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

Staten still has skills

July 3, 2014 by Mike Casazza

Fresh off his run at the Nike Skills Academy, WVU’s senior point guard forward slash presumptive Big 12 preseason player of the year will now take his talents to Sin City.

The event features the Top 30 collegiate and Top 80 high school players from around the country and runs July 9-12. Players will have four days of competitive skills workouts and 5-on-5 games.

Staten will begin action Wednesday where he will take advantage of the opportunity to learn from some of the best players and coaches around the country.

“I’m just honored to be selected to participate in such as a prestigious event,” says Staten. “I’m blessed and thankful to have this opportunity to represent West Virginia University.”

The empire can expand only so far

by Mike Casazza

Mike Barwis has a TV show that debuts at 9 p.m. Wednesday on the Discovery Channel. If you know of Barwis, yeah, that’s not a stretch. His personality, his brand of performance is sort of made for television.

“I’ve never been a regular guy when it comes to training,” he said. “I bring an intensity that’s abnormal. I’m energetic and passionate about what I do, and that, as well as the people I work with and the people around me, has elicited results other people haven’t seen as fathomable.”

If you’ve known Barwis at one level or another, uh, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. He and the spotlight are like me and the yoga mat. This is an unlikely, but nevertheless effective combination.

“Do you want the truth?” Barwis said. “I don’t watch TV. Honestly. I just don’t have the time, and I’ve always wanted to spend the time I do have helping people. That’s it. I don’t watch TV. I couldn’t tell you a lot about reality TV, to be honest with you. All I want to do is put something out there that maybe encourages people and brings them a new outlook on life.”

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Remember this?!?!

July 2, 2014 by Mike Casazza


I do. Of course. That was a fun time, and I’ve never been more dashing. But Mike Barwis, he of the upcoming hit reality series “American Muscle” on the Discovery Channel, remembers it as well.

I can’t help but think one doesn’t happen without the other …

“You know what, you’re probably right,” Barwis said. “I never got any compliments like that until I was equated with your name.”

Super news

by Mike Casazza

Matt Wells, the sports marketing maven inside WVU’s athletic department, is keeping busy. The fan experience committee had its two meetings and promises to keep in touch as it moves forward. It’s about that time when his people and Dana Holgorsen’s people go to work on the football team entrance. And the things that happen during a game are always a red-hot topic.

I know this because I always lob him suggestions because, you know, that’s my job? I guess? Actually, I don’t know why I do it, except he’s a good sport about it — and truth be told, I think his office does a very good job including and beyond game day sounds and clips. So it’s a fun back and forth that often includes texts from Matt when … that one song … comes on at a game.

Oh, that one song.

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Uh oh … Bill Connelly has spoken

July 1, 2014 by Mike Casazza

Here’s a hell of a way to sign off from a season preview on WVU: I think Holgorsen is making the right moves in attempting a turnaround, but he probably won’t make any serious headway in that regard until 2015; we’ll see if it’s too late by then.

Oof.

But if we’re honest with one another, that closing salve and everything before it in the always anticipated preview piece is largely agreeable. It’s things we’ve talked about here, and it warms your heart to see someone from a distance get close and spot the same items.

The premise? The Mountaineers are due to get better, but will have their work cut out for them because of the schedule and because so many things have to improve.

Holgorsen’s fate will be decided by whether he has enough talent, on the field and on his coaching staff. When WVU scored 70 on Clemson in the Orange Bowl, we thought we’d seen the future of football. Instead, we had seen what pace and talent could do against a shaky defense. Without talent, nothing else matters.

While the coaches are away …

by Mike Casazza

… the Mountaineers will play.

You all covered the bases last week after Dana Holgorsen named his starting quarterback. WVU made a pitch later in the week when the some players, including Trickett, and coaches, including his position coach and offensive coordinator, Shannon Dawson, were made available to the media.

In the wake of an announcement like the one to precede it, it was everything you’d probably expect.

“This group going into last year was a very inexperienced group, including [Trickett],” Dawson said. “That group needs leadership and they look to him anyways. We feel like it’s clear-cut in our mind or we wouldn’t do it. It’s going to give him confidence when you know you’re the guy and there’s no questions about it.

