Ringing the Masturbation Bell

This was passed on to me by one of the FanHousers from Adam @ Black Heart Gold Pants, and I couldn't not put it up.

Mick on a Stick Night

Just in case you were wondering what you should take with you to the game Wednesday night, we're providing you with a little idea. Our old "pal", Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin is coming to Morgantown and he's bringing his hot head with him. So we decided to go with the Mick on a Stick to remind our little hot headed friend of his hotheadedness. No you don't need to hold it up all night long. Just when our little buddy goes on one of his rants, which will be often. He can't help himself. Hell, if you watch the video below (sorry about the quality, it was the best utube had to offer), he takes shots at his current players and the salads at his favorite restaurant and at Denny Crum's red jacket all within the first 90 seconds. It trails off into obscurity after that.

Freaking Early Links

Fucking sunrise!

Mike Casazza says everyone is in the wrong with the DickRod situation. I hate to be an asshole (not really, I love being an asshole), but didn't we all know that both sides were fucking this up from the moment the story broke?

Was it goal tending or does it really matter when you don't hit your free throws?

At least we haven't lost to Rutgers, yet.

Anyone else wonder how Bud Selig gets a contract extension? I mean the guys has been in charge during the worst period in baseball history, well since I've been alive.

People really do read your facebook page. And what you say can get you in trouble.

Update on that stabbing thing in Utah. Snowballs will get you stabbed.

I was thinking about ending this with a youtube of The Boomtown Rat's "I don't like Mondays", but that video is just a little boring. And it's about my least favorite song by the Rats. So how about a little "Young Lust" by the Floyd. Hey, it's got Bob Geldof in it. That kind of works. There's boobies in this, so don't watch at work. Seriously, NSFW.

Week in Review

A long post to review the week in RR and look forward. I've been out most of the week due to work and a sonogram. Turns out I'm not pregnant, just getting fat. The wife, on the otherhand, is making a little Mountaineer.

If the RR/WVU saga was a game of poker we just hit the turn because there can't be too many more revelations left for the river. The week started off with the Brown camp lobbing a racism claim at WVU during the coaching search. The charge was quickly refuted by WVU officials, but a review is underway. Even bigger news of the day was a reported "bombshell" that would be dropped by Brown later in the week.

In response WVU started revealing information that could be considered harmful to get a WVU-side to potential problematic stories. The first was the revelation of the funds of the 1100 Club. The club was started by Rodriguez for recruiting expenses and members had to donate at least $1,100 to be a "member." WVU officials admitted that money was taken during the the past few years to fund other projects, but money was always returned later and Rodriguez knew of the transactions.

The next turn came when WVU released a series of emails starting before football season showing the discontent of Rodriguez (or at least Brown). The emails showed that Rodriguez wanted complete control over the 1100 club, ads in the stadium, and his own pay website. Also, Brown started threatening WVU by November that Rodriguez could look elsewhere such as Texas A&M or FSU. Rodriguez also complained of Manchin being overly involved in the program. By late in the year Pastilong was out of the loop and Brown was quick to follow. Rodriguez was to talk straight to Chief of Staff Walker and Walker responded to Rodriguez's financial advisor Wilcox. By the end Wilcox was begging for more meetings as Rodriguez had become despondent after the Pitt game.

Finally, the bombshell was released today. It was underwhelming to say the least. The "bombshell" was released in a second letter of resignation. In the letter Rodriguez brings up three points that would appear to be the crux of his buyout argument. The first is a accusation that WVU President Mike Garrison would reduce or eliminate the buyout in the contract. That was followed by Rodriguez claiming he was "pressured" by WVU officials into signing the contract. And finally Rich detailed some of the issues such as the website and 1100 club that never got resolved to his satisfaction leading him to resign.

The attorney for WVU responded quickly.

"President Garrison made no agreement to reduce or eliminate the buyout clause," Wakefield told the AP. "The agreement between Mr. Rodriguez and the university is that which is set forth in the contract, and the terms of the contact are clear and unambiguous. "And it's important to note," he added, "that Mr. Rodriguez had the benefit of counsel representing him as well as a financial agent throughout the negotiations leading up to the signing of the contract."

