Chip Shots
Rainy Monday
Monday had been reserved for a golf outing at Pete Dye Golf Club in Bridgeport. West Virginia University coaches and athletic department officials were going to be there. Food, drink, golf and insight into the athletic program was on the agenda. The formula seemed right.
Well, someone failed to include sunshine into the equation. The golf course was already wet when we arrived due to a heavy morning rain, so the day's scramble was going to be cart path only. Long story short, we got in eight holes of play when we saw some of the blackest clouds ever on the horizon.
At that point we were enjoying a successful round at six under par. We hurried through our ninth hole in an attempt to beat the rain and left the par five with a disappointing par. The rain, however, was upon us so we scurried to the nearby coal mine shaft for cover. The abandoned mine shaft is a trademark of the club.
After some time there we found out that golf was over for the day. When we returned to the clubhouse, basketball Coach Bob Huggins was armed with a microphone and had been given the task of entertaining the gathering. Quite a task considering that the rainout had created a huge block of extra time.
Huggins did fine though as he has plenty of stories to fill gaps in time. Of note on Monday Huggins said the loss of Joe Alexander to the Milwaukee Bucks, while significant, won't derail his plans to win a national championship at WVU. We'll be fine, he said. He pointed to his three recruits from the New York City area in Darryl Bryant, Devin Ebanks and Kevin Jones as being three of the top 10 recruits in that talent rich area.
Huggins also noted that home and home series have been made with Mississippi and Ohio State. Memphis will play here in 2009/2010 and that WVU will compete in the Jimmy V Classic this fall.
Football Coach Bill Stewart was not a golf participant on this day, and because of the rain out he was a bit late to the podium. His message was positive, as usual. He said his team was working hard, very hard. He said he has to keep an eye on them to make sure they don't overwork.
Stewart said recruiting was going great, as good as ever at WVU. He said the players are kids we can be proud of. It was easy to see why Coach Stewart is beloved by the parents, especially the mothers, of the players he recruits.
On a bit of a sour note, Stewart said the highly anticipated arrival of Frederick running back Terrence Kerns looks unlikely. He has not been able to get the required GPA/test score to qualify.
A point made multiple times by Stewart, and hard to argue, is it has become the Golden Era of WVU sports and we should embrace it.
