The state of WVU Football

[Bleeding Red]

This program has been on a downhill freefall since RichFraud left. Bill Stewart was hired because the program was in a state of shock. Ever since they lose to teams they should be waxing and their play calling is dismal.

Does WVU have to fire Stewart at the end of this season? As a Buckeye fan, I still like to see the other close colleges play well. But there is no good news in sight in WVU's program.

[91blue14]

they just need to get over rich rod being gone.

[Bleeding Red]

Its been several years. I am sure the Rich Rod era has ended.

Rich Rod era has nothing to do with this. Rich Rod took most of his assistants from WVU with him to Meatchicken, remember?

WVU is bad. Really bad. Heck they had to pull out a miracle to beat Marshall. Really? That is like Ohio U getting OSU down 21 pts and watch OSU fight for its life to come back and win the game.

[BubbleGumTiger]

Its been several years. I am sure the Rich Rod era has ended.

Rich Rod era has nothing to do with this. Rich Rod took most of his assistants from WVU with him to Meatchicken, remember?

WVU is bad. Really bad. Heck they had to pull out a miracle to beat Marshall. Really? That is like Ohio U getting OSU down 21 pts and watch OSU fight for its life to come back and win the game.

[mister b]

I agree with bleedingred.

My thought is that Stewart will resign at the end of the season, at the request of AD Oliver Luck, and takes a job within the athletic department at WVU as an associate AD.

The next head coach will not come from the current staff.

[Just_A_Fan]

I agree with bleedingred.

My thought is that Stewart will resign at the end of the season, at the request of AD Oliver Luck, and takes a job within the athletic department at WVU as an associate AD.

The next head coach will not come from the current staff.

Good post WVU made the mistake of putting in Bill way to fast after RR left....with that said
they wanted someone who was a "good ol boy" abdwanst goin to leave the program like RR did when a bigger better school came knocking

[Raiderball]

I agree with bleedingred.

My thought is that Stewart will resign at the end of the season, at the request of AD Oliver Luck, and takes a job within the athletic department at WVU as an associate AD.

The next head coach will not come from the current staff.

Hope you are right on this misterB. WVU has been hard to watch these last few weeks. Too much talent to struggle offensively like we have this year.

What are your thoughts on who replaces BS?

[Peake]

The Rich Rod debacle had a lot to do with poor leadership from the administration. They hired Stewart after a knee jerk reaction following a big win. A monkey could have coached that game and WVU would have played with just as much emotion.

I disagree that the next hire will come from inside. Next WVU Head Coach will be.....Al Golden imo

[boilermaker]

They can have Rich Rod back!

[mister b]

The next hire at WVU will be outside the current staff.

Al Golden could very well put his name in the hat since he did interview with UCLA, Cincy and Tennesse, I think.

The next coach all depends on what type of team Luck wants WVU to be. Does he stay with the direction they seem to be taking with a drop back passer and a passing offense or does he choose to go with a Rich Rod disciple? Rod did put WVU on the map and his offense will work well within the Big East and give WVU a leg up in the bowl season.

After RR gets canned at UM following the OSU game, look for RR to send feelers back to Morgantown about his possible return.

[hdfatboy]

The Rich Rod debacle had a lot to do with poor leadership from the administration. They hired Stewart after a knee jerk reaction following a big win. A monkey could have coached that game and WVU would have played with just as much emotion.

I disagree that the next hire will come from inside. Next WVU Head Coach will be.....Al Golden imo

I like the Al Golden thought. At this point, anyone who can coach offense, will clean house on the offensive side of the ball, and wouldn't mind keeping Jeff Casteel as DC would be good in my book.

Regarding the RR debacle - there is a lot of blame to go around. Some is on the administration - but much more is on RR himself and his agent Mike Brown. It was all very much a soap opera, and Rich was in NO WAY an innocent victim in any of it.

The hiring of Stewart was not as knee jerk a reaction as people think - there was certainly some consideration of giving him the job prior to the Fiesta Bowl with the thought that they could spend less on him and more on assistants (the current assistants are paid much more than WVU had paid in the past). Winning the Fiesta Bowl allowed people who wanted to hire him to do so, on the wave a public euphoria. There was a desire to get away from the ego-maniac coaching persona that Rich had and the yearly concerns of a coach jumping ship. Probably way too much desire to find the anti-Rich.

On a personal note, the two men are night and day different in how they treat people and interact with the general public. Bill Stewart is a really nice guy - very helpful and gracious. It is unfortunate that nice guys do indeed finish last sometimes. I hope WVU finds a role for Bill that shows some appreciation for his loyalty to the university as they transition to a new head coach.

[Peake]

I agree with 99% of what you say, however, it was a knee jerk hire. I will have my masters in athletic administration in two months and first thing I can tell you after studying countless hires, is that the Stewart hire was as knee jerk as knee jerk can be. How was BS at all qualified to be the head coach with his resume? Cateel, maybe, Magee, maybe, Stewart, no.

He was hired within 24 hours if I am not mistaken. That is unheard of in this profession.