So now we are at the point where all (or most) of the cards are on the table. Rodriguez appears to be arguing either a breach by WVU or fraudulent inducement to force him to sign the contract/duress. Both of these are probably losing arguments. WVU had 30 days after written notice to respond to any point in the contract that was not upheld. The emails never appear to claim that a contractual obligation was not performed. The emails actually point out items not in the four corners that Rodriguez wanted. Duress would need either a threat to physical or financial well being at the time of signing. That doesn't appear to be an issue here. Fraudulent inducement would be tricking someone into signing the contract. A major hurdle for Rodriguez to overcome will be the experience of the parties signing. Rodriguez had signed many contacts in his career (three in three years with WVU) and was represented by experienced counsel that reviewed and apparently approved the contract. Another issue is that the contract contains a standard four corners clause which states that the entire agreement is contained within the contract and any other or previews agreements are not given any latitude. Also any agreements to the contrary or before the contract would be eliminated by the parole evidence rule.

So if all of those issues are non-starters than Rodriguez has one more agrument or he better start hoping for a miracle revelation on the river. After all the dancing in the press it appears as though the real issue comes right back to the Beilein issue. If you remember there were two main issues in enforcing the Beilein buyout. First was the lack of a payment schedule, not an issue in this contract, and the second was the amount. The buyout is a "liquidated damages clause." This clause is to put the non-breaching party in a equal position as they would have been had there not been a breach. When Beilein resigned WVU immediately hired Bob Huggins so there were no real damages. Rodriguez's best argument is that the hiring of Stewart reduced any damage and therefore any additional monies would be punitive. Brown will almost assuredly point out that WVU is currently on pace to have the most donations in football history as well. However, if I were representing WVU I would turn the table on bff Ken Kendrick and his other buddies. I would call each up on the stand and have them say under oath that they took their pledges back after Rodriguez quit. And that would be the ultimate irony. The coach that has played the victim from day one and claimed to stay out of the press to lose in court due to his donor mouthpieces admitting to the press that they withdrew donations because Rodriguez left.

College Football Blogger Awards-Nominations

*Again, if you wish to have your voice heard you can go over to MGOBlog and cast your own ballot. *

All nominations are in no particular order

Best New Blog- West By God Virginia, WV Mountaineer Sports, and that's the extent of my looking around the internet this year. Boo John.

Best Community- Burnt Orange Nation, WMITC, Roll Bama Roll.

Best Writing- SMQ, Troy Nunes, Hey Jenny Slater.

Best Post- I'm drawing a blank. Certainly there were some good posts this year, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. So, no cake for you!

Funniest Blog- Troy Nunes, M Zone, Losers With Socks.

Best Analysis- SMQ, MGOBlog, and yeah that's it.

Best MSM Blog- Cardinal Fan, Bruce Feldman, fill in the blank.

Best Looking Blog- WV Mountaineer Sports, Rocky Top Talk, Men of Scarlet and Gray.

The Job Award- Troy Nunes, Pitt Blather, Deep South Sports (Erik doesn't give a shit).

Best Audio- In The Bleachers, BON/EDSBS for LIVE, does anyone else do audio?

Best Regular Feature- Octonion, Nunes 44, Curious Index.

Best Photoshop- LWS for the Urban Meyer Terminator, Enrod, MZone Hindenburg.

Best Big East Blog- Pitt Blather, Card Chronicle, Troy Nunes, WBGV, WVMS.

Best Blog- MGOBlog, EDSBS, LWS.

Marshall Preview

First, the stupid shit that has no bearing on tomorrow's game:

• WVU leads the all-time series 25-10 and has won 7 out of the last 10 meetings.
• Marshall comes into the game with a winning record for the first time since the '02-'03 season.
• The Turd has 0 marquee wins, and lost to something called Lipscomb. And my only question is if you're Lipscomb what does your dick do?

Things that matter a little:

• The one common opponent on the schedule is Louisville. We lost by nine, and Marshall lost by 10. Woopie!

Things that matter:

• We hate Marshall!
• Maybe not as much as Pitt, but we hate Marshall!
• This is the only game on their schedule that they seem to try to win, and we rarely show up for this game (but still manage to win most of the time).
  
• Oh yeah, we hate Marshall!

They made a movie about us!





Because your team was in a plane crash. Not because you were good!






Hey F-you, We Are Marshall! Randy Moss went to Marshall!






After he was denied admittance by Notre Dame and kicked out of Florida St.





We play for championships!






In the MAC? Isn't that like being king of the dipshits?





Hey! We're in Conference USA now motherfucker!






Oh yeah, I forgot. And?





................





Seriously! Were you going somewhere with that?






..............





Look, we all know you are going to try to slow the game down and try to keep it close and hope you get lucky at the end of the game.





But we are Marshall!!!!





Ok, great. You're Marshall.






WEEEEEEEE ARRRRRRRR....





