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

Bill Stewart to make $1.65 million for quiet exit

June 20, 2011 by Mike Casazza

Story up at DailyMail.com.

And if you’re keeping score at home, WVU will be paying Bill Stewart, Jeff Mullen, Chris Beatty, Dave Johnson and Dave McMichael some $3.25 million not to coach the Mountaineers. Stewart will get his $1.65 over a certain schedule. Beatty, Johnson and McMichael have one year left on their two-year contracts while Mullen has two years left on his three-year deal. Together they’ll make somewhere around $1.6 million.

Dana Holgorsen receives a big raise going from offensive coordinator ($750,000) to head coach ($1.4 million). Bill Kirelawich, David Lockwood and Steve Dunlap all got raises of at least $35,000. Jeff Casteel was bumped from $295,000 to $400,000 — and promised $50,000 raises the following two years. That’s lot of money going toward this coaching change.

A pre-summer depth chart

by Mike Casazza

A few changes worth noting: Jeff Braun is now a left guard instead of a right tackle and Quinton Spain is a right tackle instead of a left tackle; Tyler Rader is ahead of Cole Bowers; WVU is thin on the front six on defense and a lot better off in the secondary; Brodrick Jenkins has everyone thinking he can return punts.

OFFENSE
QB – Geno Smith, Paul Millard, Brian Athey
A-Back – Vernard Roberts, Trey Johnson, Daquan Hargrett
B-Back – Matt Lindamood, Ricky Kovatch, Ryan Clarke, Shawne Alston
LT – Don Barclay, Nick Kindler
LG – Jeff Braun, Chad Snodgrass (Josh Jenkins)
C – Joe Madsen, John Bassler
RG – Tyler Rader, Cole Bowers
RT – Quinton Spain, Pat Eger, Curtis Feigt
X – Stedman Bailey, J.D. Woods, Coley White
H – Tavon Austin, Willie Milhouse
Y – Tyler Urban, Devon Brown, Andrew Goldbaugh
Z – Ryan Nehlen, Brad Starks, Ivan McCartney

DEFENSE
DT – Julian Miller, J.B. Lageman, C.J. Huffman
NT – Josh Taylor, Trevor Demko, (Jorge Wright)
DE – Bruce Irvin, Will Clarke, Ted Rietschlin
SLB – Doug Rigg, Tyler Anderson or Donovan Miles
MLB – Najee Goode, Branko Busick or Steve Paskorz, Jewone Snow
WLB – Josh Francis or Casey Vance
LCB – Keith Tandy, Brantwon Bowser, Ishmael Banks, Lawrence Smith
SS – Terence Garvin, Michael Dorsey
FS – Eain Smith, Travis Bell, Matt Moro, Nick Cadwell
BS – Darwin Cook, Wes Tonkery, Lucas Henn
RCB – Pat Miller, Brodrick Jenkins, Avery Williams, Vance Roberts

SPECIAL TEAMS
PK – Tyler Bitancurt, Corey Smith
P – Corey Smith, Michael Molinari
KO – Corey Smith
LS – Cody Nutter, Trent Lusk
H – Michael Molinari
PR – Brodrick Jenkins, Tavon Austin, Keith Tandy
KR – Tavon Austin, Brad Starks

Dana Holgorsen turns 40 tomorrow

by Mike Casazza

And we could have a lot of fun with the obvious Mike Gundy/”I’m a man!” meme. Yet we’ll do something different.

West Virginia’s 33rd head football coach had his first official press conference Friday and — while avoiding “The Lion King” and rear view mirrors — stiff-armed the urge to dig up the recent past and instead applied pedal to metal in speaking about the future.

“If you’re staying the same, you’re getting passed,” he said. “If we want to position ourselves for when conference realignment does happen, being an elite school in the Big East, we need to keep improving.”

Holgorsen spent the previous 11 years in Oklahoma and Texas, beginning with Texas Tech and continuing on to Houston and then Oklahoma State. He saw what hundreds of millions of dollars did for facilities at Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.

He won’t compare them to WVU, but he said WVU has a duty to strive for the same or accept the consequences.

“TCU is coming into the Big East and TCU has done its best to keep up with what is happening in the Southwest,” he said. “If we want to get into Texas and recruit kids, that’s what we’re dealing with.

“We have to make big changes on the horizon and we need to do small stuff here from a functional standpoint so our players get the most out of what their day-to-day activities are.”

The topic, of course, is facilities and additions and enhancements. This was something Bill Stewart almost never spoke about and something Rich Rodriguez almost never missed an opportunity to discuss.

So suppose you just received an invitation to Holgorsen’s 40th birthday party. It’s short notice, but who knew we’d be here today? You simply have to go and you have the means necessary to give Holgorsen something significant for the so called “big picture.” Maybe it’s something you believe he needs or something you want him to have. Maybe it’s something another school has or maybe it’s something no one else has.

