Posted by John Antonik on Friday, August 27, 2010
(9:15 a.m.)
The Bob Huggins Celebrity Roast will take place next Friday, Sept. 3, at 7 p.m. at the Waterfront Place Hotel in downtown Morgantown. Among those scheduled to roast Huggs are Kentucky coach John Calipari, Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy, Kansas State coach Frank Martin, Duquesne coach Ron Everhart and former Clemson football coach and WVU classmate Tommy Bowden.
"They're all funny guys," said Huggins.
Once the guys are finished roasting Huggs, the West Virginia coach will get the opportunity to have the last word.
Proceeds from the event will benefit the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Endowment at The Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center at West Virginia University.
"It's a way to keep some cancer research dollars in our state," said Huggins. "I've helped with other benefits, but it's nice to raise a bunch of money and give it to the Mary Babb Randolph Center, which does great research."
Here is more information on what should be a terrific night leading into next Saturday's season opener against Coastal Carolina … http://www.msnsportsnet.com/content/huggins_roast.pdf
Friday Notes ...
According to this from USA Today (http://content.usatoday.com/communities/campusrivalry/post/2010/08/texas-alabama-are-top-two-schools-in-merchandise-sales/1), West Virginia University ranks 13th in merchandising, according to Collegiate Licensing Co.
Notre Dame (No. 11) was the only other Big East school to be ranked in the Top 25.
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Oliver Luck |
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WVU's new Director of Athletics Oliver Luck touched on a variety of topics in today's Charleston Daily Mail … http://www.dailymail.com/Sports/WVUSports/201008260963
Plus, the Daily Mail's Jack Bogaczyk writes that West Virginia is close to adding Bowling Green to its 2011 grid slate … http://dailymail.com/Sports/WVUSports/201008260970
According to WVU sports marketing director Matt Wells, more than 40 percent of West Virginia's single-game football tickets have been sold online though wvugame.com and half of the single-game tickets available for the season opener against Coastal Carolina have been purchased online.
Tickets for six of West Virginia's seven home games (Maryland sales have been suspended) are still on sale through the Mountaineer Ticket Office and can be purchased by calling 1-800-WVU GAME, or by logging onto wvugame.com.
Duke Associate Sports Information Director Matt Plizga surveyed schools around the country to determine the number of career 1,000-point scorers each institution has and according to his list, West Virginia's 46 1,000-point scorers ranks ninth among all NCAA schools.
No. 1 is North Carolina with 63, followed by Louisville (62), Duke (60), Kentucky (57), and Syracuse (53). The rest of the Top 10 is made up of Kansas (52), Notre Dame (50), Wake Forest (47), West Virginia, Cincinnati and Marshall (45).
Da'Sean Butler plans on competing for a spot on the Miami Heat roster this year instead of signing a foreign contract and still having the Heat retain his rights for 2011. However, Butler is not expected to be fully recovered from a knee injury he sustained during West Virginia's Final Four loss to Duke in time for the start of training camp on Sept. 28 … http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2010-08-20/sports/sfl-miami-heat-dasean-butler-082010_1_kenny-hasbrouck-shavlik-randolph-da-sean-butler
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Wellington Smith |
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Forward Wellington Smith, a member of West Virginia's 2010 Final Four team, recently signed a contract to play professionally in Japan for the Oita HeatDevils … http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/sk20100820b1.html
In his blog earlier this week, ESPN's Andy Katz explained the reasons why the Big East has had to delay the finalization of its 2011 men's basketball schedule (http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/blog/_/name/katz_andy). Also, Katz listed the five tiers used for determining this year's repeat league games based on the coaches' poll.
West Virginia, Syracuse and Georgetown were in tier two behind tier one teams Pitt and Villanova.
What that essentially means is that the coaches believe West Virginia is still one of the five strongest teams in the conference despite losing three starters from last year's Final Four team.
It seems like each year Connecticut has to deal with a devastating injury. This year, the Huskies will be without junior defensive end Marcus Campbell, who will miss the 2010 campaign after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament last week. UConn will also be without Greg Lloyd, who is redshirting this year while also recovering from a knee injury.
Despite those losses, the Huskies remain contenders in a wide-open Big East conference race this year.
The 13,000seat expansion to Papa John's Cardinal Stadium is nearly complete … http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100818/SPORTS02/308180099/1028/sports02/Louisville+football+shows+off+expanded+Papa+John+s+Cardinal+Stadium
Louisville Athletic Director Tom Jurich says the Cardinals have eclipsed the 40,000 mark in total season ticket sales, due in large part to the increased excitement with the hiring of Charlie Strong. Pap John's Cardinal Stadium will now have a capacity of 55,000.
MSN's Tony Caridi has an interesting take on what Bill Stewart should do with backup quarterbacks Barry Brunetti and Jeremy Johnson this year… http://www.msnsportsnet.com/page.cfm?story=16989&cat=exclusives
If you recall, Don Nehlen had great success in 1993 using both Jake Kelchner and Darren Studstill, and if it wasn't for Studstill's brilliant relief performance at Boston College in the regular season finale, West Virginia doesn't go 11-0 for the regular season.
