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September 10, 2008 by Mike Casazza

Perhaps it was the identical chant that rained down upon his ears from early in the fourth quarter on Saturday, but Bill Stewart believes oxygen is overrated. Altitude is not an issue. There’s plenty of time to rest between snaps.

Fine. I can accept that. After all, Stewart coached four years (1990-93) at the Air Force Academy, which is 7,250 feet above sea level in Colorado Springs, Colo., and closer to the heavens than Folsom Field, which sits 5,360 feet above the sea in Boulder, Colo. And take Stewart’s word, please, because he’s jogged quite a bit in high altitude.

“I just don’t think that’s a big problem. I think it’s kind of comical,” Stewart said Tuesday. “I lived out there for four years at the Air Force Academy and we were at 6,800 feet. Now, when we went on our retreat with Coach [Fisher] DeBerry, we went up to almost 10,000 feet. Now that’s a problem. I jogged up there. But [at Air Force] I ran 100 miles a week, 50 weeks a year for four years.”

Quick math: He purportedly ran 5,000 miles a year and 20,000 miles in four years. It breaks down to about 14.3 miles per day … though it’s probably more because I can’t believe a Division I assistant could do it seven days a week. The job couldn’t allow it. So let’s say five days a week and 20 miles per day. Stew’s still in pretty good shape, so I’d imagine he was capable of averaging 12 minutes per mile back then. That’s four hours a day running, 20 hours a week and 1,000 hours a year.

Dollar dollar bills, y’all

by Mike Casazza

I can’t believe I actually thought this and the words even look weird on the screen, but I happen to believe WVU’s athletic department needs some money. Believe it or not, it doesn’t necessarily get the money from the P-Rod settlement. 

Michigan’s $2.5 million portion of the buyout, paid July 31, was placed temporarily into WVU’s general fund. Where it — and Rodriguez’s three future payments of $500,000 each — will end up is still an unanswered question.

WVU spokesperson Becky Lofstedt said in an e-mail Tuesday that the $2.5 million remains in a general university account and is “likely to be targeted for a specific project at some future time.”

It seems the decision belongs with interim President C. Peter Mcgrath or the WVU Board of Governors.

Where the buyout bucks belong is with the WVU athletic department. There are more than a few good reasons for that besides the fact that it was primarily an athletics issue:

No use putting it off any longer

September 9, 2008 by Mike Casazza

When it was learned last year that WVU would play Colorado this year, I was immediately excited. No, not because the flight to and two nights in the gorgeous sunshine state Denver, but because of Dan Hawkins and the slight, though existing chance he’d flip his lid.

Something about Boulder and the coaches there.

Barnett also took the time to critique Hnida’s play. Wednesday’s Denver Post reports that Barnett, when asked Tuesday about Hnida’s situation, said that “It was obvious Katie was not very good. She was awful. You know what guys do? They respect your ability. You can be 90 years old, but if you can go out and play, they’ll respect you. Katie was not only a girl, she was terrible. OK? There’s no other way to say it.”

Is it too late?

by Mike Casazza

The Reds no longer retain Pat White’s baseball rights.

Just curious about the Pat White situation. I know we drafted him and he went back to the Univ. of West Virginia to play football. Did we sign him to come back after he finishes out college like the Cubs did with Jeff Samardijza?
— Michael L., Dayton, Ohio

White, the speedy quarterback, was the 49th-round Draft pick in June. But he did not sign by the Aug. 15 deadline and the Reds lost the rights. It was a late, late-round gamble with very lowered realistic expectations he’d pass up football for baseball.

No truth to the rumor PW was upset by the fact Cincinnati didn’t have a lot of UWV WVU players the past few years. And that’s the first and last time White and Samardijza are mentioned in the same breath.

Remember, it could always be worse

by Mike Casazza

WVU’s woulda-coulda-shoulda offensive coordinator was fired by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats Monday.

Yesterday, they fired head coach Charlie Taaffe, who seemed confused, resigned, perplexed and more depressed than enraged. He had clearly lost the faith of his players, who weren’t good enough in any case. Taaffe was replaced with offensive co-ordinator Marcel Bellefeuille on an interim basis.

If the shakeup and all the bungling and failure that preceded it were the stuff of fate or bad luck or some great cycle of football life, it would be enough to point a few fingers and pass on a few regrets and wish the Ticats better luck next year.

They’re not. What has happened to the franchise is a disaster of the organization’s own making, a straightforward connect-the-dots pattern in which bad decisions compound bad decisions and lead to bad outcomes.

But how do you really feel?

Taaffe, you’ll remember, was quite interested in joining old pal Bill Stewart as WVU’s O.C., only the Ticats didn’t want to be besmirched in such a way. Taaffe was basically bullied into staying on and the dopey team president called the multiple media outlets reporting the situation liars.

