Odds and ends and a few things I think I think while trying to imagine Rich Rodriguez sitting for 12 hours, staring at Mike Garrison and vice versa, each waiting for the other to blink.
MORGANTOWN - Odds and ends and a few things I think I think while trying to imagine Rich Rodriguez sitting for 12 hours, staring at Mike Garrison and vice versa, each waiting for the other to blink.
Or at least strike up a conversation about their mutual interests, which surely range from bewilderment regarding their respective legacies at West Virginia University to a shared disdain for Hoppy Kercheval.
Still, it's hard to fault the decision of Rodriguez to sit in on Garrison's deposition last week in WVU's $4 million lawsuit against the former Mountaineer football coach. Not that it probably made any difference in Garrison's testimony, but the soon-to-be-former school president had to be at least slightly uncomfortable because of his presence.
Again, not that it made even one iota of difference, but it was also the first thing Team Rodriguez has done in this entire process that smacked of intelligent aggressiveness.
Speaking of Rodriguez, apparently last week wasn't the first time since his exit from West Virginia that Rodriguez had a little extra time on his hands, be it to sit in on
depositions or make a few phone calls.
Apparently, during that much-ballyhooed interview that aired over the weekend, Rodriguez off-handedly mentioned that he had talked to Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops "a few days before'' the Sooners played West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl.
Huh?
The coach who was already by that time embroiled in a bitter dispute with his former employers at West Virginia was just chit-chatting with the coach who was about to face his former team? While he was up to his neck in trying to hire a staff and recruit at Michigan and while Stoops was 24/7 involved in coaching his team against the Mountaineers, they just happened to hook up on the phone?
"I didn't divulge any secrets,'' Rodriguez said when he apparently realized the possible implications of such a conversation - or at least how it might be skeptically viewed.
Don't you have to wonder, though, just what he's doing even taking - or making - that call?
Speaking of former West Virginia coaches now at Michigan, is it possible that two of the best players John Beilein ever recruited at WVU were guys he never developed to even a fraction of their potential?MORGANTOWN - Odds and ends and a few things I think I think while trying to imagine Rich Rodriguez sitting for 12 hours, staring at Mike Garrison and vice versa, each waiting for the other to blink.
Or at least strike up a conversation about their mutual interests, which surely range from bewilderment regarding their respective legacies at West Virginia University to a shared disdain for Hoppy Kercheval.
Still, it's hard to fault the decision of Rodriguez to sit in on Garrison's deposition last week in WVU's $4 million lawsuit against the former Mountaineer football coach. Not that it probably made any difference in Garrison's testimony, but the soon-to-be-former school president had to be at least slightly uncomfortable because of his presence.
Again, not that it made even one iota of difference, but it was also the first thing Team Rodriguez has done in this entire process that smacked of intelligent aggressiveness.
Speaking of Rodriguez, apparently last week wasn't the first time since his exit from West Virginia that Rodriguez had a little extra time on his hands, be it to sit in on
depositions or make a few phone calls.
Apparently, during that much-ballyhooed interview that aired over the weekend, Rodriguez off-handedly mentioned that he had talked to Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops "a few days before'' the Sooners played West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl.
Huh?
The coach who was already by that time embroiled in a bitter dispute with his former employers at West Virginia was just chit-chatting with the coach who was about to face his former team? While he was up to his neck in trying to hire a staff and recruit at Michigan and while Stoops was 24/7 involved in coaching his team against the Mountaineers, they just happened to hook up on the phone?
"I didn't divulge any secrets,'' Rodriguez said when he apparently realized the possible implications of such a conversation - or at least how it might be skeptically viewed.
Don't you have to wonder, though, just what he's doing even taking - or making - that call?
Speaking of former West Virginia coaches now at Michigan, is it possible that two of the best players John Beilein ever recruited at WVU were guys he never developed to even a fraction of their potential?
Now that's not to criticize Beilein, who recruited his share of successful players while in Morgantown. But to date, the one with by far the best professional potential is Joe Alexander, who was never close to finding his potential under Beilein.
And then there's this: Another Beilein recruit is spending his June trying to impress NBA teams in private workouts. Brad Byerson worked out for the Washington Wizards last week.
Byerson was perhaps the sharpest-dressed player ever to sit on a West Virginia bench. The key word there, of course, is sit because Byerson did little else before transferring to Division II Virginia Union. There, the 6-foot-7, 250-pounder was a three-year starter and as a senior averaged 16.8 points and 8.1 rebounds and was the defensive player of the year in his conference.
Now Byerson probably doesn't have much of a chance of being drafted or making a living in the NBA, but it's still interesting that Beilein - who got more out of a lot of players than anyone ever thought possible - just wasn't able to figure out two guys who are at least on the NBA radar.
Terence Kerns isn't the only Hargrave Military Academy athlete spending the summer trying to either increase his grade point average or his standardized test score in order to qualify academically at West Virginia.
Roscoe Davis, the 6-10 forward who is part of Bob Huggins' highly rated recruiting class, has yet to qualify. Like Kerns, the big running back recruited by the football program, Davis still has some work to do. The other three members of Huggins' class - Devin Ebanks, Kevin Jones and Darryl "Truck'' Bryant - are all qualified and in town, at least temporarily, during the school's basketball camps.
Scratch Gus Gilchrist from West Virginia's basketball wish list. The 6-8 forward, who was released from his scholarship at Maryland a few weeks ago, is headed to South Florida, according to a report in the Tampa Tribune. USF had a built-in advantage in that Chris Howard, Gilchrist's former high school and AAU teammate, is the Bulls' starting point guard.
And finally, if Rodriguez can attend Garrison's deposition in an apparent attempt to rattle the witness, whom should WVU's attorneys take with them to their sit-down with Rita Rodriguez on July 1?
Taking suggestions.
Reach Dave Hickman
by e-mail at dphickm...@aol.com
or call 348-1734.
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