Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which wonders how we got here. People are holding a clock, or a calendar, against the … athletic director? I get the need to wring hands about how long a football or basketball coach will stay. I even get the need to act similarly about the A.D., but I thought I was weird and once again interested in things that may only interest me.

Not so. And so I ask, “When, or how, did this happen? Here?”

How is it that as soon as Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby agrees to become the new commissioner of the Big 12 Conference that his WVU counterpart Oliver Luck, whose name was connected to the Big 12’s top spot, is thought to be a candidate to replace Bowlsby? No, seriously, not just in crazy corners for conversations like ours, but even on the left side of the country where one finds and covers the Cardinal.

Really, would you have considered this 15 or 10 or even five years ago? It’s one thing for Don Nehlen to be coveted by South Carolina and Rich Rodriguez by Alabama, for John Beilein to eyeball Indiana and North Carolina State and for Michigan to want Beilein. It’s wholly understandable to wonder and worry about those men, even annually.

But is it not odd that you fret, or you expect others to fret, about an athletic director staying on the job?

I say yes, and not just because who sat in the chair previously. But this is the nature of the job now and I suppose everyone better get used to A.D. hirings as a niche. The job has become a news-maker and a headline-writer. They hire and fire coaches, they leave and join conferences, they speak on issues and on national platforms, so on and so forth. They need to have juice and move the needle and basically be to the athletic department what the president or chancellor is to the university. They’re separate entities and college sports are now enterprises,  money-making ventures that fund other parts of the athletic department and do wonders to benefit the school.

It’s a CEO, CFO and/or COO position now and you need someone who is as much an executive as an ex-jock or ex-coach.

Luck’s been here for not quite two years, but, man, he’s handled a bunch already and in a public, transparent and mostly impressive manner. For that alone — for the conference maneuvering and the personnel decisions and the ways to find revenue for a self-sustaining athletic department — you’re bound to hear his name. A.D. has become a publicized position now and the way the media works almost insists we speculate about who goes where next. Who knows, this could become a regular thing.

And let’s be honest with one another: Luck’s name is going to get some traction with Stanford. His son was a decent football player there. One daughter plays volleyball in Palo Alto and another will be a freshman there in the fall. That place, obviously, means something to the Lucks. And he’s at least recognizable over there while possessing a pedigree that fits with the Stanford pedigree — education and legal background, corporate experience, etc. Luck also knows the Pac-12 commissioner, Larry Scott, and they can match notes on running professional sports leagues/teams.

This is not to say it’s going to happen. Stanford is Stanford. It’s (arguably?) the best athletic department in the land. You put together the top five A.D. jobs in America and Stanford ought to be on that list. Certainly Luck would be anywhere from flattered to excited — you say “He’s an alum!” and I say “It’s Stanford.” — but just as certain, Stanford could quite simply have a pick of candidates. And, again, Luck has been doing this for 23 months.

No one knows where this is headed. Not yet, at least. I cringe when I see Luck’s “non-denial denial” critiqued because it’s just so soon. I talked to Luck yesterday and he wasn’t even sure Bowlsby was the guy for the Big 12 — and do with that what you will: Luck is so plugged in at Stanford, so friendly with the Cardinal higher-ups, that he didn’t know the A.D. there was set to run his school’s new conference.

Still, I wonder if he even had time, somewhere between Phoenix and Wheeling and Parkersburg, to put 2 and 2 together and then craft the appropriate response to premature inquiries. Sometimes “No comment” is boring, but it’s meant to say just that.

And the follow up? When I told him that some people might interpret his remark to mean that he’s interested or at least not dismissing the idea out of hand, he said, “Yes, I know, but that’s all I want to say.” Provocative, perhaps, but pretty simple, I say. I really don’t think you’re going to pull Luck off his track. Some people say what they think. Luck thinks what he says. Let’s give it time before we fire up the polygraph.

My hunch is he’s just rolled up his sleeves here. Say what you will about what he’s already accomplished, but getting WVU into the Big 12, getting the football program back on the right track, doing the things he’s done thus far put together just a part of the puzzle. His athletic department is in a tricky financial situation right now with all the money due to different parties, and there’s so much more work to be done to ensure success in the Big 12 and in football and to see through things he’s started or is set to start. I have questions about whether he wants to leave that all unsettled. It’d would put the Mountaineers in a really difficult spot and craft a very different legacy.

I leave you with this: As far back as February, Luck was pressed on his interest in the Big 12 job and he replied, almost uniformly, “I’m very happy with what I’m doing. We have lots to do here yet.”

Now I just wonder when WVU, or any school, starts to put buyouts in the A.D. contract.

