By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
May 24, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Here are some Monday afternoon tidbits to tie you over for this week:
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Former West Virginia University linebacker Grant Wiley is making an impression with the Minnesota Vikings. (Vikings photo) |
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Word keeps coming out of Minnesota that former West Virginia University linebacker GRANT WILEY has a great shot of making the Vikings team this fall. Wiley, a non-drafted free agent, signed a $15,000 signing bonus with the Vikings in what Minnesota terms a “priority free agent signing.” Wiley earned consensus All-American honors as a senior for WVU in 2003.
Subscribers to the NFL’s 24-hour network will have the opportunity this week to watch former West Virginia University standout JERRY PORTER shop for a luxury automobile in Beverly Hills. The Oakland Raiders wide receiver will hear sales pitches from several high-end car salesmen before making his choice.
A quick check of the latest NFL Europe statistics reveals that former Mountaineer running back AVON COBOURNE has relinquished his rushing lead. Cobourne is currently third in the league in rushing with 451 yards on 103 carries. Cobourne only managed to gain three yards on one carry last Saturday against Rhein Fire. Fans can vote for both Cobourne and former WVU offensive lineman LANCE NIMMO for the NFLEL all-star team by logging onto NFLEurope.com.
West Virginia’s No. 5 preseason ranking announced Monday morning by Athlon is the second time in six years that publication has pegged WVU for a Top 5 national finish. Prior to the 1998 season Athlon also predicted West Virginia to finish fifth.
In addition to Athlon that summer, Blitz Magazine predicted WVU to finish 8th, The Sporting News and Football News had West Virginia finishing 9th while ESPN and Sport Magazine had West Virginia finishing 10th. Others predicting Top 20 finishes that year were AP Preseason Media Poll (11th), Lindy’s Magazine (11th), ESPN/USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll (12th), Bob Griese’s Magazine (12th), Street & Smith’s (19th) and CBS SportsLine.com (19th).
Unfortunately West Virginia underachieved in 1998, posting an 8-4 record and losing to Missouri in the Insight.com. The Mountaineers failed to finish the season in the national rankings.
WVU Sports Information Director SHELLY POE has relayed the good news that former WVU defensive back JAMES WOODRUFF has been released from Ruby Hospital and is back in Buffalo after suffering injuries in a serious automobile accident two weekends ago.
The eighth annual DANNY VAN ETTEN Memorial Golf Tournament will take place on Saturday, June 12, at the Squires Course at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. For those interested in participating in the tournament, contact Andrew Von Gusted of the South Florida Mountaineers Booster Club by calling 5612-659-7700 ext. 231 or Kim Van Etten at 772-283-8921.
Van Etten was a former Mountaineer football player who was tragically killed in an automobile accident while returning to campus from Spring Break.
It was recently announced that the West Virginia-Connecticut game to be played at Rentschler Field in East Hartford on Wednesday, Oct. 13, will air on ESPN and kickoff at 7:30 pm. Some people believe the Huskies could be a handful for the Mountaineers in Hartford.
A member of Coach Randy Edsall’s staff at Connecticut is former WVU offensive line coach DAVE McMICHAEL.
I picked out an intriguing note from a story about the ACC’s new TV deal that ran in the Durham (N.C.) Herald Sun earlier this month. It seems West Virginia’s game against Miami last year on ESPN was the highest rated Thursday night game on the network, with a rating of 3.27 meaning it was watched in nearly 3 million households. The average rating for Thursday night games was 2.07.
WVU Deputy Director of Athletics MIKE PARSONS told Mike Cherry of the Charleston Daily Mail that season football ticket sales are ahead of last year’s pace. Fans can purchase season tickets by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free at 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
I came across a fascinating story in the Washington Times about the off-season training methods of NFL players 30 and 40 years ago. Former Mountaineer standout SAM HUFF was prominently quoted in the article. According to Huff, he made just $7,500 as a rookie in 1956 playing for the New York Giants and had to go back home to West Virginia to work part-time stocking shelves in a grocery story just to make ends meet.
Can you imagine some quick-thinking shopper asking Huff to pass over a roll of Scotts? “Excuse me Mr. Huff, can you make it the Green Forest Unscented 2-ply?”
Marty Schottenheimer says at halftime of NFL games about half the players were smoking in the locker room.
My, how times have changed.
Those of you that don’t think Cincinnati is serious about upgrading their athletic program should take a look at the Bearcats new baseball stadium that seats 3,085 and cost $11 million to construct. The ballpark on campus is part of an $80 million athletic expansion at UC. And keep in mind the Cincinnati baseball team posted just a 15-40 record this season. If they are willing to spend $11 million on a baseball team that finishes the season 25 games under .500 surely they will do what it takes to get the football stadium where it needs to be with the rest of the Big East.
The Big East meetings began Monday in Ponte Vedra to chart the conference’s future course. WVU Director of Athletics ED PASTILONG is among those in Ponte Vedra considering the conference’s new composition and pending television contracts. Athletic directors from Cincinnati, Louisville, South Florida, DePaul and Marquette are also in Florida sitting in on the meetings.
Big East commissioner Michael Tranghese told the Hartford (Conn.) Courant Sunday that conference football coaches will get together in July in Newport, R.I., to meet with representatives of the BCS bowls and bowls affiliated with the conference in what Tranghese is calling a “summer bowl outing.”
Two Mountaineer baseball standouts recently wrapped up strong seasons in 2004. Lefthanded pitcher ZAC CLINE defeated Connecticut 4-1 on Saturday to finish the year with an 8-3 record. Cline is WVU’s record holder with 23 career complete games and is sixth with 24 victories.
Shortstop GRANT PSOMAS hit .343 with 9 home runs and 45 RBI and is seventh in career extra base hits with 58 and ninth in career home runs with 21. While both are juniors they are expected to be picked relatively high in this year’s major league draft held in June.
A couple of weeks ago sportswriter Mickey Furfari pointed out that no college football program in the country gets more bang for its buck than West Virginia University. Of the BCS conference schools only Georgia Tech, Missouri and Mississippi State spent less on football than West Virginia. According to Furfari, WVU generated $13,848,140 from the football program and spent $6,155,525 -- a difference of $7,692,615. Only four Big East schools had higher revenues than West Virginia: Miami, Virginia Tech, Syracuse and Pitt, and WVU spent less than the other seven Big East programs in 2003. Furfari was working off of figures compiled by Alan Schmadtke of the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel.
Ex-WVU standout running back JONATHAN HOLIFIELD was in Morgantown recently to address the 2004 Eberly College of Arts and Sciences graduates. Holifield was honored as the 2004 Distinguished Alumnus by the Department of Political Science.
Former West Virginia University great JERRY WEST was recently named NBA Executive of the Year after helping turn the lowly Memphis Grizzlies into a playoff team. The Grizzlies went 50-32 this year but were swept by San Antonio in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The franchise’s previous high for wins in a season was 28. West also captured the award in 1995 as the general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Have a great week!
