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

Let’s go with the flow here

July 21, 2011 by Mike Casazza

The above is something people just don’t think about when they process whatever emotions are generated by the WVU v. JMU game at FedEx Field, which all parties involved announced yesterday.

One of those parties is the Washington Redskins, who, of course, have a website. On a day that had to feature high, high traffic as the lockout nears an end, they decided to make the WVU-JMU game a lead story and feature it with art of the Mountaineers.

Not a deal-maker or deal-breaker, but an awfully neat accessory to the deal. And there are more …

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How long will WVU wear the crown?

July 20, 2011 by Mike Casazza

What happened with the football coaching situation this summer is only the strangest thing to happen to WVU football coaching in four years. I think it trumps what the Product and the Waterboy perpetuated in 2007-08, as well as the hurried hiring of Bill Stewart in the hours following the Fiesta Bowl, but that’s always up for debate.

What we can say, with certainty, is it was the most compelling, most irresistible football coaching of the story of the offseason.

Or is that wrong?

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We can argue on some details …

by Mike Casazza

… but can we agree on this? Brad Paisley is playing a concert at Mountaineer Field?

There may be hurdles. There appears to be some contesting of state laws. There is an upcoming conversation between WVU and state officials over where a stage may be allowed to go. We don’t know a date (I keep hearing Oct. 15, when there is no home or away football game).

However, brush all that aside and it sure seems like Paisley will headline at Mountaineer Field.

Lots and lots of money coming into WVU

July 19, 2011 by Mike Casazza

Two summers ago, the WVU Foundation enacted some deep and unpopular cuts that affected 65 of the 82 full-time employees in order to save a little less than a quarter million dollars — no, seriously — as the sullen state of the economy took a menacing grip on the university’s donations and investments. Some people — I never quite understood, who were the Unaffected 17? — were made to make some sacrifices. Other modifications would salvage another million or so dollar. Necessary evil, I suppose.

With that in mind, today the Foundation reports a record of its own.

Alumni and friends of WVU contributed a record $96.3 million in cash, pledges and in-kind gifts in the most recent fiscal year, according to a news release from WVU.

The gifts span the entire life of the University, from academics and athletics to research and medicine, enabling the WVU Foundation to contribute record amounts to the University.

The total for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011 surpasses the previous record of $86 million contributed to the WVU Foundation in 2007 fiscal year. Last year’s total was $80 million.

I can only imagine the reaction to this news. So … questions, please?

Tavon Austin: Poet, point guard, receiver, ambassador

by Mike Casazza

Kind of fun to play the “What If Game” with Tavon Austin. As in, what if he played running back from the start? For the record, he doesn’t believe he’d be any further along than he is right now because Noel Devine was in front of him the past two years.

And what if he did what so many others from Baltimore did and pursued basketball?

Austin thinks he could have done that. He was a point guard for the Dunbar High and in Carmelo Anthony’s AAU program, a “floor general” who used his speed to beat the defense and help the offense. “I definitely had a lot of exposure,” he said. “I think I could have played college basketball if it came down to it.”

Picture that …

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Baseball player Pat White assists football player Pat White

July 18, 2011 by Mike Casazza

Who says the sports aren’t related? The concussed former quarterback of the Miami Dolphins, and of WVU, took his game to the Kansas City Royals minor league organization. There he mastered a craft he’d need upon his return to football as the possible starting quarterback for the UFL’s Virginia Destroyers.

No,” he said. “That wasn’t the first time (being hit in the head). Hopefully, it’ll be the last, but who knows? It’s a collision sport. Thankfully, I was able to go to Arizona with Kansas City and re-learn how to slide. So I’ve perfected my slide technique.

“I mean, as the starting quarterback, you want to last throughout the game, you want to be there for four quarters. But in certain situations, (not sliding) is called for. If you’re lowering your shoulder on the opposite 20, it’s not really going to help. You just have to be smart about when to do it.”