Ugh! Never mind.

Round of Reubens

First the good news. The coaching search seems to be almost over with reports that Jeff Mullen of Wake Forest has agreed to become the next Offensive Coordinator at WVU. Mullen has been at Wake for the last 7 years with the last five as coach of the quarterbacks. Mullen has no ties to WVU which makes him a minority hire for this staff.

Speaking of minorities you probably haven't heard this one. It's been reported by the Dominion Post (subscription needed) that a black man was denied service at a Clarksburg Eagles club and told to leave because they don't allow black people at the Clarksburg Eagles. That is a pretty crazy story in this day and age but the quote from Bob Powell, secretary of the Clarksburg Eagles is great.

It's never been -- I have no -- nothing wrong with that. We usually, if we let one in, we usually ask him to leave because it is a policy of the club, but we never had no problem with them.

That may be one of the most incoherent racial slurrings of all time.

Which of course brings us to the, as EDSBS called it, nuclear option of race. Mike Brown, the agent of both Calvin Magee and Rich Rodriguez, claiming that Calvin Magee was never seriously thought of as a coaching candidate because he is black. And the story was dropped on MLK day. Chuck Finder has had a line in with Ken Kendrick before so he is getting all the dirt from the Rodriguez camp and broke this story.

According to Brown, who declined to identify the person involved in this incident, "Calvin was in discussions with this West Virginia University administrator, and Calvin kind of politely asked him, 'Do you think I have a shot [at becoming the next Mountaineers head coach]?' The administrator said, 'No you don't,' and pointed to his skin. That's why Calvin got on the plane."

But then the story takes a different spin.

Magee said he told interim coach Bill Stewart his reasons for attending -- for one thing, "to explore my options." He returned the next day to Morgantown, but he quickly grasped that damage was done.

"I immediately felt like I should have stayed away" from Ann Arbor, said Magee. Mountaineers officials "were kind enough to let me coach the bowl game. But I had not officially resigned from West Virginia University. I was coming back to work."

So the story is conflicted in that according to Brown, Magee got on the plane because of racial intolerance, but according to Magee, Magee didn't get interviewed because he got on the plane. WVU and Magee differ when it comes to the actual "interview." According to Magee it was short and only to appease the Black Coaches and Administrators with Magee being told that he had no real chance. According to AD Ed Pastilong the conversation centered on Magee being a "Michigan Man" and therefore not a candidate at WVU.

So RR sends a volley though Finder, how does WVU respond? Through "Shreddergate" author Dave Hickman who claims that he was at the Puskar Center the day Rodriguez resigned and no administrators were there so therefore no one high up could have pointed the finger at Magee.

Apparently this happened very quickly because this is what happened that afternoon. I know. I was there.

Rodriguez walked into a team meeting shortly after 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 16. Ten minutes later he walked out, as did the players, who had just been told he was their former coach. The players scattered, most of them to the locker room to prepare for the 3 p.m. practice that was to go on as scheduled. Most of the assistant coaches huddled briefly and then went about their business.

The only administrator I recall seeing at the time — or for the rest of the afternoon, for that matter — was communications director Mike Fragale. Mike Montoro, who is in charge of football communications and works under Fragale, showed up later.


The majority of the team was on the field for the 3 p.m. practice within 45 minutes of the end of the meeting with Rodriguez. The short practice ended at about 4:15 p.m. Almost immediately Magee was out of the building and on his way to Michigan for Rodriguez’s introductory press conference there the next morning.
Could Magee have squeezed in a career-defining conversation during all of that? Perhaps. But with whom? If the “administrator's” answer was what Brown claims, Magee certainly didn’t ask Fragale or Montoro, two people trained in public relations and certain not to make that sort of gaffe. Athletic director Ed Pastilong eventually arrived at the building, but even if Magee was still there, Pastilong certainly didn’t make the remark.

All of this fun while Rodriguez goes to the press and claims WVU is mud-slinging and he just wants to move on. And it isn't over yet. Mike Brown has claimed that there will be a bombshell in the response to be filed this week. Legally the only "bombshell" could be something WVU did to breach the contract so it probably will have to do with assistant coaching salaries. However, rule nothing out at this point. Below are five educated guess on the "bombshell."

1. Ed Pastilong killed a hobo during last year's Big East Tournament b/c he thought he looked a little "Jewey."

2. All improvements to Mountaineer Field and Puskar Center were made by child laborers.

3. Mike Garrison once followed RR into a bathroom and after trying a "wide-stance" offered Rodriguez his choice of PhD in Physics, a J.D., or an R.N. degree to keep quiet.

