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

Inside Bobby Bowden’s Christmas party

December 15, 2009 by Mike Casazza

The Jeff Casteel rumor can probably shrivel up now that Mark Stoops is the defensive coordinator at FSU. It’s part head-coach-still-in-waiting Jimbo Fisher’s staff reconfiguration. The Clarksburg native has told three assistants and the strength and conditioning coach they won’t be retained. Previously, defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews announced he’d retire at the end of the season.

Two of the four assistants have been replaced, most notably Stoops, who left his brother’s side and a D.C. position at Arizona. Stoops coaches the secondary, meaning the team still does need a linebackers coach to replace displaced Chuck Amato, though it seems a reach to think Casteel would do such a thing.

All in all, it’s just another dynamic to the Gator Bowl.

While the new staff is still being put in place in Tallahassee, the current staff still has a Gator Bowl to prepare for. Fisher was asked if noticed any awkwardness between him and the four coaches he won’t be retaining — linebackers coach Chuck Amato, running backs coach Dexter Carter, special teams/defensive ends coach Jody Allen and strength and conditioning coach Todd Stroud.

“Everything’s been very professional,” Fisher said. “Everybody has worked very hard. We still talk. We still smile at each other. Went to a Christmas party [Sunday] at Coach Bowden’s house. Had dinner together.

 “People that are in this business understand that sometimes, unfortunately, that’s part of it. That shows you their character and who they are and what they are, and why Coach Bowden had them on his staff.”

Jim Leavitt sprints into potential problem

December 14, 2009 by Mike Casazza

Leavitt allegedly grabbed a player by the throat at halfitme Nov. 21 and hit him in the face twice, according to the player’s father, his high school coach and five members of USF’s football program.

The incongruous math of college bowls

by Mike Casazza

A pretty in-depth look at what is never as it seems, including a past WVU reference.

When West Virginia lost to Pitt, 13-9, in December 2007, it kept the Mountaineers out of the BCS national championship game but not the BCS bowl picture. Instead of playing in New Orleans, West Virginia headed 1,000 miles further west to the Fiesta Bowl.

“The real misconception is when somebody goes to a BCS bowl, people think you’re getting $15 million,” West Virginia senior associate athletic director Russ Sharp said. “You’re getting a fraction of that – and it costs a fortune to go to the Fiesta Bowl.”

Sharp said that the Big East’s payout to West Virginia for its trip to the 2008 Fiesta Bowl was $2,425,600, but the school’s expenses totaled $3,495,000 – for losses of $1,069,400. Taking the 400-member band alone cost West Virginia nearly $700,000, and the school had to swallow some of its 17,500 ticket obligation.

“We lost money on that trip,” Sharp said. “It was an expensive deal.”

The unusual graduate, Joe Mazzulla

by Mike Casazza

I say “unusual” because the kid’s been through a lot. There was a point in time when, to be perfectly honest, no Mazzulla news would have been too surprising. To get this news, though, was a little unexpected.

Say what you will about the cause of some of his trouble and the way he’s handled himself through the years, but he graduated Sunday after 3 1/2 years when, I think it’s fair to say, many people wondered if he’d be around or able to do such a thing.

Oh, yes, his degree is a little unusual, too.  

He’s officially the recipient of a Bachelor of Arts degree in Multidisciplinary Studies. The curriculum, as the title suggests, encourages students to study a variety of topics on the way to three minors.

Mazzulla’s minors? Spanish, business and sports exercise psychology.

“I’m going to coach and recruit guys from Spain and deal with people as mentally unstable as I am,” the 6-foot-2, 200-pound guard said.

You know what this bowl needs? A storyline!

by Mike Casazza

Because we had nothing else to write and think about in the time leading up to and then the time spent covering the Gator Bowl, ESPN’s Outside the Lines showed Florida State’s athletic department in a rather negative light Sunday … which, when you consider recent charges and convictions, is saying something when talking about Florida State. (Good video as a sidebar.)

Beyond that, some learning disabled athletes drink from a fire hose of course assistance. At Florida State, classroom accommodations, such as note-takers and untimed tests, are dispensed by the campus disability center that is available to all students. But athletes also have the resources of a $1.5 million-a-year athletic academic support unit with 32 computers, private tutoring rooms and a five-station “Learning Center” for athletes with learning disabilities or deficiencies.

That’s where Monk set up camp, working on papers and other assignments with what she estimates were about 65 learning disabled athletes. She tells “Outside the Lines” that more than a third of the football team, and three-quarters of the basketball team, had learning disabilities. FSU spokesman Rob Wilson did not respond to requests by “Outside the Lines” for information on the number of learning disabled athletes who were in the program when Monk left.

