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[ Originally posted 08.03.03 ]
Scheduling crisis at West Virginia
From wire and staff reports
©2003 Bonesville.net
Thanks to the Atlantic Coast Conference's
pillaging of his conference, Ed Pastilong faces what he might consider the
mother of all scheduling predicaments.
The West Virginia athletic director is
mired in the middle of a neck-deep quandary about the Mountaineers' lineup
of future opponents with time pressures and still unknown variables
exacerbating the challenge.
Pastilong's most immediate concern
finding a pair of replacement opponents for the 2004 season was dropped in
his lap when the ACC enticed Big East linchpins Miami and Virginia Tech into
switching leagues after this season.
''It's going to be very difficult with this
short notice,'' Pastilong said. ''Then, to compound (the scheduling
problems), we're (already) scheduled for 2005 through '08.''
Looking beyond 2004, scheduling for
Pastilong and his Big East colleagues will remain a virtual Rubik's Cube, at
least for a few more weeks, because the presidents of the league's schools
still must decide how many football-playing members and which schools will
be a part of a new configuration starting in 2005.
In the meantime, like several of their
fellow Big East holdovers, the Mountaineers are scrambling to find
attractive non-conference replacements for 2004.
Pastilong's immediate problem is that most
programs' out-of-league schedules are booked years in advance. So, West
Virginia may have to adjust its scheduling policy of playing either marquee
opponents in home-and-home series or lesser teams in two-for-one
arrangements.
West Virginia's flexibility in arranging a
patchwork schedule for 2004 is limited because Pastilong is holding
vacancies in 2005-08 for possible Big East expansion teams.
West Virginia will play six Big East games
in 2004, when Connecticut joins for football. The Mountaineers have
agreements to play non-conference home games against Maryland and East
Carolina, and they will travel to Central Florida.
Pastilong wants WVU to play a marquee
opponent from a power conference in a nationally televised game, but he
acknowledges difficulties in setting up such a game on short notice.
According to newspaper reports last week,
Auburn is searching for a seventh home game in 2004 after Bowling Green
backed out of a scheduled trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium. And Virginia Tech has
expressed interest in maintaining its series with West Virginia next season,
and reviving it in 2009 and beyond.
''Once our conference situation is settled,
then we would be receptive to discussions with (Virginia Tech) with regards
to future games,'' Pastilong said. ''We are not in a position today to make
commitments until our conference determines if we're going to operate with''
eight or nine football schools.
Might the Mountaineers consider contacting
Marshall next season?
''We haven't had that discussion,''
Pastilong said. ''It's not going on.''
Pastilong said the Big East's cloudy future
has suppressed this year's preseason football ticket campaign. About 23,000
season tickets were sold through July, he said. Last year, West Virginia
sold about 27,000 season packages total through the start of the season.
Copyright 2003 The Associated
Press and Bonesville.net. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 11:02:34 AM
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