By
John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
July 11, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Here is this week’s West Virginia University news and notes:
I have had a couple of emails regarding Mitch Vingle’s story in last Sunday’s Gazette-Mail about the Auburn series. WVU Deputy Director of Athletics Mike Parsons confirmed Tuesday that Auburn will indeed come to Morgantown in 2008 with West Virginia returning the trip to Auburn in 2009.
This was done at Auburn’s request so the Tigers could balance out their 2009 home schedule. The decision also fits nicely with West Virginia’s schedule because Auburn will now replace the Maryland home date in ‘08. The Terrapins had requested a two-year hiatus in the annual border series to play a home and home series with Cal.
Last month West Virginia and Colorado announced a two-game series with the Mountaineers traveling to Boulder in 2008 and the Buffalos returning the trip to Morgantown in 2009.
Junior linebacker Reed Williams had an interesting observation about WVU coach Rich Rodriguez: “With Coach Rod, he won’t stop until he achieves perfection,” Williams remarked last week. “That’s how it’s been the past couple of years since I’ve been here. You really don’t think about winning a national title – you just do the best you can do but the past couple of years we have expected and worked toward perfection and hopefully this is the year.”
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Rich Rodriguez |
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CNNSI.com’s Stewart Mandel unveiled his list of college football's 10 best football coaches and West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez comes in at No. 8 ahead of Georgia’s Mark Richt and TCU’s Gary Patterson.
Of course we here at WVU would put Coach Rod at No. 1 on any list of the top college football coaches.
Long-time WVU sports information director Shelly Poe has decided to try something new and head up the Ohio State football program’s publicity efforts. Poe put in more than 20 years of service to West Virginia University, successfully promoting eight of the school’s 11 consensus All-American football players. She was also responsible for hiring me all the way back in 1991 – something for which I will forever be grateful.
Good luck Shelly!
Congratulations to Bryan and April Messerly, who recently celebrated the birth of their first son Judd Warren. Bryan is the school’s associate sports information director in charge of men’s basketball and April is WVU's senior manager of athletic facilities.
WVU assistant athletic director Brad Howe and Laura Bossio recently tied the knot in Morgantown. Howe is in charge of marketing and sales for the athletic department.
I got a sneak preview of the 2007 West Virginia football guide and this may be the best effort yet produced by the sports publications department headed up by Joe Swan and Tim Goodenow.
Most of the feedback concerning my list of the 20 greatest football coaches to face West Virginia was in agreement with Joe Paterno being No. 1. Of those who didn’t make the cut, Frank Beamer and Johnny Majors have received the most support.
WVSports.com’s Jim Laise was among those holding the belief that Beamer should be on the list. He politely pointed out my Hokie phobia in the hallway of the Puskar Center today.
Beamer was 12-7 against West Virginia and led the Hokies to the national championship game against Florida State in 2000.
Majors won a national title for Pitt in 1976 but his second go-around with the Panthers wasn’t quite so successful.
Both have managed hall of fame careers.
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Mike Gansey |
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Kevin Pittsnogle scored two points and grabbed three boards in Cleveland’s 67-53 NBA summer league game against San Antonio in Las Vegas last Saturday afternoon. He had six points and two rebounds in Cleveland’s 85-84 loss to Team China on Sunday. Pittsnogle is looking to hook up with an NBA franchise after slipping through last year’s draft and being released by the Boston Celtics a week into training camp.
Pittsnogle caught on with the CBA’s Pittsburgh Xplosion where he scored a 2007 high 44 points in one game. He finished out the year playing in Puerto Rico.
WVU teammate Mike Gansey is also looking for another shot at the NBA as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers summer league team. He had eight points and three boards in the Clippers’ 108-104 loss to Denver and added 16 points in yesterday’s game.
ESPN.com’s Andy Katz caught up with West Virginia coach Bob Huggins on the recruiting trail in Akron, Ohio, earlier this week. Coaches are now permitted to be out on the road evaluating prospects for the November early signing period.
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J.R. House |
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Former West Virginia backup quarterback J.R. House was released by the Triple-A Norfolk Tides because he had a provision in his contract that he could pursue other opportunities if he wasn’t on the Baltimore Orioles roster by July 1. House was hitting .296 with 48 RBIs.
One-time Mountaineer pitcher Jeremy Cummings exercised a similar clause, informing the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings his desire to be released. Cummings was 3-5 with a 3.93 earned run average. According to the Rochester Democrat, the Twins had called up seven pitchers from Rochester ahead of Cummings. It is believed that Cummings may have a deal in place with another organization with a clearer path to the big leagues.
Ex-Mountaineer Scott Seabol has been named the starting third baseman for the Pacific Coast League in the 2007 Triple-A all-star game that will take place Wednesday night at Albuquerque’s Isotopes Park. Seabol is hitting .303 with 19 home runs and 61 RBI at the break.
He is a two-time Pacific League player of the week and also was honored as the Pacific League player of the month in May, 2006.
J.R. House is the starting catcher for the International League.
The game will start at 7:30 pm and will be televised by ESPN2.
The Who’s Now contest currently running on ESPN is a perfect example of just how news-starved we’ve become in the summertime. Apparently baseball no longer satisfies sports fan’s appetites.
West Virginia and Louisville have combined to score 168 points in their last two games in 2005 and 2006. The 2006 WVU-Louisville game was one of the highest rated in ESPN history and there’s no doubt the all-sports network is eyeing another ratings bonanza when the two teams hook up in Morgantown on Thursday, Nov. 8.
No major conference rivalry has come close to matching the West Virginia-Louisville game for combined points the last two seasons. The Big East game of the year has accounted for 168 points in its last two games, or 41 more points than the 127 scored in the last two Ohio State-Michigan games. Here are some of the other marquee BCS conference games and their combined two-year scores:
Big East: West Virginia-Louisville, 168 points
Big Ten: Ohio State-Michigan, 127 points
Pac-10: USC-UCLA, 107 points
Big XII: Nebraska-Oklahoma, 83 points
SEC: Auburn-Alabama, 83 points OR Florida-Tennessee, 64 points
ACC: Miami-Florida State, 40 points
Larry Coker and his 60-15 coaching record heads into the television booth to provide analysis for ESPNU college football telecasts this fall. I believe I read somewhere that Coker’s first telecast will be the Marshall-Miami game on Saturday, Sept 1.
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Levi Maxwell |
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A couple of recent WVU draftees are finding life in professional baseball is a lot more difficult than college. Adam White and Justin Jenkins, teammates at Mahoning Valley in the New York Penn League, are both hitting around .200. In 10 games, White is batting .205 while Jenkins is hitting .209 in 11 appearances.
Left-handed pitcher Kenny Durst has an 18.00 earned run average in four relief appearances with the Tri-City Dust Devils.
However, Levi Maxwell is off to a strong start coming out of the bullpen for the Great Falls White Sox. Maxwell has a 2.08 earned run average and opponents are hitting just .133 against the right-hander in six relief appearances. Maxwell also has a save.
Have a great week!