That was a delightful irony because the dopey team president said a reporter called and apologized for misreporting the story. That was the lie.

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Stew: Phew!

September 8, 2008 by Mike Casazza

The Big East’s coaches’ teleconference was this morning and Bill Stewart, as you might expect, was a popular subject in the wake of the loss at ECU. It was the second time he faced the music after doing about as well as you could expect outside his locker room Saturday night.

Monday was a little different.

As you might imagine the call was a little spirited at times, particularly when West Virginia coach Bill Stewart got on. He got peppered with some serious questions.

Just a taste?

When he was asked about fans jumping off the bandwagon he said “let them jump off.” He said folks shouldn’t be worried about hotel reservations for January until matters in weeks one, two, and so on were taken care of. Some really good stuff from the first-year. 

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Stay off the field means just that

by Mike Casazza

I’ve rushed a field before. Many times, in fact. I’ve been pepper sprayed and I’ve grabbed patches of grass. I’m not unlike many others. Prior to Saturday, though, I’ve never been on the field when thousands of people decided to rush onto it. Chaotic. I was legitimately worried for a  few moments, but only because every spot I thought was safe was soon jeopardized by the flood of humanity. I really never thought the students would run through and leap over the hedges. I guess you do learn something every day. 

I wrote about the delirium today, though only as a way to transition to a much, much larger problem, and that column actually generated more e-mail for the (accurate) description of the scene. Turns out there is an investigation into claims of brutality. 

Many others attending the home game expressed outrage and disappointment over what they saw in person, and later relived through video.

“It was the most repulsive thing I’ve ever seen,” said New Bern resident Michael Jones. “Those kids weren’t doing anything wrong.”

Two of Jones’ children attend ECU, and he said he saw many officers using excessive force from his seat over the goalpost.

“I’m just grateful my son didn’t run out on the field,” he said. “These guys were getting the crap kicked out of them.”

Upon further review

by Mike Casazza

Two days later and a lot of people are still talking about the Pat White’s first-quarter fumble and the confusion that followed.

ECU’s offense took the field and was joined by WVU’s defense. Just when it seemed a whistle would blow to stop play and send a question to the replay booth, the Pirates snapped the ball.

“They checked it upstairs,” Stewart said. “They told me it was checked and said it was done. I didn’t have the best view in the house, but if seven officials and TV can’t figure it out, they don’t need my input.”

Replays showed the play was at least questionable and worthy of review. That responsibility usually goes to the officials in the both.

“I thought they’d review it,” White said. “I’m not sure why they didn’t.”

They officials never interceded, which left the decision to the Mountaineers. Stewart, who is allowed to request one review per game and can retain the challenge if it’s upheld, never asked for a review.

White nearly called a timeout to allow his side to question the play, but stopped for some reason. Stewart, who was conferring with his assistants, including those in the coaching box above the field, did the same.

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Vent

September 7, 2008 by Mike Casazza

Fire away … and there’s plenty of material.

If it helps, ECU is very good and should be favored every game the rest of the way. The Pirates reminded me a lot of USF before the game and I won’t back away from that at all now. Just a very well-coached team with a lot of veterans and people they trust in specific situations.

They’ll be difficult to beat at home, too. ECU has the team entrance down. They put the bow of a pirate ship up against the tunnel and start blaring Hendrix’s Purple Haze as purple smoke billows from the pirate ship. Then they storm the field and the crowd, which includes students seated at field level ,goes bonkers. They stayed in it from start to finish Saturday. Just very impressive all around.

WVU, meanwhile, is fortunate to have some time between games.  

Friday Feedback

September 5, 2008 by Mike Casazza

… will not be seen at this time. Apologies as I’m sure it totally taints your day. Short week and an early start on this trip to GVegas that just won’t go as planned — we know that. I’ve got every contingency outside of a hot air baloon covered. I’m hopeful to be back by Tuesday.

I just wish I was as confident as the neighborhood Elks Lodge.

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Anyhow, I do want to raise one point now that the season is a week old. During breaks in the candlelight vigil for Beanie Wells and his foot, there’s been concern about Tim Tebow and his lack of productivity. It would seem obvious the reigning Heisman Trophy winner is the biggest competitor for anyone hoping to win it this year … and that’s of particular interest to to those who believe Pat White can win. After a week and a long, hard look into the future, I think Pat’s a serious contender and, let’s be honest, he and Tebow are somewhat similar.

As such, they could have similar statistics and this is a prize driven by numbers. Yet there’s a key element that needs to be discussed … and credit for this must go to Scott Taylor — his comments are the ones authored by overtheSEC — for not only beating me to the punch on the research, but for beating me down in the process. His thorough work follows the jump.

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