We Have Officially Reached "WTF" Stage

by Dr. Charley West on Dec 27, 2007 7:28 PM EST

With the fake news of Butch Jones withdrawing from consideration – and, of course, the speedy retraction by Sporting News – we have a reached a stage in this coaching search I didn’t think possible: anything goes.

Seriously, if I reported that Bob Pruett (hint: he coached Marshall) or Woody Hayes (hint: he's dead) was being considered for the WVU position, you probably wouldn’t be all that amazed. It might take a second to sink in, but after about 15 minutes, you’d have a list of four or five things that rationalized his candidacy ("Well, even dead, Hayes is probably better than Mark Snyder")

At this point, we’re trained to accept almost anything. There have been so many twists, turns, and oopty oops (oopty fucking oop?) that nothing seems that far-fetched. And I’m here to tell you, that’s not a good thing.

It is obvious that, on every level of command, the University was not prepared for this coaching search. From a short-sighted initial list of four candidates – all with varying degrees of WVU ties – to an expanded list that exists only after significant booster outcry, this administration has astounded me by its ineptness.

(Of course, when your first list has a combined 1 year of head-coaching/coordinator experience in the last decade, what do you expect? Temple could come up with a more experienced list.)

There is nothing wrong with a longer search, so long as you know going in that it’s going to be done at a more deliberate pace. Unfortunately, with our first list of home-grown coaches, this had all the makings of a quick job.

It was certainly anything but.

From the Holliday almost-hire to the Fisher backtrack and everything in between, this search has been conducted with the preciseness of a sledgehammer. Instead of interviewing a multitude of candidates right from the start, this search seemed to jump from favorite to favorite, only moving on when some cataclysmic event forced the administration’s hand.

In chronological order, here is a rundown of this search’s always-changing list of candidates:

1) Doc Holliday
2) Terry Bowden
3) Rick Trickett
4) Butch Jones
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1) Doc Holliday
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1) Terry Bowden
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1) Jimbo Fisher
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1) Butch Jones
2) Mike Locksley
3) Chris Petersen
4) Jim Haslett (maybe)

If you examine the lists above, only the last grouping of four coaches has the feel of a legitimate, varied coaching search (save for Jimbo Fisher). And holy shit, head-coaching/coordinator experience! Whooopty do!

So maybe there’s hope yet. We’ve finally taken a step in the right direction. Of course, it only took us 7 wrong ones to get here. And there’s certainly no guarantee that the next few moves won’t be unmitigated disasters. And with our administration, would that surprise you?

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http://www.news-gazette.com/blogs/sports_editors_note/2007/12/27/locksley_mum

AP says Locksley says he’s never been contacted by WVU.

by Buzzardbilly on Dec 27, 2007 8:36 PM EST reply actions

Terrific post. Very interesting rundown of ALL of the steps taken by the WVU administration during the coach search…The administration and athletic department will have A LOT of explaining to do once the search has finally concluded.

by roolgol90 on Dec 27, 2007 8:38 PM EST reply actions

WTF

by EW on Dec 27, 2007 8:59 PM EST reply actions

i can’t take this anymore. i am drinking HEAVILY until, or if , we ever find someone to coach our beloved team. i’m not even mad at rr anymore. if this is the way things always ran while he was our head coach do you blame him for leaving…
i think we should hire hulk hogan as our head coach. he needs some income since he’s getting divorced from linda. he’d kick ass and take names. we already have mountaineer mainiacs. we could have mountaineer hulkamainiacs!! i am a real american…
insanity!

by wvud on Dec 27, 2007 10:12 PM EST reply actions

I am telling you they are setting us up. They are setting us up to be satisfied with a garbage choice. That’s what all this BS is about.

by J. Johnston on Dec 27, 2007 11:04 PM EST reply actions

Anyone notice not much mention of Bowden’s name at all in articles today?

by Buzzardbilly on Dec 27, 2007 11:20 PM EST reply actions

Bring in Locksley from Illinois, the guy is a great coach, very dynamic, and has a lot of integrity (more than Rich did even in the begining). Some may say that WVU is not ready for a black coach, but I think that is pure bullsh*t. Look at the great job that Tomlin has done at Pittsburgh and the respect that he has drawn in during the time since his hiring as the Steeler’s head coach. Locksley is just what we need at WVU, a offensive genius, with experiance as coordinator at multiple schools in WVU’s recruiting area (PA, MD, VA, NJ, etc.) In my opinion if we had Locksley at WVU next year as head Coach, that we would have the #1 QB recruit out of PA, with a year of him being mentored by White he would be a power-house for the next 3 seasons after that.

by MountaineerIEGrad07 on Dec 28, 2007 12:11 AM EST reply actions

I say fuck them. I’ll hit them where it hurts. I will not ever buy another Wvu shirt, hat, or season ticket. That’s what we all should do, then these douche bags would maybe be fired.

by Lipsander on Dec 28, 2007 2:08 AM EST reply actions

I was waiting for Michigan to dig up Schembechler before CRR decided to bounce like a little biatch…

http://bullyforoldmizzou.blogspot.com/2007/11/pinkel-to-michigan.html

by Big Head on Dec 28, 2007 8:36 AM EST reply actions

I am keeping my fingers crossed that this process is taking so long only because it is bowl season and the AD is waiting for, say Locks, to get through that. I guess I am a bit of an optimist and still have a sliver of faith in the administration, however that sliver is about to turn into an iota. My reasoning is that if Bowden was their man I think he would have been hired several days ago, and of course he was not, which gives me some hope we are going to end up being happy when this is finally over.

by bringONtheEERS on Dec 28, 2007 8:58 AM EST reply actions

BringOn I’m with you. I’m hoping our athletic department is showing some integrity by not making other teams look for a coach in the middle of bowl prep.

Hopefully we are doing this the right way but we will see.

by Buddy the Elf on Dec 28, 2007 12:14 PM EST reply actions

OK then, explain the Jimbo Fisher courtship. He was preparing for a bowl. Same with Doc Holliday. Same with Butch Jones. All these coaches (of course, save for Terry Bowden) are preparing for bowls.

We’re not showing more integrity than anyone else. It just so happens that Locksley told us to fuck off until after the bowl. If you do that, we’ll show integrity.

by Charley West on Dec 28, 2007 12:27 PM EST reply actions