[ Post a Response | J.R.'s Mountaineer Message Board ]
Posted by Rancid Mountaineer on 5/2/2008, 7:04 pm, in reply to "OH NO - We are in deep trouble now"
71.61.220.150
--Previous Message--
: THE continuing aftershocks at West
: Virginia University from the Heather
: Bresch degree mess could reverberate on
: the Morgantown campuses from Stewart
: Hall to the WVU Coliseum and Puskar
: Center.
:
: WVU athletics continues to find itself
: embroiled in the Rich Rodriguez buyout
: battle. Meanwhile, a university
: administration also dealing with that
: and the fallout after awarding a bogus
: master's degree to Gov. Joe Manchin's
: daughter includes the leading candidate
: to head WVU sports in the future.
:
: It's not silly to assume that Craig
: Walker, who seemingly finds himself as
: involved in the Bresch discussions and
: decision as much as anyone, could have
: been the Mountaineers' next athletic
: director ... and still could be.
:
: Then, considering what has transpired
: and the flak that Garrison is receiving
: and will continue receive (and have
: every decision fine tooth-combed by
: more than faculty), maybe not.
:
: WVU athletics sources of the past and
: present employees in the WVU Coliseum
: and Puskar Center say Walker was more
: than the leader in the clubhouse to
: succeed Ed Pastilong as AD when the
: two-decade veteran of the position
: retires in June 2010.
:
: Think back to when David Hardesty
: announced, more than a year in advance,
: that he was stepping down as Garrison's
: WVU presidential predecessor. The top
: candidate -- more than that, really --
: from Day 1 was Garrison.
:
: Why should this be any different? The
: same people are involved.
:
: Manchin is intertwined with the WVU
: Board of Governors, which is
: intertwined with Garrison, who is
: intertwined with Walker. It may be very
: political, and it also doesn't take a
: lot of common sense to see the obvious.
:
: Walker has been the obvious choice --
: so much so, some say, that Walker might
: have returned from Stewart Hall to
: athletics before Pastilong headed into
: the sunset -- sort of an AD-in-waiting.
:
: WVU athletics reports directly to
: Walker, as chief of staff. He is said
: by insiders to want the AD job. Sources
: on campus say one reason Walked took
: the chief of staff job was that it
: might help him land in the AD chair.
:
: However, if Garrison wasn't directly
: involved in the Bresch discussions --
: as he claims -- then Walker, as chief
: of staff, figures to be the guy who was
: reporting what was going on to the
: president. He was one of the Bresch hot
: potato jugglers.
:
: Right now, it seems Garrison and Walker
: have survived the first wave of the
: Bresch pressure. There may not be a
: second wave. Who knows where that or
: the Rodriguez situation turns?
:
: It was Walker, not Pastilong, who also
: was the only other WVU representative
: besides Garrison in the August 2007
: meeting with Rodriguez and his
: representatives, when the coach
: contends he was told that if he left, a
: $4 million buyout clause in his new
: contract wouldn't be that large of an
: issue.
:
: Is that too close to the fire twice to
: prevent being burned?
:
: Walker, a Clarksburg native and WVU
: alumnus, certainly has the background
: to be the Mountaineer AD -- but then so
: do plenty of other potential candidates
: with or without WVU ties.
:
: He was the business manager and then
: assistant AD for finance in the
: Coliseum from 1981-94, and then moved
: to the WVU Foundation before being
: tapped as Garrison's chief of staff.
:
: A Garrison decision to move one of his
: close aides into the AD role could be
: viewed as the president getting more of
: a handle on the athletic department.
:
: It also would be viewed by some --
: particularly following what has
: transpired since Rodriguez's
: mid-December exit -- as the
: opportunity, in some cases, to keep
: whatever skeletons are there in the
: closet.
:
: The AD vacancy has two years to play
: out. By then, Garrison may have swayed
: enough opinion to put who he wants into
: Pastilong's former chair. It also won't
: hurt that Manchin figures to be in his
: second term then, and he likely would
: back his buddy Garrison on an AD
: choice.
:
: Right now, it's just another angle to
: the Bresch story, but it's a very
: intriguing one, and it involves an
: athletic supporter and fan constituency
: often detached from the university
: leadership proper.
:
: I don't think Walker has to win the
: job. I just think he has to keep from
: losing it. It's pretty apparent he has
: the right people in his corner for now.
:
:Hey Willey,
Good important info. Good job! From where did you get it?
Rancid Mountaineer
Message Thread:
« Back to thread