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, fool me once, shame you. Fool me twice …

NostroMackus:

I envision a difficult 2012 for the football Mountaineers. They will lose to Marshall and never get another chance for redemption. The bus will break down on the way back from Washington, D.C. The offensive staff will be blinded by Maryland’s uniforms and unable to effectively function. They will be the first team to lose 11 games in a single Big 12 season. And they will once again fail to beat Syracuse.

Continuity!

I Might Be John Sanders:

I am pleased that Kevin Tandy was drafted by the Bucs. I’m sure he is looking forward to playing alongside WVU teammate Kevin Goode.

I’m still surprised that Kevin Irvin went in the middle of the first round. Seattle coach Kevin Carroll shocked the world with that one!

Oh, no. This just occurred to me. Sanders does Big East football and basketball. Have we seen the last of Oll Bending?

Dr. Love said:

Does anyone know if Tevita Finau was drafted or sign a free agent deal? It is rumored that he may be enrolling in the WVU College of Law in the fall. We will just have to wait and see.

He signed a deal with the Arizona Cardinals, which is good, because he doesn’t have far to go from Utah. Pretty simple flight. And at Utah, he became “a dominating defensive tackle as a senior, playing in all 13 games and starting in the last four.” All jokes aside, I watched a bunch of the Sun Bowl, and he ate up the Georgia Tech game plan.

lowercase jeff said:

guys, there are about 10 front seven players in the whole league that play every down anymore.

pass rush specialists are drafted 15 or higher every year.

by the way, cbs sports reported that the jets were going to take irvin at 16. they have a guy on that staff that understands defense pretty well.

bruce will probably never play another 1st down in his life.

neither will aldon smith

or osi umenyiora

or jason babin

or cliff avril

or mark anderson

they all do pretty well

the list of guys that dont play third down is much longer. and their paychecks are smaller.

Agreed. This is the new “third-down back.” It’s a passing league with a focus on specialized talent, and remember that’s why Mario Williams went over Reggie Bush. Seattle is in the same division as Arizona and St. Louis, but also San Francisco, which doesn’t pass much and owns the division title. Let’s agree on this: Irvin’s immediate future is critical, in a Joe Alexander way, and will be interesting to observe.

Jeff in Akron said:

I am interested to see how the move from d-lineman to linebacker works out. I gotta believe Irvin can cover a lot of ground as a linebacker. Besides, back in the day there was another d-lineman from WVU that had a pretty good career as an NFL linebacker. I have a hunch Irvin will surprise some people, everyone knows he was playing out of position at WVU. That position limited his ability to read and react, maybe having played d-line will help him as a linebacker. Now other players are responsible for clogging the play and taking up blockers, Irvin just has to get to the ball carrier and make the tackle.

I didn’t think Bruce was having a very good Orange Bowl game until things got out of hand and Clemson, as well as the score, turned the Tigers offense one-dimensional. But Irvin — who we can’t forget is about to learn more about defense than he ever has before — can move and cover ground and I submit this play as proof. It’s a huge play, maybe the biggest of the game not submitted by Darwin Cook, and it’s by Irvin to help the game get out of hand and make Clemson one-dimensional. I don’t think people realize how terrific this play is.

The 25314 said:

I hope Holgorsen gets kicked out of another casino soon. If Bruce Irvin being drafted dominates the local sports news cycle for another week, I might poke my eye out.

Worked out OK last time, right?

SheikYbuti said:

Zippy, it falls on us to be proactive. On the Twitter sidebar, someone suggested a title for Mike’s sequel, i.e., “Waiting for the Fall II: The Reckoning.”

Personally, I prefer “Waiting for the Fall II: Porky’s Revenge.” I’m not wedded to the notion, however. There are bound to be some good alternatives out there.

I’m sure there are. And this is a good segue: Saturday I’ll be at an Author’s Showcase at Taylor Books in Charleston. It’s 11 a.m.-1 p.m. I’ll be signing and selling books and look forward to seeing you all. I have a mustache. Honestly. At a bachelor party a few weeks back we agreed to have mustaches at the rehearsal dinner. That’s next Friday. Whoops. I might be seeking clemency. And now that you mention it, Zip Code, I might have to make a pilgrimage to Cross Vegas. I feel like it could be my Mecca.

glibglub said:

I favor “Waiting for the Fall II: Electric Boogaloo.”

Mack said:

Waiting 4 the Fall 2 Tokyo (Drift)

pknocker40 said:

“Waiting for the Fall II: The Big XII’s Bogus Journeys”

Foreward by Dave Hickman

JP said:

Waiting for the Fall II: Morgantown Nights

lowercase jeff said:

waiting for the fall 33 and a 3rd: 4 years of dominance: 2030-2033, the lowercase jeff junior era.

