In today's Charleston Gazette, Dave Hickman recounts the tenure of Rodriguez at WVU in an effort to see if a pattern of NCAA rule violations existed.  It's overall pretty inconclusive, but Hickman does point out that the WVU athletic department took proactive steps to safeguard the university against any allegation of impropriety.  And yes, that means Ed Pastilong did something right.

Take it away, Dave:

When reminded of [supervisory] trips he and Cox used to make to West Virginia practices, Pastilong simply didn't want to go there. It was easy to "hear'' the smile, though. And as far as a WVU investigation to simply stay a step ahead of the issue, nothing grand is planned.

"Our compliance requirements include monthly, weekly and sometimes even daily reports and they're all in our records,'' Pastilong said. "They work in both a prevention mode and an educational mode in making sure our coaches are doing the right things. I have every confidence that during that time we were in full compliance.''

Even if it took an extra set or two of eyes to make sure.

A lot of different things get said on this site about Pastilong's tenure, a lot of times by yours truly, but know this: when he very obviously does something right, he'll get credit from me.

You hate to feel like you're babysitting or micromanaging any employee, whether it a grad assistant or a head coach, but you have to, as I learned in law school, cover your ass.  Pastilong, Cox, and by association, the entire athletic department and university did exactly that.

Aren't we very thankful this Tuesday morning that it's Michigan in the news and not WVU?  If you are, tip your hat to Pastilong -- he deserves it.