4. No women were interviewed for the head coaching job either.

5. Apple. New study rooms in Puskar Center actually opium dens where administrators bring in young Korean boys to "entertain" them.

Is There a Right Place For a Stabbing?

Whenever I read the words "wrong place at the wrong time", I never expect anything good to come after it. And this was no exception.

Two Utah football players who got stabbed in a street corner fight after leaving a house party were in the wrong place at the wrong time, their coach said Monday.

"It appears that our players are on the road to recovery, and for that we are very grateful," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. "As for the incident on Saturday night, we have been in contact with the Salt Lake County Sheriff's department and were told that the investigation is in its preliminary stages."

Thankfully neither was seriously injured. But what is this about a house party? Why aren't parties just parties anymore? I not trying to say that Mormons can't bring it like the rest of the country, but really, they have house parties in Salt Lake City? Who knew?

Something tells me that "Animal" Mac Young was not the attacker in this case. Because he loves Rambo. He loves everything about Rambo. From his clothes to his haircut to his knife. And he wants to teach you how to be like him and how to attack correctly.

College Football Blogger Awards!

We, and I use "we" in the sense of college football bloggers of the world, did an awards thingy last year to recognize college football bloggers for their bestestness in particular categories. And we're back again this year, coming out of the basement in our underwear to be recognized.

Rather than rehash what everyone else is saying, here's what you do if you want to know the particulars about the voting process. Head over to Rocky Top Talk (you have to say that five times in a row before you click the link to really make it work), then to EDSBS for the categories, then to MGOBlog for the voting gizmo.

Important notes:

1. Bloggers can not nominate themselves.
2. Anyone can vote on the nominations portion of the process.
3. The period from which postings may be nominated runs from roughly the second week of January 2007 through the first week of January 2008, or approximately from one national championship game to the next.
4. Nominations will remain open through next Sunday night.
   

So this is your chance to get out there and support your favorite blogs and let them know that all those hits they get aren't just spambots. I'll post my nominations throughout the week/tonight depending on how drunk I get. And feel free to leave comments if you think I'm missing something or you want to persuade others in their voting.

St. John Red Storm Halftime

As I am sure you have seen the stats from last nights game, I will spare you the grief. The game was not well played and Ruoff couldn't buy a bucket. He will have nightmares about that game. No complaints however, a nine point win is welcomed in conference. I look forward to the brawl when we face them on the road before the conference tourney.

At halftime of the game last night the football team was honored and were presented the Fiesta Bowl Championship trophy. In front of a packed house Bill Stewart befriended fans by saying West "by God" Virginia. We love that.

I apologize for my considerable absence of late, but I gotta keep the lights on. Later Bitches. Kobe.

Laugh, it's Friday

First here is a link to Gump for Heisman, which was sent to me by someone that laughed so hard reading it they farted in the library. That is the kind of recommendation that gets you a link. The link will take you to a list of "demands" Rodriguez made and WVU failed to provide such as:

A red carpet. That starts at my fucking driveway. And ends at my fucking office door. I mean it. And I want it to pave every fucking possible pathway. If I take a shortcut? Red carpet. If I take the scenic route? Red carpet. If I decide to stop at the mistresses’ for a little A.M. fuck-start? Red carpet. If I decide to stop at your house and upperdeck your chimney? Red carpet. OK? Red carpet. Red carpet. Red carpet.

And everyone has seen a million take-offs on the "Leave Britney alone" Youtube video. Well make it a million and one.

That World Out There

Other stuff is fun too. I mean, have you ever really looked at your hands? I know we have a game tonight against St. Johns. A team that really hasn't been relevant since Lou Carnesecca stopped wearing those sweaters. Believe me, I really did want to go to see the football team together for the last time. But shit happens, and I'm here and they are there and that's the way it is.

And since I really don't see any point in doing any sort of preview, I thought it was a good time to link some stuff that caught my eye today.

Like this post by Gene Wojciechowski at ESPN. I very rarely if ever read anything at the WWL just because I think I've read enough articles over there to know what they are going to say just by the headline. But this one caught me off guard and actually shows promise if Gene would ever decide to give up the real reporter stuff to become a blogger.

Petrino: "Before we start, can I just say one thing from the bottom of my heart? This is by far the best Chex Mix I've ever had in my life. My wife Becky will kill me if I leave here without the recipe."

Recruit's dad: "Recipe? You open the bag and pour it into a bowl."