Moving on …

I love you, Doug! said:

I’m trying to imagine the scene where someone swim-moves a sign off the top of a delivery car.

I’m trying to imagine Doug Rigg reading this blog. We need to make this happen.

pknocker40 said:

$90 for a pitcher of orange juice at the Orange Bowl? Man, the BCS trolls so damn hard. Thank heavens for Dave Kerns and his magnificent haircut/mustache…

Yes, THDKMH/M. I just knew we’d be going there.

Better Lucky than Goode said:

You think $90 for a pitcher of OJ is bad, just wait until you see how much Tostitos cost at the Fiesta Bowl.

It’s per chip, not per bag.

hershy112 said:

Are we sure it wasn’t a pitcher of screw drivers? I mean the $90 would translate a little better then, right?

Just passing along the quote to relate the urgency. I mean, wouldn’t that freak you out?

SheikYbuti said:

You could top off the pitcher with 6 oz. of Galliano for Wallbangers, and you’d still get nowhere near $90.

Depends how much they charge for the Galliano, right? Might go over in that case. Swap for Galliano for Neopolitan and you’re spot on.

overtheSEC said:

I knew my dad, who went to the Orange Bowl and spent some time at the Fountainebleau, ordered a drink there and it cost some astronomical amount so I texted him and asked what he got and how much it cost. He just texted back: vodka tonic $18.
Maybe it really is $90 for a pitcher of OJ

I’m telling you, it was swank. Someone ask @GFCoyle about the three drinks he bought on New Year’s Eve. Bray Cary didn’t get that bill.

netbros said:

I suppose you have to decide whether Murray and Staten will be better than KJ and Truck. Otherwise it’s pretty much the same team as last year unless any of the incoming freshmen really break out.

Sure the next team could have better chemistry. Perhaps one or two of the sophomores-to-be will step their games up to a new level. Maybe things will even click with Deniz. Will Dom become a dominator?

Will there be a leadership vacuum? With Deniz and Dom the only two seniors, it makes you wonder. The extra time in Europe last year didn’t seem to do much good. That won’t be available this year, but there were so many newcomers last year. Will another year of working together get them humming like a team?

I’m of a mind to believe that Staten may be better than Truck, at least faster and hopefully more in control. Murray is said to be good, but is he 2nd team All-American good?

Huggins won’t let them not be better, right?

Good points and, obviously, we can’t answer the initial dilemma yet. I think Staten will be better with his feet in the paint than was Truck. Murray and Jones are probably too different to directly compare. As a combination? I think that’s a fair question to ask: Which duo is better? Time will tell there. The leadership/chemistry is what I’d circle. We had questions early on as to whether the quiet and example-setting Kevin Jones could actively and effectively inspire so many young players. Well, who does that now? That’s a HUGE thing to me. As for chemistry, you want to avoid cliques. The freshmen core is back. Murray and Staten were together and isolated a lot last season. Nique and Deniz are this year’s Truck and KJ sole seniors. The good thing is they were all on the same team and there are but three freshmen coming in. That’s a big difference and they saw what didn’t work last season and how that season ended.

Rick said:

Mike any word on when the Marshall date will be announced?

Basketball schedule usually comes out in a couple of weeks, but that Marshall game is going to be the first week of December. I’m just about positive.

Mack said:

“If Murray can extend, Kilicli can flourish inside.”

Wanna bet?

With you? Yes.

I love you, Doug! said:

“…to a rival college newspaper.”

Quick read on this makes it look like she’s saying Colin works for the Pitt News. I’m guessing she means “a newspaper that covers a rival college.”

[insert joke about Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

Yes, glad you mentioned that and captured that. Ms. Anderson meant the paper covering a rival college in a rival city.

em2 said:

Just wondering why or maybe if some of those tickets could have been placed on one of the tickets sales sites . . at a greatly reduced price . . . . so that some income could be generated. Do not know if it was even possible

I’m including this because it’s a good question I need to answer and I want to leave a paper trail. Don’t let me forget.

Lee in Dayton said:

WVU lost over $217k to play in the Orange Bowl.

Clemson lost ~$100k

How much profit did the Orange Bowl make? The difference between their profit and our loss is the number we should really be focusing on.

Oh, absolutely. The answer is millions upon millions. It’s the greatest racket going.

pknocker40 said:

Welp, somebody has to do it….

WVU loses $217,700
Clemson 33

Enjoy the weekend!