RR deserves all the bad pub he got and is getting. I am not defending him. I can tell you that the past administration was very much to blame for this as well. They couldn't look past the previous victory to plan for the future.

[hdfatboy]

I agree with 99% of what you say, however, it was a knee jerk hire. I will have my masters in athletic administration in two months and first thing I can tell you after studying countless hires, is that the Stewart hire was as knee jerk as knee jerk can be. How was BS at all qualified to be the head coach with his resume? Cateel, maybe, Magee, maybe, Stewart, no.

He was hired within 24 hours if I am not mistaken. That is unheard of in this profession.

RR deserves all the bad pub he got and is getting. I am not defending him. I can tell you that the past administration was very much to blame for this as well. They couldn't look past the previous victory to plan for the future.

Definitely the final decision to hire BS has some knee-jerkedness to it. However, it wasn't as if they just decided to hire him during the Oklahoma game. There was some forethought to it - just not very good forethought . Stewart's name was in the mix here before the Fiesta Bowl - it wasn't publicized or speculated on by the media (there was no reason for anyone to think he was under consideration given his resume, as you pointed out).

Do you mean that the previous administration is to blame for the current state of the program or that they are to blame for RR leaving? I agree they are to blame for the current state of the program - Joe Manchin - Mike Garrison - Ed Pastilong are the reason the program is headed downhill fast. They aren't, however, to blame for RR's messy exit from WVU, that one is pretty much on RR and Mike Brown.

Peake - who, other than Al Golden, do you think are reasonable candidates for the WVU job?

[Peake]

No, Rich Rod is to blame for Rich Rod. Agreee 100%. I was saying ol Eddie is in large part to blame for the current state of the WVU program.

Funny thing is I think Ed and Rich were 100% dead on about one another, they both thought the other was an ego driven butthole, and they were both right. lol

My money is on Golden. I think it would be silly if he wasn't their number 1. I have heard he has a special place in his heart for Penn State, but I have always thought Schiano was/is the next in line for that job.

[mister b]

I wouldn't want to be the one to coach Penn State after Joe Pa retires. It always seems to be the kiss of death to follow a legend.

I agree that Golden has a soft spot for Penn State and so does Joe Pa and Penn State have one for him.

I would think that if Penn State were interested on Golden then they would look for him to take another step-up on the coaching ladder towards Penn State and WVU would be a logical step towards that end. Plus, this buys him time after Joe Pa retires.

I do agree that Ed and Rich were dead on about one another. Much of WVU's mess in football can be laid at the feet of Ed, Manchin and then Board of Governors Chairman Steve Goodwin who basically whipped Garrison into giving the OK to sign Stewart hours following the bowl win. Garrison was unfit to be the college president and had no control over his institution or knew that he was in control and could override their plan.

They knew that by hiring Stewart, nobody would come after him and they were prepared to low ball him in pay and raise the salaries of the asst coaches and basically use Stewart as a mouth piece. This plan has failed, but I do believe that Stewart should be given a good soldier job within the athletic department as associate AD of public relations.

I think current president Clements will give AD Luck the perimeters of what is expected from the new coach. I am not so sure that Bob Huggins would stand a snowball's chance of getting the head basketball job if these 2 had anything to do with it. I think that Huggs, who I like, is on a short lease.

I still think that when Rod is canned following the OSU game, he comes hat in hand looking for a job.

[Orange and Brown]

Things in Morgantown are bad! They can't compete in the Big Yeast, thats not good. The next coach will make a lot of money , cause thats what it will take to get a good one in there.

[Raiderball]

Luck and Clements appear to be stronger administrators... from what you read. I believe if given the chance Luck will do whatever it takes to return WVU to the top tier of college football. He won't settle for anything less. A Rhodes Scholar finalist with experience in NFL Europe and Major League Soccer.
Some names fans are throwing around are
Golden... I'd be ok with.
Mike Leach... hell no
Terry Bowden... North Alabama
Malzahn(sp) Auburn OC
Dan Mullen... Miss St head coach
Tulsa head coach former WV asst... Todd Graham
My pick.... probably not going to happen so I will keep it to myself for now. He does have a connection with Luck though.

[mister b]

Please, no Mike Leach or any of the Bowdens. Not real keen on how Graham left Rice for Tulsa. Signed an extension with a hefty pay raise and then a couple of days later took a job at Tulsa.

[hdfatboy]

Please, no Mike Leach or any of the Bowdens. Not real keen on how Graham left Rice for Tulsa. Signed an extension with a hefty pay raise and then a couple of days later took a job at Tulsa.

Not sure how much "WV ties" are going to matter this time around...but, Graham coached here under RR and Terry Bowden was a teammate of Oliver Luck's (1978).

A monkey wrench in the Golden choice would be IF the Big East were to extend an invitation for Temple to join the Big East. There is an outside chance that this would happen.

[farmer]

WVU is probably happy that Marshall gave Doc an opportunity so they will not be thinking if he could be a head coach.