"Hold on -- I'm writing this down. Into … a … bowl. Well, I can certainly see where your son gets his smarts."

"Yes, about my son …"

"Best recruit I've ever seen. He could be a legend in Little Rock."

"You mean Fayetteville."

"Fayetteville … Little Rock. I keep getting those two mixed up. Memo to me: buy map of state."

"You've never actually seen my son play in person, have you?"

"Not exactly. But I have seen him on film and he's absolutely the kind of student-athlete I want in, uh …"

"Fayetteville?"

"That's the place. And while we're discussing college campuses, do you mind me asking where your son has taken his official visits?"

"Well, so far he's talked to Notre Dame, LSU, Florida, Mississippi and Auburn."

"Weird -- so did I. What I meant to say is, has he made any kind of verbal commitment?"

Obligatory St. John's Preview. Am I the only one that thinks it's kind of funny that anyone in their right mind would believe that because Jarrett Brown is playing on the basketball team that somehow Terrelle Pryor is going to start looking at us as a viable option? Maybe it's not completely crazy, but it's not exactly sane either.

New Auburn defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads will get another shot at WVU this September in Morgantown. Let's just forget what happened last December and focus on what happened the rest of the time.

11/16/2006 *	Heinz Field	Pittsburgh, PA	A	45	27	W
11/24/2005 *	Milan Puskar Stadium	Morgantown, WV	H	45	13	W
11/25/2004 *	Heinz Field	Pittsburgh, PA	A	13	16	L
11/15/2003 *	Milan Puskar Stadium	Morgantown, WV	H	52	31	W
11/30/2002 *	Heinz Field	Pittsburgh, PA	A	24	17	W
11/24/2001 *	Milan Puskar Stadium	Morgantown, WV	H	17	23	L
11/24/2000 *	Three Rivers Stadium	Pittsburgh, PA	A	28	38	L

It would be a lie to say we owned him. But we most certainly had some success against his defenses while he was at Pitt.

I heaped a lot of praise on USF linebacker Ben Moffitt going into the game last year, but maybe I was a little hasty in my praise. I know it's old news, but I haven't really seen any WVU blogs talking about it.

And since I've been about the YouTubes today, that seems like a good way to end the day.

More Nonsense

From the guys that brought you this....




I'm totally doing this to my neighbor tonight....

Shhh, don't tell

Really NSFW! Unless you have head phones. Na, don't watch this at work.

Mom's Care About Your Pain

HT: Part Mule

Being sick of all the DickRod news that seems to be all we WVU bloggers can talk about, I just want to say that I am done. You might have noticed that I've dropped acid and gone off on a tangent. If you haven't, you soon will. Because I've got a whole lot of paper and a whole lot of time for this. And I just want to go on record as saying that I, like this mom, love seeing fat kids in despair.

Marshall's Chances of Winning the Fulmer Cup Just Went Up

If you don't know what the Fulmer Cup is, you're not even close to being hip. So, you're welcome for the link and your new found coolness. Anyway, the Fulmer Cup is one of the few if not the only time that it is cool to cheer for Marshall. In fact, I've done quite a bit of cheering for Marshall in the past for this fine trophy. And they have never failed me.

So the latest commit to the Thundering Turd is OJ Mudock.

Wide receiver O.J. Murdock, who originally signed with South Carolina out of
high school, has committed to the Thundering Herd over Florida State, Tennessee,
and Louisville, the Tampa Tribune reports.
He was a member of the Gamecocks
for two years, appearing in four games. However, Murdock was arrested for
shoplifting in October 2006 and then left school. He played football this fall
at Pearl River (Poplarville, Miss.) Community College.

I guess Matthew McConaughey wasn't joking in We Are Marshall when he said, "We're Marshall. We'll take anyone."

Dummies

I for one have been critical of the athletic department for what appears to have been a break down in communication between the department and the two ex-WVU now Michigan coaches. But that doesn't mean that I believe for one second that Rodriguez was in the right either. Rich continues to try to win the PR battle by having Ken Kendrick speak out whenever possible about the shame of him leaving. He has escalated this battle by having his mother speak out and talk about the "poor kids." Now if the kids were being threatened then there is no excuse for that, but if they are being picked on a little then welcome to being 13. Just because you're Dad is rich doesn't make you untouchable. Try being the smelly kid or the kid with a turkey foot for a hand and see if you come home crying a few times.

