Post by elp525 on Jul 5, 2010 7:30:13 GMT -5
Monday July 5, 2010
by Mike Casazza
Daily Mail sports writer
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- On June 14, the very day West Virginia University introduced former quarterback Oliver Luck as its next athletic director, the Big 12 Conference received a stay of execution.
Blackberrys dinged, cell phones buzzed and inboxes were populated by news Texas would stay in the conference and resist overtures from the Pac-10. The Longhorns hooked Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Texas Tech, too, and the conference was saved.
At about the time the news was appearing, Luck was making a speech at Touchdown Terrace at Mountaineer Field. Later, he'd be peppered with questions about conference matters.
When he went to bed, things had slowed down dramatically. The Big 12 hadn't parked conference matters in the garage, but certainly tapped the brakes. When Luck hit the ground running - his first official day was last Thursday, but he was on campus all of last week - he was able to do so with his feet beneath him.
"I'll call it a truce in this whole skirmish, if you will," he said. "I think I've said this before, but I don't think it'll be a permanent situation. I think the Big Ten is still interested in further moves.
"I'm not sure why they don't feel comfortable now with 12 teams (after adding Nebraska), but as far as I can tell - and I ask this sincerely to you - but they have not made a statement to say, 'We're done now. We're not going to cast a wandering eye south or east,' have they?
"I've not seen them swear off further expansion. I think everyone can take a deep breath and say, 'Wow, we got out of that little skirmish OK and without too much wear and tear,' but I don't believe it to be permanent."
And at the same time, it's not imminent.
Luck was prepared to travel a forked road for the foreseeable future with his allegiances split between his job as West Virginia's AD and his commitment to pro soccer's Houston Dynamo and its stadium project.
With the expected earth-shattering conference chaos merely shaking things up before calming down quickly, Luck can better balance his duties.
He can be a project manager. He can be an AD. He won't be asked to work miracles finding WVU a new home or helping his school repair the conference in which it lives.
So now he does the things new ADs do. Evaluate. Theorize. Streamline. Compartmentalize. Maybe even leave things as he finds them. Thus far it's been uneventful, which he expected.
Truth be told, one of the most beneficial attributes to his candidacy for AD was his seat on the WVU Board of Governors. For two years he was intimate with the inner workings of the university and he became familiar with plenty related to athletics.
He paid attention to all of the presentations from his predecessor, Ed Pastilong, and Pastilong's deputy, Mike Parsons. When compelled, Luck noted this or made sure to remember that and then, like a Rhodes Scholar finalist, he did his homework.
"I was aware of some big picture stuff and I thought it was a pretty well-run and fairly tight - in terms of being responsible fiscally - department," Luck said. "And that's been absolutely confirmed by what I've learned the last couple weeks. There hasn't been a surprise."
He's been more investigator than administrator. He understands the value of being proactive, but appreciates the sense in being rational.
He is and will continue talking to coaches and assistants and student-athletes. He'll check out facilities and read contracts and then see how WVU lines up nationally.
Making sure his school is equal with and even above peers across the country is critical.
"It's a lot of fact-finding, if you will, and talking to people to get the context of all the things that I just don't know entirely," he said. "There's nothing that I've found that is disturbing to me and I certainly hope not to find too many things that are disturbing.
"I'm sure there will be a few things that make me say, 'Gee, that's something we should be able to fix. I'll put that at the top of my list.'"
And yet Luck admits nothing will really go to the top. The first line remains occupied by concerns over the future of intercollegiate conferences.
"It's the issue that causes me to lose sleep at night more than anything else," he said.
It's the unknown, and it's frightening. Luck can change and handle things as he combs over the athletic department. He has control over finances, infrastructure, staffing, even things like that NCAA "issue" he's aware of within the football program. They all happen under his umbrella.
The conference stuff is bigger than one man, one school, one league. Lightning strikes come from nowhere and they're fast and devastating. They're no match for an umbrella, either.
"Think back a year or whenever it was when the Big Ten said publicly, 'Yes, were going to add one team or multiple teams,'" Luck said. "Who thought the first team to switch would be Colorado?"
It's that sort of unforeseen thing that worries everyone. There's nothing out there waiting to happen that a president or AD can put a finger on, but what isn't there isn't going away. Luck sees the Big 12 at 10 teams and the Pac-10 and Big Ten at 12.
If the Big 12 is to catch up, it has to find teams. If those leagues, as well as the Atlantic Coast and Southeastern conferences, want to stay ahead of the next wave, they, too, must add.
"I don't know if we have to grow, but at the same time, I don't know if it's tenable for the long term or the mid-term to remain at eight (Big East football) schools," he said. "You look around the country and you've got the Pac-12 and the Big Ten with 12 and the ACC and SEC at 12, I don't think it takes a genius to see where the potential danger may lie when we're at eight."
So Luck and the WVU president's office and his senior leadership team prepare for what they might expect and what they might not. There are broad details and specific ones. Everything is part of Luck's "decision tree."
"There are a lot of contingency plans," Luck said. "You have the ACC, which is geographically a conference I think would work for WVU, as would the SEC. But also, I don't want people to think there's an absolute plan where one thing happens to the Big East this day and then two days later we're in the ACC.
