Program Building
July 29, 2003 04:39 PM | General
July 29, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Back in 1973 when Johnny Majors took over the Pitt football program, he made it a point to sign as many football players as he could to get the Panthers back on the winning track.
Running back Tony Dorsett was part of a 100-player recruiting class brought in by Majors to help form the nucleus of the team that won the 1976 national title.
Majors had decided to yank Pitt out of the so-called Big-Four agreement between Penn State, Syracuse and West Virginia, which stipulated that those schools would play with fewer scholarships than the NCAA norm and would also prohibit redshirting.
Years later, the NCAA limited the number of recruits schools are allowed to bring in during one recruiting class to the present total of 25.
And while a school today is not permitted to bring in more than 25 players in one class, some schools have started to add players by having them defer enrollment until January. This practice has become known as “grayshirting” and it’s helped West Virginia build its roster back up after several defections took place when Don Nehlen announced his retirement following the 2000 season.
Some players, like Jeremy Sheffey and Chris Malamet, have graduated high school early and enrolled at WVU for the spring semester, enabling them to get a leg up on others by participating in spring practice. Coach Rich Rodriguez has also instituted a robust walk-on program that is beginning to reap big dividends.
Presently, Rodriguez has West Virginia nearly back to the NCAA limit of 85 scholarships after being down to as low as 70 scholarships just a few years ago.
What is even more impressive is the fact that the vast majority of this year’s roster is made up of sophomores and redshirt freshmen. Although all of them are not on scholarship, West Virginia currently has 68 sophomores and redshirt freshmen listed on its 2003 preseason roster. Add to that another 20-25 freshmen coming in this fall, and that number will creep up to 90 or more underclassmen when the season starts.
In the past, West Virginia’s best teams came as a result of developing players within their program and having them stay four or five years. It looks like Rodriguez and his coaches have taken the patient approach, and that could make things pretty interesting around here in the next couple of years.
A different approach is being taken at Temple by veteran coach Bobby Wallace, who is welcoming 23 junior college transfers when preseason practice begins in less than two weeks.
With Temple expected to be looking for a new conference after this season, Wallace has had a difficult sell to high school recruits. Combine that with the fact that Temple is located in a tough part of Philadelphia and the school hasn’t finalized its lease with Lincoln Financial Field, and a tough sales pitch has become almost an impossible one.
Wallace tried the juco route once before when he coached at Division II North Alabama. The result wasn’t a successful one. He says it wasn’t the fact that it was JC players but rather the character of the kids he recruited. Wallace thinks this year’s group at Temple will be much different and at least two will be counted on to be major contributors this fall.
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| West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez will be operating with nearly a full allotment of scholarships when fall camp starts in August. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
Six-three wide receiver Phil Goodman caught 79 passes for 1,272 yards and 10 touchdowns in nine games at Sacramento (Calif.) City College last year, while Walter Washington, a 6-foot-2, 246-pound quarterback from Dodge City (Kan.) Community College, passed for more than 1,400 yards and 13 touchdowns to go along with 708 yards rushing. According to Wallace, Washington will split playing time with regular quarterback Mike McGann when the Owls open the season at Penn State on Aug. 30th.
This and That
“They were enamored with basketball,” said Paterno of the Big East Conference schools. “Dave Gavitt was a basketball man. They had an elite basketball group with Syracuse and Georgetown with John Thompson. But you could see what was coming. You got a sense it was going to be a question of television, a question of who was going to have the biggest television market. I was trying to get an all-sports conference to reap the benefits so we could protect ourselves.”
Today, Paterno takes no joy in being a visionary.
“I’m not interested in ‘I told you so,’” he said. “People do what they do and you live with it. I’m not happy with what’s happened to them. Really, I’m not. (Syracuse coach) Paul Pasqualoni played for me, and (Rutgers coach) Greg Schiano coached for me. I’m an Eastern guy. I really hope they can arrange something so they won’t have to take a step back in the national picture. I don’t want to see the Big East go to sleep.”
Dipping down South to add Central or South Florida solely because of the allure of their TV markets isn’t the way to build a stable and long-lasting football conference. Who benefits more from the relationship – South Florida/Central Florida or the Big East? What allegiance would those schools have with the Big East if they were to become strong and viable football programs, knowing that they must travel great distances for all of their conference games?
I think Miami has already answered those questions.
Although Big East presidents haven’t made their intentions publicly known, the media’s two most popular candidates are Louisville and Cincinnati. Their benefits have been widely documented and I have no arguments with either institution.
It has also been widely reported that the football conference will probably stop at eight schools in its initial expansion.
However, if league presidents do choose to go past eight and Notre Dame maintains its present relationship with the six football schools, and Temple continues to be on the outside looking in, I think some consideration should be given to Navy.
Navy, you ask?
At first glance the Midshipmen don’t sound very appealing in football. Last year Navy posted a miserable 2-10 record, having defeated only SMU in its opener and Army in the season finale. Two years ago Navy failed to win a single game and its record over the last three years is an appalling 3-32.
The last time Navy had a winning season was 1997 and the last time it went to a bowl game was the 1996 Aloha Bowl, where it defeated Cal, 42-28.
Yet as bad as they’ve been in recent years, Navy is still a recognized program from coast to coast. And despite being one of the worst Division I-A football programs over the last three years, people still come out and watch them play. The Midshipmen drew at least 22,000 for each of their six home games last year, including a season-high of 31,647 against Duke.
By comparison, last year Rutgers managed just 12,937 for a home game against West Virginia, 10,225 against Temple and only 27,222 against No. 1-ranked Miami.
Navy also draws well on the road. When the Midshipmen traveled to West Virginia in 1999, 52,875 showed up to watch two teams with losing records. That figure was higher than West Virginia’s home games against Syracuse and Boston College last season.
Don’t forget, as Big East Commissioner Michael Tranghese noted last week, there are no Miamis left out there to take. Besides, there is no BCS league operating today with a roster full of winning programs. You’ve got annual loser Baylor in the Big 12, annual loser Vanderbilt in the SEC, annual loser Duke in the ACC, and two struggling programs Northwestern and Indiana in the Big Ten. Even Stanford went 2-9 last year in the Pac Ten.
Navy could also help the league with television negotiations. Each year the Army-Navy game is televised nationally on CBS. Money is also not a problem -- that is unless the Department of Defense decides to close up shop.
And one more thing to consider: Navy has a close relationship with Notre Dame. The two schools play annually in football.
Navy has not been strong in recent years on the gridiron, but they still maintain a national following in all of its sports. That would be a nice weak link for a fledgling conference to have.
Then again, this is just one person’s opinion.
Have a great week!
