Coach Stew signed a deal that will pay him $800,000 this season w/ an increase of $50,000 each year. There are also $400,000 in additional incentives which he can earn. I imagine many are disappointed that WVU has latched on to an unproven commodity and could be stuck w/ having to buy out his contract. I think the news is meaningless. Pastilong hasn't fired a football or basketball coach in 30 years so there is little chance that Stewart would ever be fired anyway. And if things get really terrible, I take Coach Stew at his word and believe he would probably leave anyway. At least now, if they enjoy success, we have a coach at a tremendous bargain for 6 years.
That being said, there are still some significant concerns about this staff that we should monitor and expect improvement. Tackling was a problem against Villanova and continued to be a problem agianst ECU. Blocking and Tackling are the most basic fundamental techniques that Offensive and Defensive players must master. WVU's weaknesses in those areas brings into question the new easier going attitude Stewart has in practices.
The new instant replay rules seemed to cause a problem for Stewart as well. The early fumble where it appeared Pat White was out of bounds should have been challenged. In the first few weeks, I have seen quite a few instances where a play should have been reviewed but never was. It seems replay officials are reluctant to slow down the game. It seems as though that they are trying to see something before stopping the game instead of stopping the game to see if there is something to see. That could have been the NCAA's intention which is why they gave each coach a challenge to use. In Coach Stew's defense, many coaches have made the same error in the early season including Leavitt on a play against Kansas.
And finally, according to the announcers, WVU won the coin toss and deferred to the second half resulting in ECU receiving the ball to start the game. Though it may seem like a small thing, I was perplexed even at the time as to why we didn't take the ball. WVU's main problem against Villanova, was not just stopping Villanova, but getting the defense off of the field. Given the task that was at hand for the game, there doesn't seem to be any reason we should not have taken the ball to start the game.
The Big East has become the early laughing stock of the BCS. The ACC is still terrible, but they have more quality that the Big East in the early going. South Florida appears to have a very strong team again this year, but even they may not be a top 10 team. Rutgers, Pitt, and Louisville have turned out to be terrible. Cincinnati was expected to be tough. However with Mauk losing every appeal to return and their other QB Grutza suffering a broken leg against Oklahoma, they may not live up to expectations. Connecticut's overtime win against Temple makes you wonder exactly how competitive they will be and Syracuse is obviously terrible as expected. So it is still quite possible for WVU to get their problems in check and win the Big East. Unfortunately, no matter who wins the conference, it won't earn much respect from the rest of the country.
Weezie
3 comments:
I only take minor exception to a couple of your points.
1. The defensive coaches are the same ones we had. Rodriguez didn't get into defensive coaching.
2. Our tackling was bad last year. With the exception of the Oklahoma game, we struggled defensively at times. This team clearly lacks a Ryan Mundy or Mike Lorello in the secondary to step it up a notch. If Reed redshirts, I would expect this all season.
3. Who we REALLY miss is Rick Trickett. Yes, I know he's been gone 2 years but that was an intense man! Now that these players have cycled through a full year, I think we're seeing how much he meant to the O-line.
4. Seeing how the rebound from the loss will be telling. Anybody can have a bad game. Rebounding is the true show of character.
5. The season's still a little early to predict the Big East race. Yes, some teams already seem to have it together. But WVU with the new coaching staff on offense should continue to improve as Mullen figures out the offenses strengths and weaknesses and Pat figures out he still needs to run....a lot!
At this time I still remain hopeful we'll be playing for the Big East title in December. ...I could be wrong
Both of you make good points. All isn't lost at this juncture. I believe that the athletic department was making a statement to the fans and the press as much as anyone else.
I was referring to the emotional intensity of Rod's practices compared to Stewart's. Players on both sides of the ball have said there is less tension and screaming at practices this year. It's not a stretch to speculate that the difference in coaching style is having an adverse effect on performance. It may not be a contributing factor at all or players may still have to adjust their psyches.
Our defense did struggle at times last year. In addition to the playcalling criticism Rod received, contributing factors in games WVU struggled was the defense not being able to prevent opponents from moving the chains for long stretches. But remember also, they were #4 in overall defense in the country going into the bowl game. It may be that this team is more exposed right now against spread offenses and that things are not as bleak as the stats indicate.
And say what you want about predicting the BE. Rutgers, Pitt, and Louisville are terrible. ("Kragthorpe is a joke who could potentially turn Louisville into the next Pitt." - weezie Nov 14, 2007) The jury may still be out on UConn and Cincinnati, and possibly even WVU. That being said, it's not too early to make a definitive statement about the quality of teams in the BE this year. My opinion is that it will come down between USF and WVU, and it's up in the air wether there are 5 bowl eligible teams.
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