When you are fighting a full P.R. battle, however, sometimes there may be some collateral damage. In this case it is either the son of Tony Gibson or the principal at his son's school or both. Gibson reported that his son was harassed by the principal of his school after they left for Michigan. Unfortunately the principal didn't stay silent and said that the kid was actually upset because he was leaving his friends. The principal did take down a sign featuring Rich Rodriguez, although Kerry Gibson accused him of tearing it up and having all the kids stomp on it. In the end Gibson had this to say:

"I'm from there, my brother works in public service, and people say things. Where I'm from, it's a small town and they support my move. (West Virginia) is a place we need to stay out of for a while."

Of course he said that while his son is still going to school in Morgantown. But who who cares how rough you have made it on your son or his principal when you've got newspapers to sell.

Another PR hit for the Rodriguez machine came out this morning. Rodriguez has painted himself as the guy who fought for his players and the program above all else. Of course his loyalty has been questioned when he may have called recruits before telling his team, calls which may have kept WVU from calling due to a dark period. Now there is the case of the missing files.

Soon after returning to work after the Fiesta Bowl a little more than a week ago, the staff at the Puskar Center found that most of the files — including all of the player files — that had been stored in Rodriguez’s private office were missing. In addition, all of the players’ strength and conditioning files in the weight room were gone.

The missing paperwork includes all player personnel files which include good and bad deeds of all the current players, progression by players made during workouts, donor information, and other assorted fun facts. What all of this proves is that Rodriguez is really THAT stubborn. He started a PR war and he doesn't care that there is going to be blowback against him. He is going to keep running with the threats to the families as if it were a bubble screen.

Round of Cubans

Since I was in South Florida all last week and they are that areas version of a reuben.

Former Terp and Panther coach Charlie Taaffe has decided he will stay with the CFL and not run the WVU offense next year.

Despite untruthful reports that surfaced Thursday of this week that I had accepted a job at West Virginia University, I thought it was important to let all the Tiger-Cats fans know the only place I want to coach is in Hamilton.

Taaffe reinforced this point be then claiming he will no longer coach on road trips. As for coaches that WVU did hire the names are as follows:

Steve Dunlap left Marshall as Defensive Coordinator to return to WVU.

David Lockwood has left Kentucky as defensive backs coach to return to WVU as well although his previous stint was far less than the 19 years Dunlap spent in Morgantown with Nehlen.

Chris Beatty had no WVU ties before his hire as he was the running backs coach with NIU last year. Unfortunately the staff though Beatty did coach with Nehlen and they had just forgotten so he will probably be fired immediately.

The final hire for now is Doc Holliday. Doc was the front-runner for head coach, in fact a presser was called for his announcement, but he'll settle as the recruiting coordinator and associate head coach. Holliday was on Nehlen's staff for 20 years and may give some of those to Beatty to keep him on staff. His first job priority is visiting Josh Jenkins.

We're going to hit the ground running [tomorrow]," added Stewart, who sounded as if he and Holliday planned to start that trail with a home visit to acclaimed line prospect Josh Jenkins of Parkersburg, W.Va.

SMQ waives goodbye to Steve Slaton. Another football player is expanding his horizons as well. Jarrett Brown has taken his 6'4" frame and 220 pounds to the hardwood and will begin playing for the men's basketball team this week.

Brown will probably play guard, his natural spot, and forward, a fit because of his physique. He's a healthy body and a physical presence and the Mountaineers (12-4, 2-2 Big East) need both. Coach Bob Huggins typically uses eight players, but in truth, it's often just seven. Starting center Jamie Smalligan is frequently removed early in the game because of matchup problems.

Ouch Jamie.

Finally some update on the "other" issue at WVU. UPI has a review of the ongoing review of Manchin's daughter getting a degree without the work 10 years later. The story reviews the early excuses from the school. #1 she forgot to pay the graduation fee. #2 electronic records didn't get transferred. These have both proven ineffective so get ready for #3, she did real life work. Of course the only paper in West Virginia that has run with the story is the DA. Hooray for Ry Rivard and boo to everyone that is involved in this mess.

Mountaineers Win-Slaton Leaving

Woo-ha! West Virginia wins 81-61. I couldn't watch due to the game being on ESPNU, and didn't listen due to my Chargers, OMG!, were in the game way longer than I expected, and actually won. Maybe one of the other Bastards was at the game and can give a little more insight. But looking at the box score it would seem Alex Ruoff's 7-11 from three point range and Donte Greene's below average 10 point game were the difference.

On another note, Steve Slaton decided to enter this years draft today. I have a piece on it up at the FanHouse. I'd say more right now, but the Dallas-New York game is getting interesting.

Update: Steve you will be missed hugely!

