Tuesday Notes
May 12, 2009 12:05 PM | General
(12:06 pm)
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| Bill Stewart |
Approximately 20 percent of college football coaches around the country are now using some form of Twitter, a free social messaging utility that keeps fans connected with their favorite teams.
Three of the 23 coaches who utilize the service reside in the Big East Conference, including West Virginia’s Bill Stewart (twitter.com/CoachStewart).
Since joining Twitter before the start of spring practice, Coach Stew has provided 223 updates on what he’s doing, where he’s at, and his thoughts on particular subjects.
Stewart’s most recent Tweet nine hours ago was his 11th installment of the Mountaineer Rules for Living: You won't make $50K out of high school. You won't be a VP with a car phone, until you earn both.
As of Monday, Stewart had 2,058 followers. That’s nearly 1,600 more than Syracuse coach Doug Marrone and 1,800 more than USF’s Jim Leavitt.
USC’s Pete Carroll is the country’s Top Tweeter with 17,958 followers as of Monday.
Briefly:
In fact, there were 23 true and redshirt freshmen among the 47 players listed on the offensive side of the ball, including eight among the 14 players mentioned for the five offensive line spots. And five of those eight – Cole Bowers, Nick Kindler, Jordan Weingart, Ryan Spiker and Pat Eger – have not even arrived on campus yet.
On the flip side, of the 35 players listed on the defensive side of the ball only five are freshmen - and three of them are redshirts.
West Virginia is not the only Big East program with questions heading into fall training camp. Defending league champion Cincinnati must find replacements for 10 defensive starters, including four taken in last month’s NFL draft.
Connecticut, Louisville, Pitt, Rutgers and Syracuse all have quarterback issues. And South Florida has fewer offensive linemen returning to work with than West Virginia does.
As a consequence, the team with the best answers for its question marks will likely be the one winning the conference title in 2009. Also, don’t expect the conference winner to go through the season undefeated in league play.
White was the Dolphins’ second round pick in the draft last month.
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| Alex Ruoff |
What makes Ruoff so intriguing to some pro teams is that at 6-foot-6 he can also play point guard. That Coach Bob Huggins has worked diligently with him on his all-around game also doesn’t hurt.
Alabama was No. 2 with 84,050, followed by Nebraska (77,670), Penn State (76,500) and Florida (65,000). Ohio State ($5), Nebraska ($10) and Florida ($5) each charged admission.
Sixteen schools drew crowds of more than 30,000 for its spring games this year.
West Virginia’s attendance was estimated at 13,000, although an exact figure won’t be revealed until the school makes its contribution to the WVU Children’s Hospital.
As you can see from some of the attendance figures, more schools are beginning to utilize the spring game as an additional means for generating revenue. Notre Dame, with 31,104 showing up for this year’s game, charged the most with ticket prices ranging from $8 to $15.
Forty seven schools surveyed did not charge admission.
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| Tito Gonzales |
Thirteen players are listed in the WVU baseball record book with season batting averages greater than .400.
Twice in 1998 and 2008 the Mountaineers had two .400 hitters – Joe McNamee and Jamie Hammond in 1998 and Tyler Kuhn and Jedd Gyorko in 2008.
Never has West Virginia had three .400 batters in the same season. But that could happen this year with Vince Belnome (.429), Dan DiBartolomeo (.428) and Jedd Gyorko (.406) each batting better than .400. A fourth player - Justin Parks - is batting .376.
Belnome, with a .429 average, 20 doubles, 79 RBI and a .672 slugging percentage, is having one of the finest all-around offensive seasons in school history.
Have a great week!
