The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board Because that's our custom

Nice kit!

July 16, 2015 by Mike Casazza

Marlon LeBlanc unveiled the third jersey his team will wear this season, and the reviews couldn’t have been better. I have to agree; that’s a really sharp look for any level of soccer, let alone oftentimes unimaginative college apparel. Right away, though, there was a small problem with the kit: People who wanted to buy a jersey can’t. It’s true. Try to find a WVU soccer kit online. You can’t. (At least, not a legitimate one.)

Understand there is an explanation. You aren’t going to see Nike or adidas or UnderArmour get into that line of the business. No one’s doing it and, for now and for the foreseeable future, there isn’t much interest and thus incentive in doing replicas for these small sports. The biggest different between pro sports and college sports and their audiences — even in a market like this in which there is no pro sports team — is consumer habits. College football and basketball don’t do big numbers, even when we’re talking about Pat White or Da’Sean Butler, so imagine the reaction of a school and a partner when asked to turn out some Olympic sports jerseys for players who aren’t overly promoted or recognized.

To me, and to others, this is sort of sad. Think parents might be buying their young daughter a gold Kadeisha Buchanan jersey? Might your co-worker wear that WVU baseball camo? I’ll be honest: I’d wear one of these new soccer tops. But they and we are a minority. For now, schools mostly lack the resources to produce and distribute (and we’re talking about coming out with enough to have this make sense), and that deflates the possibility that programs could do this — through camps, for example, and not just in team shops — to offset costs or push back against budget concerns or simply make some money they could use under their roofs.

“To this point there has not been a licensee express interest in bringing a replica jersey to retail,” said Matt Wells, WVU’s associate athletic director for external affairs, who oversees sports marketing and sponsorship and apparel agreements. “Similar to how we worked with a licensee on a baseball replica jersey this past season, we are always open to exploring our options should the opportunity present itself.”

Big 12 preview: TCU (preseason poll included)

by Mike Casazza

The Horned Frogs were unveiled today as the preseason favorite in the Big 12 and picked up 32 of the 42 first-place voted. WVU was picked sixth and is closer to No. 7 than to No. 5. The previous two years, WVU was No. 8 with not many more combined points than what it received this time. For now, let’s discuss the presumptive champs.

Big 12 preview: Texas

by Mike Casazza

In fairness, it’d be tough to beat Bill Connelly’s preview for the headline alone, but it rings true, and Texas has a lot going for it but not so much to completely overcome certain woes.

One question answered, one remains

by Mike Casazza

The biggest news of the day yesterday was the biggest news of the summer for Bob Huggins. After some delay, and maybe a touch of concern, Esa Ahmad is eligible and will be in town this weekend. A three-week session of summer classes starts Monday. Huggins also told me yesterday Ahmad will be with the team on its playing trip to the Bahamas, which ought to help him catch up on the court.

Ahmad is Huggins’ best signing since Devin Ebanks, and the two-time Ohio player of the year is a better offensive player. Defensively? Ahmad isn’t there, but he’s certainly got the size and mobility to be a useful part of what Huggins does, whether in the press or in the half court. (This comparison isn’t entirely fair, size and skill similarities aside. Ebanks was on a different level defensively. It was actually fun to watch.)

As you can see, Ahmad can play (and dunk!) and he’ll give Huggins what he’s not had in the Big 12. This is a 6-foot-8, 215-pounder who is lanky, can dribble, can post, can actually finish at the basket and can extend a bit to shoot it. What you don’t see much of, and what people stand by, is Ahmad is a really good passer. The defense will improve, and we’ll see what he can do for rebounding (he’s got good hands and wherewithal around the hoop), but offensively it’s all there for him and now for WVU. Just imagine how he changes the spacing and creates lanes for Jevon Carter and Dax Miles and room for Devin Williams.

So that’s settled, which leaves us with just one query: Is Huggins done for this class? The answer is no, even though he’s technically at his scholarship limit.

Continue reading…

Big 12 preview: Oklahoma State

July 15, 2015 by Mike Casazza

As odd as it seems, Oklahoma State has had quarterback issues. That might be solved now, and the Cowboys subsequently have some serious sleeper potential. This is the team I’m most interested in when the preseason poll comes out tomorrow.

WVU makes a preseason splash

by Mike Casazza

In the first three preseasons WVU was in the Big 12, the Mountaineers accounted for four — four! — spots on the preseason all-conference teams. Geno Smith was (the preseason offensive player of the year and) the quarterback in 2012 and Tavon Austin was a receiver and the punt returner … which still doesn’t make total sense. Nobody made the all-conference teams in 2013, though Charles Sims was the preseason newcomer of the year. Safety Karl Joseph was a defensive back last year.

Joseph, linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski and kicker Josh Lambert made the 2015 preseason team, as voted on by the media covering the league. WVU’s only ever had two players make a preseason team and three preseason slots in one year. Growth! Tomorrow we’ll see how that reflects on where WVU is included in the preseason poll.

Big 12 preview: Oklahoma

by Mike Casazza

Big season for Big Game Bob?

Dana sees those raises and raises them

by Mike Casazza
salary pool

Back in the winter, WVU had to deal with five expiring contracts on its coaching staff, and Dana Holgorsen was adamant he needed those gentlemen back because he finally had some continuity within his reach. So in December JaJuan Seider, Lonnie Galloway and Brian Mitchell were given new deals. Shannon Dawson left for Kentucky, though surely he would have been retained as well, and Ron Crook, who had one more year left on his two-year deal, was given an additional year.

Seider, Mitchell and Crook got raises to $275,000 and Galloway remained at $300,000. In January, Joe DeForest, the fifth among the five with deals that were up, agreed to a one-year contract that saw him lose his title as associate head coach as well as a slice of his salary, one that dropped him from $500,000 to $325,000.

In March, WVU granted raises totaling $150,000 to DeForest, Galloway, Crook and Seider. The explanation? Holgorsen had money to spend and the right to use it.

Holgorsen still had one spot on his staff to fill and chose to hire Mark Scott, Gibson’s former graduate assistant, for one year and $150,000 to be a defense/special teams coach.

When Scott signed March 24, the combined salaries for the 2015 staff was $2.7 million. A clause in Holgorsen’s contract, signed in April 2012, sets an assistant coach salary budget of no less than $2.6 million that “shall increase not less than three percent.” In the years following a bowl game, the increase has to be at least five percent, and the Mountaineers lost the Liberty Bowl in December against Texas A&M.

WVU’s budget actually decreased by 7.6 percent. The 2014 salaries were 12.5 percent higher than they were in 2013.

“The salary pool is guaranteed to him based on his contract,” Lyons said. “Because he hired Coach Scott at such a low number — lower than he might have normally hired another coach who’d be coming in at maybe $250,000 — he had some extra money he felt under his contract he had the right to use to up the coaching salaries for the other assistants.

“That’s when he came to me and said, ‘I’m not paying Coach Scott as much as I was thinking I’d use hiring a new coach. I’d like to go back and use that money toward my other guys.’ I had no problem with that. That’s why it’s in his contract.”

Big 12 preview: Kansas State

July 14, 2015 by Mike Casazza

On paper, this looks like it ought to be the worst year for Kansas State since WVU joined the Big 12. In reality, the Wildcats have Bill Snyder and, as such, will overachieve. But how much?

Big 12 preview: Kansas

by Mike Casazza

This … this won’t be pretty. Good luck, David Beatty! Patience is a virtue, and you’re virtually guaranteed to run out of it.