West Virginia's new basketball coach, Bob Huggins, has wasted little time living up to his reputation as a great recruiter. When he arrived at WVU in April there was little time to recruit high school seniors. That fact didn't matter much since WVU had just one scholarship available for Huggins to use.
So, I had stockpiled the final season of The Sopranos on my DVR. Late last week I decided to begin watching the final episodes of the HBO series so that when Sunday's final episode, "Made in America' aired, I would watch it live.
Imagine being a young football coach and hired to coach quarterbacks at West Virginia University. That is only part of the story regarding Rod Smith, the new quarterbacks coach at WVU.
That $2.5 million buyout clause John Beilein had in his contract to coach basketball at West Virginia University became smaller last week when Beilein and WVU agreed to settle the matter for $1.5 million.
When West Virginia athletic director Ed Pastilong announced Bob Huggins as WVU's new basketball coach at a press conference on April 6, the long time administrator said, "It was probably the shortest negotiation ever. I asked if he was ready to come home and he said absolutely."
Two weeks ago I lamented how it was hard to write about WVU's run in the National Invitation Tournament because Mountaineers games were being played while the paper was being printed on Tuesday evenings. I did offer up the suggestion two weeks ago that West Virginia coach John Beilein would likely be contacted by Michigan about its vacant head basketball coaching position at the conclusion of the Mountaineers' run in the NIT.
The problem with the National Invitational Tournament and preparing this column is timing. Three of the four games West Virginia has played in the tournament thus far have been played on Tuesday night while the paper was being printed. That includes last night's semi final against Mississippi State in Madison Square Garden.
West Virginia played North Carolina State last night for the right to go to the semi finals of the National Invitational Tournament in New York City. No big deal to the masses of the college basketball world where the focus is on the field of 65 which has now been pared to the Sweet 16.