Update 2: Funniest post with very few words I've seen in a long time. Sorry, if it makes me laugh I have to share. Not that you all aren't going there on a daily basis anyway. Right?

Syracuse vs West Virginia Preview

Oh that picture makes me out to be a little too cocky for a fan of a team that got waxed on national tv a few nights ago, but being at home is usually worth an extra ten points for the Mountaineers. Ha! Way to curse the team Johnny.

Both schools padded their record with a slew of cupcakes to start out the season. West Virginia's out of conference schedule has been slightly tougher with games against Tennessee and Oklahoma. But seeing as we lost both those games, does it really matter? Maybe the selection committee will look at how close those games were when it comes to selection time. But for the most part it's been "fools gold" as Bob Huggins referred to it.

Syracuse has some definite head scratching losses on their record against UMass and Rhode Island. Although RI might not be that bad of a team.

Oh hey, did you know we won the Fiesta Bowl and ruined Gordon Solie's Tony Schiavone's Jim Ross' night?

HT: Wizard of Odds

Anyhow, Syracuse is lead in scoring by, HOLY JEBUS!, everyone in the original starting five is averaging in double figures! I have to admit that I haven't really been paying much attention to Syracuse this year, other than reading the fine blogs out there. But even then, skipping right past any talk of basketball. When I say original starting five, I'm referring to Eric Devendorf, who blew his knee out or something against E.Tenn. St. He was second on the team in 3pt% @ .407, scoring @ 17.1, and assists @ 3.9 before his injury. That would be like us loosing Alex Ruoff. A thought I don't want to think about. One thing is for sure, someone needs to put a body on freshman forward Donte Greene! The "kid" is averaging 19.4 ppg and 8.1 rpg. I'm looking at you Jamie Smalligan! You outweigh him by 30 lbs. Be physical! I don't care if you foul out, just make life tough on him. Other than that, West Virginia needs to ball hawk. Syracuse is averaging 15.9 turnovers per game. We're probably not going to be able to out rebound this team, so we need to make it up with steals and not turning the ball over. Although they might not take as many 3pt shots as West Virginia, Syracuse is hitting them at about the same rate as WVU. So let's keep an eye out for the kick out.

The game tips off at 230pm and will be "televised" on ESPNU.

Fudge

But I didn't say fudge

Jamie Smalligan is your WVU defensive player of the game. And that ought to sum it all up right there, because we got out everythinged tonight by Louisville. Certainly can't blame the ref's for this one. The score, 63-54, doesn't tell the sad truth. It was just a good old ass kicking.

Key stats? The box score tells you absolutely nothing about this game!

3-pt: WVU 4-17, UL 6-19
Rebounds: WVU 35, UL 37
Turnovers: WVU 12, UL 10
Fouls: WVU 19, UL 17

My impression of the difference maker in this game was that West Virginia spent way too much time beating trying to beat the Louisville press. They never got into a rhythm offensively because of it. And it allowed Louisville to dictate the tempo of the game. Not to mention that Louisville had almost no resistance from the WVU defense. They just brought the ball down the court and ran the play they wanted to run, played a little tip drill on missed shots, and ran down the floor with their pointer finger high in the air. Damn! Damn! Damn! There's no way those box score numbers are right! I guess West Virginia did make a late run to make it respectable vomit educing. Ugh! I better stop while I'm ahead.

Reynaud goes, Stewart brings in the natives

Darius Reynaud has joined Johnny Dingle as another player with the chance at an extra year of elibility that will forgo that extra year with a shot at the NFL Draft. Reynaud finishes his career with 1550 receiving yards on 133 catches and 19 touchdowns. Reynaud also added 410 career rushing yards and 2 more touchdowns. Finally, Reynaud chipped in a career 26.8 yard average on kickoff returns with one more touchdown. Reynaud has a two year old daughter and has stated that his reason for leaving is to support her. Hopefully he gets a shot to show the NFL his ability as he is often called the best athlete on the a team with PW, Slaton, and Devine.

WVU has hired four new assistant coaches to the staff to give the Mountaineers 3 spots left to fill. The Daily Mail has reported the following as hires:

Three former Mountaineer players and coaches - John "Doc" Holliday, Steve Dunlap and David Lockwood - have been hired to rejoin the WVU coaching staff, sources said today.

Stewart also has hired Charlie Taafe to be the Mountaineers' new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Holliday will likely be the recruiting coordinator and assistant head coach, Dunlap leaves Marshall as defensive coordinator to be either the linebackers or the safeties coach in Morgantown, and Lockwood will assume the other position.

