and perhaps begin to ignore (not what he did as coach, but everything he did in leaving and since)

I want the prick to go 4-8 this year, narrowly escape an Ann Arbor lynch mob, and later be introduced as the next coach at Temple, where he will be quoted: “Do you have to be a Temple man to be a Temple coach? Gosh, I hope not.” followed by several uses of the word “system.”

I think that most people will always have a bad taste in their mouths for The Product, no matter what happens going forward. Although, him continuing to fail and WVU continuing its upward climb toward stardom will certainly make us feel better about him being gone and if anything, prove to us that he wasn’t the sole reason for our success under his regime.

I will always think that the unsung heroes of his administration were Calvin Mcgee and Mike Barwis. It obviously helped that we had #5 and #10 too. I will credit The Product for his enthusiasm, drive, innovative offensive and defensive systems, and meticulous game-day preparation (where HCBS could take some cues).

You can’t be talking about that guy who tucked his tail and ran to Michigan with their “great football tradition”, where he led them onto the field at Ann Arbor to lose to TOLEDO.

Can’t be the same guy I’m thinking of. LoL

Muck Fichigan.

I don’t have to give anybody credit. We don’t pay the staff for offseason stuff, we pay them for W and L’s. To look at anything else would be to be a Pitt fan grasping to Wandstache’s early recruiting success. If WVU pulls in the 23rd recruiting class in the country AND the players play up to that ranking, that leaves us with the 23rd best team in the country and about an 9-4 record, which is unacceptable on our schedule and recent success.

Against Pitt and USF in 07 we made it to their 30 yard line (against pitt, twice) before stalling out, so we did sniff the redzone. USF 06 Pat threw the pick. VT we only had about 50 seconds to go 90 yards. Pitt 04 was an abomination ( not to mention 07 and 08, too). We lost all the close final minute games this year too, including 2 in OT, which Rich Rod never lost. BUT, i totally agree that our 2 minute offense was not good under Rich Rod, and I noticed that fact throughout his tenure. I don’t think it is better under Stewart, however, and even if it is – or will become – our first 58 minute offense was far superior.

Point being, how can we lose by 21 to ECU (an epic display of unpreparedness), lose to a terrible colorado team, and blow a late lead against Pitt and we’re encouraged by the system and call the losses building blocks, yet we lose to Pitt in 07 by 4, one of only 5 losses in 3 years, and we need to scrap the system and blame the coaches for being totally unprepared.

As for Rich Rod, I will always hate him, even though as Rafiki says, “it doesn’t matter, it’s in the past.”

The O-line will make or break this years team, no question. But I would be leary of basing expectations of sportwriter’s articles, who already have the summer template of articles on standby and just substitute the names. (ie. stength and conditioning is going well, QB X is excelling in 7 on 7, offensive defensive line is building chemistry, etc.)

 It’s summer and they are trying to fill the pages with anything they can, and every article is based on interviews from players selected by the SID with questions administered under the watchful eye of the SID, who is trying to help build a positive image of the program and protect amateur athletes.

This is what the preseason is supposed to be about. Thinking that anything is possible and we could be the only team standing at the end of the year. Is it realistic this season, maybe.

13-0 here we come…

It’s all in how you frame the argument…we lost to two hyped-up teams (ECU and Colorado) with crazy environments on the road. So what if they faded later in the season? We didn’t. We improved. This is why September is so dangerous. Teams don’t know who they are yet, and sometimes crazy shit can happen. Need I remind you that the Fraud stole a game from a ranked Wisconsin team last season (the most proud he’s ever been of a football team) which pretty much wrecked the Badgers season, but didn’t markedly change what Michigan was capable of — the Wolverines were later bested by MAC behemoth Toledo!

I prefer a positive approach. The defense was rebuilt last year, and wound up 11th nationally in scoring. Of four losses last year, three were by four points or less. Not bad for a program in forced transition.

Also, as a fervent suppporter of the man who laid the groundwork for this program, Don Nehlen, I take issue with the idea that the 23rd best recruiting class equals the 23rd best team in the country…and that that would somehow translate into a “mediocre” 9-4 season. Beyond the obvious indication that we are becoming really spoiled by success, I would like to mention that Nehlen didn’t get much credit for working in the converse—he never had a single top 25 recruiting class, and yet managed to finish in the top 25 in roughly half of his seasons at the helm. To me, that is coaching-making the best out of what you can get, what you have (not something Rich can do, by the way…he has to have HIS kind of players, and the thing is, he might not even know if he’s got them….remember Pat was riding the bench until Bednarik got hurt against Louisville….what if that never happens and we go on to a humiliating loss to the Cards, how different might history have been?).

Now Rich did do this for us — he elevated our program to a place that put us in the room when elite talent is deciding where to go. Thus far, the current staff has kept that up. If elite talent improves, we are better than 23rd, better than 9-4…that is my hope. But then, having been around a lot of teams — you just never know, mostly because we are talking about 18-22 year-olds and no matter who is coaching, you can’t be around them all the time, and they can be wildly inconsistent.

Anyway, as you can tell…the glass is half-full for me. Nothing comes from pessimism but “told-you-so” rhetoric from types who, I think, are really just afraid of getting their hearts broken. It’s easier to say, after a loss, that you never really believed your team could win.

I’m with you 5th Year. I’ll put my heart out on the line and risk breakage. (Shit, I have a ton of blue-and-gold scar tissue already…) 13-0. National Champions.