"That's not accurate. It's a matter of understanding what could happen and understanding what our options may be available with those conferences."
by Mike Casazza
Daily Mail sports writer
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- On June 14, the very day West Virginia University introduced former quarterback Oliver Luck as its next athletic director, the Big 12 Conference received a stay of execution.
Blackberrys dinged, cell phones buzzed and inboxes were populated by news Texas would stay in the conference and resist overtures from the Pac-10. The Longhorns hooked Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Texas Tech, too, and the conference was saved.
At about the time the news was appearing, Luck was making a speech at Touchdown Terrace at Mountaineer Field. Later, he'd be peppered with questions about conference matters.
When he went to bed, things had slowed down dramatically. The Big 12 hadn't parked conference matters in the garage, but certainly tapped the brakes. When Luck hit the ground running - his first official day was last Thursday, but he was on campus all of last week - he was able to do so with his feet beneath him.
"I'll call it a truce in this whole skirmish, if you will," he said. "I think I've said this before, but I don't think it'll be a permanent situation. I think the Big Ten is still interested in further moves.
"I'm not sure why they don't feel comfortable now with 12 teams (after adding Nebraska), but as far as I can tell - and I ask this sincerely to you - but they have not made a statement to say, 'We're done now. We're not going to cast a wandering eye south or east,' have they?
"I've not seen them swear off further expansion. I think everyone can take a deep breath and say, 'Wow, we got out of that little skirmish OK and without too much wear and tear,' but I don't believe it to be permanent."
And at the same time, it's not imminent.
Luck was prepared to travel a forked road for the foreseeable future with his allegiances split between his job as West Virginia's AD and his commitment to pro soccer's Houston Dynamo and its stadium project.
With the expected earth-shattering conference chaos merely shaking things up before calming down quickly, Luck can better balance his duties.
He can be a project manager. He can be an AD. He won't be asked to work miracles finding WVU a new home or helping his school repair the conference in which it lives.
So now he does the things new ADs do. Evaluate. Theorize. Streamline. Compartmentalize. Maybe even leave things as he finds them. Thus far it's been uneventful, which he expected.
Truth be told, one of the most beneficial attributes to his candidacy for AD was his seat on the WVU Board of Governors. For two years he was intimate with the inner workings of the university and he became familiar with plenty related to athletics.
He paid attention to all of the presentations from his predecessor, Ed Pastilong, and Pastilong's deputy, Mike Parsons. When compelled, Luck noted this or made sure to remember that and then, like a Rhodes Scholar finalist, he did his homework.
"I was aware of some big picture stuff and I thought it was a pretty well-run and fairly tight - in terms of being responsible fiscally - department," Luck said. "And that's been absolutely confirmed by what I've learned the last couple weeks. There hasn't been a surprise."
He's been more investigator than administrator. He understands the value of being proactive, but appreciates the sense in being rational.
He is and will continue talking to coaches and assistants and student-athletes. He'll check out facilities and read contracts and then see how WVU lines up nationally.
Making sure his school is equal with and even above peers across the country is critical.
"It's a lot of fact-finding, if you will, and talking to people to get the context of all the things that I just don't know entirely," he said. "There's nothing that I've found that is disturbing to me and I certainly hope not to find too many things that are disturbing.
"I'm sure there will be a few things that make me say, 'Gee, that's something we should be able to fix. I'll put that at the top of my list.'"
And yet Luck admits nothing will really go to the top. The first line remains occupied by concerns over the future of intercollegiate conferences.
"It's the issue that causes me to lose sleep at night more than anything else," he said.
It's the unknown, and it's frightening. Luck can change and handle things as he combs over the athletic department. He has control over finances, infrastructure, staffing, even things like that NCAA "issue" he's aware of within the football program. They all happen under his umbrella.
The conference stuff is bigger than one man, one school, one league. Lightning strikes come from nowhere and they're fast and devastating. They're no match for an umbrella, either.
"Think back a year or whenever it was when the Big Ten said publicly, 'Yes, were going to add one team or multiple teams,'" Luck said. "Who thought the first team to switch would be Colorado?"
It's that sort of unforeseen thing that worries everyone. There's nothing out there waiting to happen that a president or AD can put a finger on, but what isn't there isn't going away. Luck sees the Big 12 at 10 teams and the Pac-10 and Big Ten at 12.
If the Big 12 is to catch up, it has to find teams. If those leagues, as well as the Atlantic Coast and Southeastern conferences, want to stay ahead of the next wave, they, too, must add.
"I don't know if we have to grow, but at the same time, I don't know if it's tenable for the long term or the mid-term to remain at eight (Big East football) schools," he said. "You look around the country and you've got the Pac-12 and the Big Ten with 12 and the ACC and SEC at 12, I don't think it takes a genius to see where the potential danger may lie when we're at eight."
So Luck and the WVU president's office and his senior leadership team prepare for what they might expect and what they might not. There are broad details and specific ones. Everything is part of Luck's "decision tree."
"There are a lot of contingency plans," Luck said. "You have the ACC, which is geographically a conference I think would work for WVU, as would the SEC. But also, I don't want people to think there's an absolute plan where one thing happens to the Big East this day and then two days later we're in the ACC.
"That's not accurate. It's a matter of understanding what could happen and understanding what our options may be available with those conferences."
