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Friday, 06 August 2010 10:32

Written by Colin Dunlap

You want solid journalism, here it is, right here, by Mike Casazza of the Charleston Daily Mail.

In the above linked piece, Casazza examines, in depth, the Fiesta Bowl celebratory moments in Arizona when Bill Stewart was hired as head coach at WVU, just after leading the Mountaineers over Oklahoma. In the piece, the story is told of how former West Virginia president Mike Garrison (pictured, above) either had a lack of institutional control, or was painted into a corner by a heavy-handed governor (or a little of both) -- there are a couple of ways to see it. 

Especially in light of yesterday's revelations by the NCAA, there are a stunning few graphs in Casazza's piece that read as follows: 

"Go straight to your room," Wells said. "Straight to your room. Don't come to the lobby."

"Why?" Garrison said.

"They're cooking it up right now," Wells said. "They're going to hire Stewart."

This exchange was illustrating how, in a late-night hotel lobby, Gov. Joe Manchin, then-Director of Athletics Ed Pastilong and then-Board of Governors Chairman Steve Goodwin were looking for Garrison and were dead-set on hiring Bill Stewart -- which they did. They wrangled Garrison into a suite in the hotel, forced their thoughts on him and made him submit, thus Stewart was hired very soon thereafter.

There are a couple things at play here:

1. Garrison could have, and should have, realized he was the boss. Just walked to that elevator and said, "You know, let's sleep on it, we have other guys lined up to interview, let's take it a bit slower." After all, Garrison was the president and had that power -- or so it seemed. And, if Stewart was the best candidate -- which I believe he was and would have been hired anyway --  they could have waited until the got back East and hired him then.

2. Joe Manchin looks like a power-hungry, overofficious, I'm-the-man-in-charge-look-at-me person in all of this. While Garrison going to his room and letting things fester sounds like it might have been easy to do, it really is not much of an option when the governor of the state is breathing down your neck, forcing your hand to make a decision. In a lot of ways, Garrison was in a no-win; mostly because Joe Manchin intermeddled into things where he didn't need to stick his nose into.

Comments (4)

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written by wvmountydog, August 06, 2010 - 12:15 PM

Unfortunately Manchin seems to think that he has the right to decide everything from WVU football to US Senate succession.

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written by AnxiousEER97, August 06, 2010 - 05:30 PM

I enjoy following this blog and you have some of the best coverage of WVU football, but I find this statement really amazing: "And, if Stewart was the best candidate -- which I believe he was and would have been hired anyway -- they could have waited until the got back East and hired him then."

Compared to Butch Jones and Skip Holtz? Maybe. But according to Garrison, it sounds like they were talking to other fish - perhaps bigger fish. Coach Stew is a nice guy. I know you have to maintain your access to him, but this statement seems a little off the wall to me and proves too much. Stew was not a serious contender for the gig prior to that win. And the fact that he got the job during the collective hangover following the win simply proves the point.

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written by c_dunlap, August 06, 2010 - 05:42 PM

I ain't buying it.
You say, "according to Garrison, it sounds like they were talking to other fish - perhaps bigger fish."
That's an easy statement for Garrison to make, a broad-sweeping, wide statement that can't be proven (and I know I can't disprove it, either) but if he is going to throw that out there with such ease, he needed to name names.
In terms of saying, "I know you have to maintain your access to him"...the press conferences are once a week -- on Tuesdays at the Puskar Center. And they are wide open to accredited media members, no matter what you write about the head coach, good or bad.
Honestly, until I see Garrison identify these big fish, from the pool of the people that we know for sure, I am of the opinion that Stewart was the best candidate.
If your opinion is different, that is absolutely, positively, fine -- we are all entitled to them and that is what makes forums such as this blog wonderful.

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written by 81eer, August 10, 2010 - 07:18 PM

You say, "according to Garrison, it sounds like they were talking to other fish - perhaps bigger fish." A current D1 HC, who was a D1 OC at the time, told me that he had a trip scheduled to Morgantown and got a call to cancell it after the bowl win. Can't confirm it but that's what I was told.

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