Whatever the case, your something is something that’s going to undoubtedly make the program, the stadium, the team headquarters or the entire WVU football experience better.

Maybe it’s a coat of paint for the walls inside the stadium. Maybe it’s the extra 30 yards in the practice facility. Maybe you have a list in your mind and I just took two of the most obvious ones off the top.

They’re wrapping up “Happy Birthday” and Dana is eyeballing that extravagantly wrappped gift you put on the table in the corner. You have a chance to help him celebrate the “over the hill” occasion by letting him unwrap something that will get WVU over the hump. What’s inside?

Friday Feedback

June 17, 2011 by Mike Casazza

Welcome (back) to the Friday Feedback. It’s been a long time since we gathered under this roof for this occasion. I don’t even know where to start today, but I think the best and most appropriate point is where it all began. Check the comments — and the range of content across two days — to see where we started both fundamentally and emotionally. You know where it ended, but just revisit the beginning and the early phases of the story’s development.

In the same ways we revisit the blog posts from December 2007 and on to crack open the time capsule and see what in the world happened as Rich Rodriguez ditched WVU and WVU battled back — if you haven’t, you should; it’s what established us here — we’ll look back on the past two weeks to review another seismic shift.

And this is where I begin some housekeeping …

Continue reading…

Updates on unknown things

June 16, 2011 by Mike Casazza

– Anyone who is asked to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request has five business days to supply the information or ask for an extension.

WVU has been asked by a long list of media entities for whatever it is that the school and Bill Stewart signed last Friday. Requests were filed and fielded Monday. Tuesday was the first day of the five-day cycle. Saturday and Sunday don’t count because they aren’t business days. That means WVU could release the signed agreement Monday.

– I’m still getting word from people who deal with these things regularly that the two sides quite likely carefully arranged something to keep one from taking down the other in public. That said, the paperwork should contain all the dollars and sense involved in ending the WVU-Stewart relationship.

– Through tireless effort to pursue and secure the truth, we now believe the Mysterious Mid-Major Opponent for the 2011-12 basketball season is Kent State. We’ve thought this for a little while, but with less conviction than we possess right now.

Old WVU players speak on new WVU players

by Mike Casazza

Truck Bryant and Kevin Jones, who, believe it or not, are the first tpair of returning 1,000-point scorers in school history, were in South Charleston for a camp yesterday. Jack Bogaczyk decided against a very large pizza and opted instead to quiz the seniors on the fresh faces fans will see in the fall.

Try not to get excited after reading this.

Holgorsen’s new ride

by Mike Casazza

Part of the new WVU football coach’s excursion to Beckley earlier in the week was to make a side trip to Summersville and sign up for his new ride. I’d say new car or new truck, but that wouldn’t be accurate …

Continue reading…

New assistant coach may have no specific position to coach

June 15, 2011 by Mike Casazza

Dana Holgorsen will eventually hire an assistant coach to fill the void created by his promotion Friday night. Holgorsen was the offensive coordinator, and will remain that, as well as the quarterbacks coach. That won’t change, either. For starters, Holgorsen wants to have his hands on the player who has his hands on the ball every game. He also has great trust in his graduate assistant, Jake Spavital, who was with Holgorsen at Houston and Oklahoma State and worked closely with the quarterbacks in spring practice. Holgorsen said that arrangement will also remain the same during the season.

So …

Continue reading…

What will Dana Holgorsen do next?

by Mike Casazza

Maybe it’s just me, but there may have been no better way to get away from what everyone was talking about than by giving everyone something new to talk about. If nothing else, credit Dana Holgorsen from steering the conversation in a different direction — and figure Holgorsen did the steering while seated in a Ninja 650R.

Yesterday’s skydiving escapade wasn’t something he planned and it wasn’t something to celebrate the occasion. I can’t imagine someone saying, “Hmmm, I was named head coach Friday. I’ve just got to jump out of an airplane. Assemble the U.S. Army’s Golden Knights and meet me in Beckley. Oh, and only tell one television station. Thanks.”

No, it was just a impromptu invitation to do something he’d always wanted to do and with the best accomplices out there. And he was excited about it, going so far as to do what he could to get pictures of the event because there were American and WVU flags involved and Tuesday was, after all, Flag Day.

Did it serve as some sort of a pressure release? Indeed. But this, I’m going to guess, is the beginning of a case to be made that Holgorsen is just different. Different than Bill Stewart, who, to be fair, is 20 years older and therefore prone to do a few less extreme things. But Bill Stewart goes to Pirates games. Dana Holgorsen does the pierogi race.

Which makes me wonder: What’s next on Dana Holgorsen’s bucket list?

Bruce Irvin would sign off on Bruce Irvin comparison

June 14, 2011 by Mike Casazza

Here’s your “crash landing” video — ouch!