How Pat McAfee is having the last laugh

by Mike Casazza

Pat McAfee will not deny he made a bad decision on the night he went for a swim in an Indianapolis canal and then tried to bum a ride with a total stranger sometime after 5 a.m. Nor will he deny he should have gotten some heat, and some teasing, for one regrettable action.

He’s also not about to lose sight of the fact he was treated rather harshly in some circles as part of the formulaic response to an arrest that involves alcohol.

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WVU painted into practice at rec center

by Mike Casazza

The Europe-bound men’s basketball team met the media Sunday as it began its 10 practices before the trip across the ocean. There, WVU will play a handful of exhibition games against a range of competition, a tactic of which Coach Bob Huggins doesn’t always approve.

Time is valuable, though, and this gets the intensely large group of newcomers an early start … and that comes after the shaky play in the Pittsburgh Basketball Club earlier this summer.

Practice would not be in the Coliseum Sunday, though. “Why?” you ask?

Their introduction to West Virginia basketball comes at the Student Rec Center rather than on the Coliseum court, the unintended consequence of someone painting the home court at WVU in the wrong colors.

It is a problem that will not matter once the $22-million — or is it up to $26-million now? — basketball practice facility is completed, provided they get that color scheme right, but where they practice now is of no concern to Bob Huggins’ large and talented 2011-12 recruiting class.

In fact, it is a blessing, as it allows them to go through their first two practices in preparation for this summer’s European swing without learning the evils of the devilish treadmill, which has remained in the Coliseum.

“We did talk about it for a minute,” Huggins admitted, wearing a telling smile.

Friday Feedback

July 15, 2011 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which is thinking of going to law school. Oh, the student loans will be an albatross, but once out I can hack it in court for, say, three years because of all the legal dealings witnessed while covering this WVU beat. By 2017, I should be satisfactorily employed in a college football or basketball program somewhere. I want to swing my sword, so that’s the plan.

By the way, that’s a purposeful choice of words because of what’s been done to ESPN’s Bruce Feldman. Ridiculousness. I can’t remember seeing a reaction quite like this before. It’s a unique case and the social media changes everything, but, man, it’s taken off quickly and nastily. I don’t have an ESPN Insider account or a The Magazine subscription, but if I did …

This is another case where what’s happened isn’t the story, but what happens next is. I’m curious in the outcome here. The unintentional consequence is the book and Mr. Feldman have received a big boost out of this, which is probably what the suspenders wanted to avoid. Can there be a reconciliation — ESPN, despite all its criticisms, is still ESPN — or does someone woo Feldman, who is just really, really good at what he does, to a presumably happier place? I’m also curious if any of you care, either before reading this or afterward.

I digress. Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. #FreeBruce

Josh24601 said:

Welcome to the big chair, Mr. Holgorsen. Time to grow a mustache.

I picture him tousling his mustache in his office, thinking of ways to use seven eligible receivers on a play, but not for this. He didn’t even allow time for a wispy mustache. Fast action. And what would happen if he did indeed grow a mustache? I think parts of the internet would quake and collapse.

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Roberts, Hammond hires are nods to the future

July 14, 2011 by Mike Casazza

There are two ways to look at the two most recent additions to WVU’s football program. Dana Holgorsen and Oliver Luck didn’t put tremendous emphasis on the college football pasts of Daron Roberts and Alex Hammond, but did project great things about their college football futures.

“In today’s world, there are different paths,” he said. “I remember the olden days when I was playing football, you came out of school, got a graduate assistant job and then you coached. I think today the world is different, quite honestly.

“Look at Alex and Daron’s resumes. They’re smart people. I think in college sports over the years it was common to try to hire more experienced people. Now I think you try to hire smart people who can grow with their position and aren’t tapped out after six months or so.

Yet these are certainly non-traditional decisions, though you do have to wonder if the so-called tradition is changing …

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