In addition to ignoring that request, Bobby Bowden is trying to keep a distance and seems like he just wants to be left alone  until he gets out of town. The Florida State A.D. warned of “false information” within the report before it even came out. The school also accused ESPN of misleading viewers and tried to get the network to nix the piece. That all sounds good, but I’d like to see how or why ESPN was wrong — and that may very well happen.

Meanwhile, WVU is pretty comfortable with its academic situation, though it seems every year there are white-knuckle eligibility moments before the bowl game.

Friday Feedback

December 11, 2009 by Mike Casazza

Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which is feeling a little deja vu and might warn the Florida Gators to be prepared for the Sugar Bowl lest they be 48-28’d.

I hate to see what’s happening at Cincinnati happen at Cincinnati … or anywhere, for that matter. I don’t mean the coaching change. That happens and I don’t even question the move. It looks like a great match. However, Brian Kelly was pretty darn popular there and nowhere was his buzz greater than in the U.C. locker room. Not anymore, and that’s sad.

In some ways, his hands were tied as to how to handle his exit — there is no right way; there are wrong ways — and he couldn’t possibly control or predict reactions like those of Ben Guidugli and talkative Mardy Gilyard. Could Kelly have handled his exit better? I suppose, but I’d argue it would have been worse to make the announcement before the banquet, an occasion that meant a great deal to him and the entire program.

So now there exists a perception Kelly is a bad guy. We’ll see — he owes the school $1 million for taking another job. Lawsuit, anyone?

Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, eat your bread. 

Sam said:

I’m starting to think Stewart’s going to create a genuine fissure between fans with a realistic view of the West Virginia football program and fans who have confused ours with Florida or Texas. These people demanding Stew’s head after two pretty good seasons are absolutely insane.

I never know/knew how to react to the people who say Stewart needs to go. It’d be a disastrous decision to push him out and I kind of thought even discussing it added credibility the idea didn’t deserve. Now that you see the coach punching back, surely to those who don’t like him in his position, it’s open to discussion. And it’s still an awful idea. I do, however, think it’s fair to be critical and ask questions, which Stewart experienced plenty of in his two seasons, as well as expect something big next season. Pitt loses Stull and a lot on defense, Cincinnati is without Kelly and WVU, presumably, has the most talent coming back. This is the third year. The young guys he inherited are entrenched. Guys he recruited are emerging. If you were to ask me in December about next season, I’d say things line up pretty well.

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MMQ hurries to aide of 9-3 football coach

December 10, 2009 by Mike Casazza

I wonder what Bill Stewart would think of this.

Unloved Coaches of the Year (If Not Beyond):

Bill Stewart, West Virginia. The Monday Morning Quarterback would want a son to play for this man. Yes, he has a considerable share of coaching weaknesses – game management and fourth-down decision making stand out – but is there a better person working a sideline in all of major college football? Stewart bathes his players in mental sunshine, and breathes confidence into a locker room.

Omitted? His hair, when woven properly, incubates premature babies.

The blurb goes on a little more and asks a question I imagine would drive Stwart crazy  …

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An update from John Flowers

by Mike Casazza

John Flowers, he of the coveted backpack and subsequent global intrigue, still has no leads on said accessory, but has no worries, either.

“I got a new Cars backpack at Disneyland in Anaheim. It’s better. They can keep the other one.” 

I don’t want to suggest anything, but Flowers, who is off to a nice start in that he does what he’s supposed to do, didn’t miss a shot in Anaheim after his Cars reunion and Wednesday made two 3-pointers in a game for the second time in his career.

Ranking also a rankling?

by Mike Casazza

Yesterday I was going to throw out a question: Is this WVU basketball team really the sixth-best team in America? Does it feel or look or seem like it? The idea was not to convict or acquit the Mountaineers. It was just to gauge the audience to see if there were skeptics, believers or both. Kind of like asking, “Are they really there? How did this happen?”

It then occurred to me there are two answers to the original question: I don’t know and no.

The Mountaineers are good and in all likelihood will soon prove themselves worthy of their place in this echelon — unless they ruin it for themselves. But what do we know of top six teams here? It’d be hard to compare this team to a precedent that came nearly 28 years ago. The game, the style, the players, the coaches, the everything is different. So who knows? To that, it was early, just five games in against an uninspiring list of opponents. There was no non-conference game against a Kentucky or UNC or Florida on which we could base a broader assumption.

So I tabled the discussion.

For a day.

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All-Big East

December 9, 2009 by Mike Casazza

Ten Mountaineers make the all-conference teams, including five defenders and both specialists.