situation might be setting up for the retention of the reviled GVZ. Is he really so awful? I have no clue. But it sure looks like he’s been working at a competitive disadvantage.

No personal insight, except to say he’s superbly friendly to me and seems to think I know what I’m talking about whenever we chat. I know there stories out there — there’s a website dedicated to hi firing, in fact — but I’ve never experienced them. I honestly have never covered, or probably even followed, the program that closely. It’s going to come down to wins and losses and productivity and philosophy and vision … and quite possibly if someone becomes available.

Wvmaniac said:

Also at the Nike classic early this year he asked the coaches (who laughed) for a ten run rule…. That’s going to become a common thing in big 12…..

That did happen and that’s bad form … but that was a rare four-game event and WVU’s pitching staff wasn’t lined up right for that first game while it was for the next three. Just want to provide some context there.

The 25314 said:

The cost to improve the baseball program is far greater than any increase in pride or enjoyment such improvement would create for 99% of Mountaineer fans.

Hey, that might look or read harsh, but I think that’s a pretty legitimate concern.

Rugger said:

I get the feeling that Oliver feels we have a duty to field a quality baseball team in the Big XII whether is is self-sufficient or not.

I would like to see us drop baseball and add rugby, it’s cheaper and a lot more fun to watch, IMHO.

My goodness! You must have been in a scrum or two in your day.

SheikYbuti said:

What in the hell has happened to this country? This is what you get when the Pirates have sucked for 20 years.

Tis. Precisely.

overtheSEC said:

Question: doesn’t Title IX require an opposite and equal increase in women scholarship funding to offset the baseball increase? If so, any insight into the benefactor of this?

Oh yeah, but here’s what’s weird: All of WVU’s women’s sports are fully funded. I’ve asked around and the hunch is you might see things like raises or commitments to facilities, travel, equipment, etc. WVU doesn’t need to add a women’s sport to comply with the Big 12’s requirements, but if WVU wanted to, I supposed there are resources available now.

SheikYbuti said:

Matt’s ailment is pretty much the same thing that caused Edge, of all people, to retire from professional wrestling. Best of luck to Matt (and Edge).

Quality of life, man. He’s due to graduate in the spring and I would honestly have to ask myself if it was worth it, too. The rehab is so tedious and it can be a constant because the flare-ups can be constant. At a fringe position like his, with the end in sight while you’re still relatively healthy, I can’t say I’d act differently if I were in his shoes.

Mr. M said:

Well said about Lindamood, Mike. We have so few in-state players, much less ones who really contribute, so this makes his departure all the more significant. Remember he played a few years as a walk-on, without a scholarship — and worked hard to become one of the strongest on the team.

And he’s a good dude. He’ll be fine in real life, if for no other reason than because the way he made it here.

pknocker40 said:

Pitt?

Ah, yes, the most popular answer for WVU’s mystery high major. But not this year. P.S. The opponent would come from a BCS conference or be Gonzaga, Butler or Memphis. Good?

glibglub said:

Seriously, what is Frank Martin doing going to USC? Maybe he just wants to hang 70 on Clemson, too.

If you and your AD don’t get along and you think your AD is hurting or hindering your work … I mean, haven’t we seen this here?

SheikYbuti said:

I’d guess Syracuse, but we all know they never play in Morgantown.

Never. Sources tell me there was a 20-game agreement in place with the series split at the Carrier Dome and the Coliseum. It came unglued when Boeheim huddled with Gerry McNamara and McNamara scoffed about playing on the road, specifically “10 ###king  games. Not 10, OK?”

Birch said:

Sheik,
Cuse would be a high major, and majorly high.

Getting late here, huh?

overtheSEC said:

I was going to guess Louisville, but that thought’s a bit premature.

Don’t worry, you can fix it later.

Rugger said:

As long as they don’t schedule Gonzaga, I’m cool.

My first choice would be Florida. I have a thing for one of their cheerleaders, actually all of them.

Florida almost happened at Florida, I think in 2010-11, for a televised game. Wonder if it could be resurrected.

SheikYbuti said:

So they’ll play 7 league matches instead of 9, which will allow the team more flexibility to schedule nationally and essentially operate as an independent, except that the conference affiliation provides for the possibility of an automatic NCAA bid in seasons where an at-large may be at risk. Good deal all around, it seems, as long as it doesn’t negatively affect recruiting.

The only negative is that the Big East was good for WVU’s RPI, and now WVU isn’t going to play as many conference RPI boosters, but it’s only a minor loss. The Big East was supposed to play eight conference matches for the first time this season. That said, it further empowers LeBlanc to do what he loves to do, which is to schedule out of his mind. They’ll find a high-profile opponent. As for recruiting, WVU is a respected men’s soccer entity — and women’s soccer helps a lot because it proves the school’s commitment is there — and look from where Marlon pulls players: Everywhere. That said, lots of high schools and lots of players in Ohio.

Jeff in Akron said:

I actually get to go to a WVU sporting event within 15 minutes of my house! I never thought I would say this, I just might become a soccer fan. I still won’t buy, or wear, one of those soccer jerseys. Trust me when I say LeBlanc would not be upset if he saw me in one. (actually it is the getting out part that would be the biggest problem.)

Looks like I am going to have to find a book or two about WVU soccer, any suggestions Mike?

No suggestions, but, man, I’d love to do it. Soccer players are the best. The best. If your son or daughter is thinking of playing soccer, absolutely encourage it, but buckle the hell up. And sign up to chaperone as many things as possible.

SheikYbuti said:

“Waiting for the Goal?” (and waiting, and waiting . . . )

Enjoy the weekend!