WEST VIRGINIA athletic director Ed Pastilong has been moving around at a pretty good clip lately.
WEST VIRGINIA athletic director Ed Pastilong has been moving around at a pretty good clip lately.
A luncheon meeting Tuesday. Fund-raising in Martinsburg and Bluefield.
The AD, though, isn't moving anywhere on the subject of football negotiations for future games with Marshall.
"We've had discussions with Marshall," said the Mountaineer AD. "Our position is we want 2-for-1. If they'd agree, we'd go ahead and sign.''
WVU wants two home games for every one played in Huntington after the current contract expires in 2012.
"Being self-supporting, we must have seven home games,'' Pastilong emphasized.
WVU has been loading up on one-for-one deals of late. The school will finish with Colorado and Auburn this coming season. Teams like Florida State, LSU and Michigan State are on the horizon.
What's caught the eye of MU athletic director Bob Marcum, though, is the one-for-one deal with East Carolina, a Conference USA peer of the Thundering Herd. If ECU can get such a deal with the Mountaineers, why can't Marshall?
"I have no response to that,'' Pastilong said.
On the flip side, however, Marshall has a 2-for-1 deal with Virginia Tech. So why not one with WVU?
The point is, the negotiations seem headed to a stalemate a la 2005. Pastilong said Marcum, currently at C-USA meetings, "doesn't concur'' the 2-for-1 deal would be fine.
And so what's next?
"We're going to hold firm on that [2-for-1 demand],'' Pastilong said.
Leading us . . . where? Are we headed to another lock-up ordered by Gov. Joe Manchin?
"[Manchin is] a big supporter of the series,'' said Matt Turner, Manchin's right-hand man. "He thinks it's a win-win situation.''
WEST VIRGINIA athletic director Ed Pastilong has been moving around at a pretty good clip lately.
A luncheon meeting Tuesday. Fund-raising in Martinsburg and Bluefield.
The AD, though, isn't moving anywhere on the subject of football negotiations for future games with Marshall.
"We've had discussions with Marshall," said the Mountaineer AD. "Our position is we want 2-for-1. If they'd agree, we'd go ahead and sign.''
WVU wants two home games for every one played in Huntington after the current contract expires in 2012.
"Being self-supporting, we must have seven home games,'' Pastilong emphasized.
WVU has been loading up on one-for-one deals of late. The school will finish with Colorado and Auburn this coming season. Teams like Florida State, LSU and Michigan State are on the horizon.
What's caught the eye of MU athletic director Bob Marcum, though, is the one-for-one deal with East Carolina, a Conference USA peer of the Thundering Herd. If ECU can get such a deal with the Mountaineers, why can't Marshall?
"I have no response to that,'' Pastilong said.
On the flip side, however, Marshall has a 2-for-1 deal with Virginia Tech. So why not one with WVU?
The point is, the negotiations seem headed to a stalemate a la 2005. Pastilong said Marcum, currently at C-USA meetings, "doesn't concur'' the 2-for-1 deal would be fine.
And so what's next?
"We're going to hold firm on that [2-for-1 demand],'' Pastilong said.
Leading us . . . where? Are we headed to another lock-up ordered by Gov. Joe Manchin?
"[Manchin is] a big supporter of the series,'' said Matt Turner, Manchin's right-hand man. "He thinks it's a win-win situation.''
The governor was traveling Tuesday and unavailable for comment. Turner said it was "difficult to tell'' whether his boss would again step in. He said, "Right now it's between the athletic departments.''
Should be interesting. Many WVU supporters roundly criticized Manchin during the last negotiations, yet the governor breezed to re-election. Maybe he locks the ADs in a room again because, hey, why not? What can he lose now? The other school of thought is he doesn't need the grief again.
And there is another factor: Marcum's impending retirement on June 30. The Marshall AD certainly wants to make a deal before leaving office, but may not have the time.
In sum: Looks to me like we're headed for a tie-up at the intersection of I-79 and I-64.
Closers
Pastilong said he has not met with incoming WVU president Jim Clements about his job status. The AD was by and large forced to take a June 2010 retirement deal by former president Mike Garrison. Since Garrison's ouster, though, Pastilong has expressed an interest in staying on the job.
The athletic director said WVU football ticket sales are "running close to last year and I feel good about that."
And finally . . .
Pastilong had an interesting take on the recent comments from Penn State's Joe Paterno.
In case you missed them, JoePa said his Big Ten Conference should expand from 11 to 12 schools by taking in a Big East team like Syracuse, Rutgers or Pitt. That way, the league could have a football championship.
"I think the Big Ten has the perfect number at 11 schools,'' Pastilong said. "I thought the ACC had the perfect number at nine [before raiding the Big East for Boston College, Virginia Tech and Miami, Fla.]
"In my opinion, the best numbers are nine or 11. Your football schedule can be evened out with [league] home and away games.
"If possible, if the right situation would present itself, I'd like [the Big East] to get to nine [football schools]. I know that would give us 17 basketball schools, but I could live with that.''
Something to chew on this Wednesday morning.
Reach Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827, mitchvin...@wvgazette.com or http://twitter.com/MitchVingle.
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Marshall get's a BE school in their stadium 2 out of 5 years and WV gets a 1-0 start 5 years. Seems like an even trade off to me.