“This unit right here, was in my opinion looking for somebody, they needed somebody to be a leader. It’s hard to be a leader when you’re not the starter. It clears up a lot of things he can have a clear mind, relax, get better and not worry about trying to win the job every day.”

Trickett is confident he can get the job done. He said being named starter this early has allowed his focus to be solely on the team.

“It’s huge,” Trickett said. “They [players] know who to look to. I’m more comfortable. I don’t have to worry about [who will be the starter]. I can focus on my game and getting the team better. Last year we worried about it, we all wanted to win it, maybe we worried about that too much and didn’t focus on getting the team better. We won’t have that problem this year.”

Timing is everything, right? Well, here then is something else we have to tip our cap to.

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FYI and FYE

June 30, 2014 by Mike Casazza

The latest summer session at WVU started today and the football and basketball programs both said hello to two new faces.

We’ve known Miles for a while now. He played high school ball at Tavon’s Dunbar High for former Mountaineers guard Cyrus Jones. He was supposed to be part of last year’s recruiting lass, but prepped instead and, as I’m told, physically matured and now looks much different.

Paige was a late addition to this recruiting class, but one a lot of people really like. His star rose during his second junior college season and I’ve talked to a few Division II and lower-level Division I coaches who saw him and said, “Welp, he’s D-I.”

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Part V of V: The Byzatine Empire! Yes!

June 27, 2014 by Mike Casazza

In the final installment of the Daily Mail’s series on NCAA reform, we asked the athletic directors at Marshall and West Virginia a set of questions.  Their answers are diverse and deep, but neither Mike Hamrick nor Oliver Luck is incorrect. I guess neither is correct, either, especially in relation to the thoughts of the other.

We just don’t know where we’re going to end up, and while we know where we came from, there isn’t a consensus as to why we got to this point. Nevertheless, these are the two men who will steer the athletic departments in and into the future. These are their words.

Part IV of V: As the D-I world turns…

June 26, 2014 by Mike Casazza

…so too does the D-II world.

I didn’t know that the Division I men’s basketball tournament chips off about 5 percent of that revenue for the 24 Division II conferences.

In the Mountain East, that’s good for about half of the annual operating budget.

What you see there is that, obviously, that level stretches and pinches to make finances work. And that level, obviously, doesn’t have the ability to do much more with less than it already does.

But maybe that’s wrong?

It will admittedly experience the effects of NCAA reform through what Division I will offer, what recruits will desire and how Division II will figure or ways to mimic and adapt.

“I think it’s going to take some time to trickle down to Division II, but I think it’s still going to impact us,” said Bren Stevens, UC’s athletic director. “Our coaches are going to want to talk to the same kids Division I coaches are talking to, and that kid is going to want the things Division I schools are offering, and how are we going to be able to do that? It’s going to be a challenge.”

Wait…we’re talking about stipends and the like here. D-II schools can do that? D-II schools will want to do that?

“I wouldn’t rule it out,” Stevens said.

Part III: You know this matters at prep level, right?

June 25, 2014 by Mike Casazza

As we proceed with our five-part series on NCAA reform, we look beneath the rug a little bit and see what high school coaches and players have to think about the coming changes.

We expect there to be new dynamics to play, and we trust people will manipulate those as best as possible for their own benefit. In a state with a lot of walk-ons who eyeball the Division I schools and side eye aid at the Division II places, this is important. As Derek Taylor explains, new variables lead to a new thought process and those involved acknowledge there are new ways to consider an old predicament.

“You also have to factor in playing time. Obviously, that would be the first thing that comes to mind,” Bowers said. “A guy might be able to get on the field or start as a sophomore at a lot of D-II schools and maybe not until they’re a junior or senior at WVU, if then. There’s a lot of decisions to be made before picking a school.”

Like Mays, Bowers said that financial incentives also play a significant role in where a player decides to go to school.

“The greatest thing I can do as a high school teacher and coach is to prepare kids for college and help them gain the skills necessary to get through,” Bowers said. “If furthering the financial incentive to go to a school like WVU is going to get more kids in schools and stay in school, then I can definitely see it as a benefit.”

Bowers also saw the possibility for prospects in his own region to stay close to home if given the opportunity.

“That may creep into the kids’ minds,” he said. “I can see where that could happen, definitely.”