There have been many instances throughout the years in which teams have won big with multiple quarterbacks if they are utilized properly.
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Barry Brunetti |
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Study, study, study … That’s what your mother used to tell you when you first went to college. Well, study, study, study is something college quarterbacks have to do as well when they first arrive. True freshman quarterback Barry Brunetti is finding that out.
“In high school it was mostly just going out and watching film and then we just start doing it, but here you’ve got to have a big game plan and you’ve got to study,” Brunetti said.
Brunetti had an impressive reputation in high school and joins Jeremy Johnson as West Virginia’s top two backup quarterbacks. Stewart hinted last week that he is seriously considering playing both freshmen this season.
“I’m grasping the offense more,” said Brunetti. “It’s kind of new to me working on game week.”
Brunetti admits that he is anxious to get out on the field and see what the college game is all about.
“I want to see how it is when I get on the field, even if it’s only one snap,” he said. “I want to see what the environment is with the fans yelling and everything. That will be kind of a blur but I want to see what it’s like.”
Ohio State football publicity director Shelly Poe passed along this note … Former Mountaineer offensive lineman Jeff Berk has been appointed special education supervisor by the Huber Heights City School Board. Berk has spent the last five years serving as a special education/English teacher at Wayne High. Berk had to give up his position as assistant football coach and JV football coach to become special education supervisor.
Berk, an offensive lineman playing for former coach Rich Rodriguez, earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from WVU.
The Baltimore Ravens gave former Mountaineer quarterback Marc Bulger an offer he couldn't refuse … http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/bs-sp-ravens-bulger-0827-20100827,0,1378476.story
By the way, Bulger will be inducted into the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame later this fall.
I was told presales for the athletic department’s new book Roll Out the Carpet: 101 Seasons of West Virginia University Basketball have gone well. The comprehensive history of Mountaineer basketball will be in bookstores Sept. 1, and proceeds from sales will benefit the department of intercollegiate athletics.
Those wishing to get a copy a little quicker can order here … http://wvupressonline.com/antonik_roll_out_the_carpet_9781933202662
Former Mountaineer catcher David Carpenter, now a relief pitcher in the Houston Astros organization, was one of five pitchers to combine for a 10-inning no-hitter Wednesday night when Lancaster defeated Lake Elsinore 3-1.
Carpenter came into the game in the ninth and got a strike out and an inning-ending double play to pick up his sixth victory of the season.
Carpenter began the season pitching in the St. Louis Cardinals organization before being traded last week to the Astros for third baseman Pedro Feliz.
Carpenter, 25, has a 94 mph fastball and recorded 20 saves and a 2.36 earned run average in 49 appearances at High-A Palm Beach before being traded. He has fanned five batters in four innings of relief work with Lancaster so far.
After a torrid start, former Mountaineer Jedd Gyorko's bat has cooled off somewhat as of late. The third baseman shows just three hits in his last 20 at-bats with the Fort Wayne Tincaps, but is still hitting an impressive .325. Gyorko batted .330 in 26 games at rookie-level Eugene.
The Altoona Mirror's Joe Rudel, who has covered Penn State football for years, believes this season will finally be Joe Paterno's last patrolling the sidelines for the Nittany Lions … http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/541354/Is-this-JoePa-s-last-year--Rudel-thinks-so.html?nav=746
Paterno has won more games than any other coach in college football history (394), with West Virginia University contributing 25 of those to his win total.
Considering how successful Paterno was against Penn State's traditional eastern rivals, it makes you wonder why he was ever in favor of joining the Big Ten in the first place.
Look at what Paterno did against these schools from 1966-92 before the Nittany Lions moved westward:
vs. Army, 9-1
vs. Boston College, 16-2
vs. Maryland, 23-0-1
vs. Navy, 6-2
vs. Pitt, 20-6-1
vs. Rutgers, 14-1
vs. Syracuse, 21-4
vs. Temple, 17-0
vs. West Virginia, 25-2
Added all up, Joe Pa had a 151-18-2 record against those nine schools for a .889 winning percentage.
By comparison, in 136 Big Ten games heading into this year, Paterno has a more pedestrian .632 winning percentage (86-50). Plus, he has losing records against Iowa, Ohio State and Michigan.
Take his winning percentage against the above eastern schools and factor that by 17 (the number of years Penn State has been in the Big Ten) and Paterno could have probably added another 100 victories to his win total if Penn State would have remained in the east. That would have put him around 500 victories, which would have made it impossible for anyone to ever reach. As it is, no one will likely approach Paterno's final win total anytime soon.
I don't know about you, but I find myself paying very little attention to what Penn State does these days ever since it joined the Big Ten Conference. The Penn State campus is just a couple hours away from Morgantown, the Pittsburgh media covers the Nittany Lions regularly, but it just seems like they are located in another part of the country, which I guess in many ways they are now.
Look for a redesign and re-launch of the new Mountaineer Athletic Club website in the coming days.
Have a great weekend!