Taffe was the offensive coordinator for Maryland for the first five years of the Friedgen experience before heading to the CFL. He did win CFL coach of the year twice before heading to Maryland. In Taffe's latest CFL gig he was already on the hot seat after undergoing a 3-15 record and the dreaded "vote of confidence" from the Hamilton Tiger-Cat GM. The year prior to Hamilton Taffe spent one season as an assistant at Pitt. His complete bio can be found here.

The defensive staff would now be comprised of Jeff Casteel, Bill Kirelawich, Doc Holliday, Steve Dunlap, and David Lockwood.

The hires would still leave 3 open positions to fill which would likely be receivers coach, offensive line coach, and one "extra" position. One of the "extra" positions could be Addae moving from GA to a permanent position.

Mountaineer Basketball Stuff

Update:The last CFB Weekly is up now. It was nice to be able to end the season on a high note after having to talk about the setbacks we had in December.

So now that football season is over I guess I should wake up and smell the coffee. But before I completely turn my back on the football team, if you were wanting to go to a basketball game but weren't real sure of a game you should go watch at the Coliseum, here is your ticket.

The 2008 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and BIG EAST Champion West Virginia Mountaineer football team will be honored at halftime of the WVU-St. John’s men’s basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 17, at the WVU Coliseum.

Representatives from the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl will be on hand to present the team with the championship trophy.

After all we've been through, this would be a perfect opportunity to thank the team for lifting us up when we needed it most. And yeah, our basketball team is pretty effin good as well.

Speaking of that hoop team, we've got a fairly big game tomorrow night at Louisville. Not in a sense that this is the game that decides our fate for the tournament, but we still have a bit of a score to settle with Louisville. That loss in the elite eight game three years ago, and then the loss last year that sealed our fate to the eventual NIT Championship and the obligatory West Virgina t-shirts. Yes we did have a win at home against them in between those two losses, but I'm not really satisfied. And I hope you aren't either.

As for Louisville, their old Conference USA nemesis, Bob Huggins, is making his return to Freedom Hall.

So that's why I'm glad he'll be raging on the WVU sideline on Thursday. After their legendary showdown in the Final Eight, Louisville's entry into the Big East meant mixing it up yearly with the Mountaineers -- a chance to build as heated a rivalry on the hardwood as is shaping up on the gridiron. Soon to leave would be Kevin Pittsnoggle, Mike Gansey and Joe Herber. Coach John Beilein made a beeline for the doldrums of Michigan. Now HuggyBear is at the helm, and it's time to start hating the roundball Mountaineers. (link #1 from Cardinal Fan)

I imagine this will be like meeting with an old girlfriend you haven't seen in five years, but I'm confident that when that first unnecessary outburst after an obviously correct call happens, those old instincts will kick-in without any conscious prompting. (link #2 from Card Chronicle)

Yes, there is nothing like a good rivalry. One that we as Mountaineer fans might not fully realize at this point. I guess it would kind of be like if John Chaney took over the Pitt basketball team. I know that's totally hypothetical, but I really hated that guy from day one. Huggins on the other hand has totally won me over and I look forward to seeing what he has up his sleeve for the Cardinals.

And yeah.....

Blogpoll Final Ballot

I don't know that I really want to say too much about this other than Florida St. and Miami are nowhere to be found, and a part of me is smiling about that. Looking at the final records of most of the teams in the top 25, you really start to realize what a f'ed up season this was. A four loss Tennessee team comes in at number 12, and one loss Hawaii barely makes the big board. A one loss Kansas looses to Missouri and doesn't even play Oklahoma, but comes in ahead of both. Just throw your hands up in the air and just wave em like you just don't care! Thanks once again to Brian at MGOBlog for putting this whole thing together.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	LSU	1
2	Southern Cal	4
3	Georgia	2
4	West Virginia	6
5	Kansas	3
6	Ohio State	1
7	Oklahoma	3
8	Missouri	1
9	Texas	12
10	Virginia Tech	7
11	Boston College	3
12	Tennessee	6
13	Auburn	9
14	Arizona State	2
15	Cincinnati	1
16	Texas Tech	9
17	Illinois	6
18	Brigham Young	2
19	Michigan	7
20	Florida	11
21	Clemson	4
22	Hawaii	9
23	Penn State	3
24	Wake Forest	2
25	Rutgers	1

Dropped Out: Kentucky (#15), South Florida (#19), Arkansas (#23), Virginia (#24).

Games watched: Pretty much all of them!