Post by rainman on Feb 23, 2008 6:51:25 GMT -5
COLUMN: No rush to pasture
By Bob Hertzel
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN— One can only imagine the glee being felt by West Virginia’s breakaway boosters when the news began breaking on Thursday that Ed Pastilong had announced his retirement date.
From Boston to Phoenix you could almost hear the corks popping on bottles of Bollinger Vielles Vignes Francaises, the world’s rarest, greatest and most expensive champagne.
Like George Bush as he rocked softly back and forth on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln with a sign “Mission Accomplished” above him, the celebration turned out to be a bit premature, if for their back-alley politics in the wake of the Rich Rodriguez resignation had done anything it was to give Pastilong two additional years of rocking chair service as athletic director emeritus at full pay.
When the full news was known, however, it became clear Pastilong had survived the assault. The only change in his contract was not an early exit, for it was due to expire on the same June 30, 2010, date that is announced as his exit from running the department.
Instead it was a pay raise up to $225,000 a year for those two years with a chance to earn an addition annual $290,000 with incentive bonuses based on the success of various teams. For example, if WVU were to win the national football championship, Pastilong would receive $30,000 for the Big East championship, $40,000 for going to a BCS Bowl and $60,000 for the national title.
This plus two years to help with the transition after he steps down as the longest-serving athletic director in WVU history with 21 years on the job do not seem to indicate any rush send Pastilong to pasture.
In truth, the contract amendment had been discussed since long before anyone had an inkling that Rodriguez would leave and Pastilong had been thinking of retiring at the end of this contract almost since he signed it.
He will be 67 when the contract runs its course and at that age you don’t really need to be dealing with rebellious boosters or egomaniacal coaches. It’s not a time for lawsuits but for bathing suits, not for football polls but for fishing poles.
“You know,” he said, “in West Virginia you can get a free hunting and fishing license when you are 65. I looked into it.”
The attempt to drive Pastilong out of the athletic department served only one purpose and that was to have the old quarterback in Pastilong rise up in him to fight for his job.
“This,” he said at the height of the Rodriguez mess as boosters threatened to withdraw their support for the school’s athletic department if he didn’t just depart, “isn’t the time to run. It’s time to fight.”
Seems like Pastilong, who is a friendly, mild-mannered man whose greatest asset to the university has been his ability to raise funds, has been putting out fires ever since he took over from the legendary coach and athletic director Fred Schaus in 1989.
It is difficult to imagine how he can be held up to criticism when you realize that he presided over the greatest period of change in school history, none of it coming easily.
He took over an athletic department with a budget of $12 million and watched it grow to its present $48 million, and if you think that was due to runaway spending on Pastilong’s part you are dead wrong. It grew out of the changing of the times, from blue collar to mink collar football and basketball coaches.
When he took over from Schaus the football team had just missed a national championship when it lost to Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl and the basketball team was nationally ranked, but there were storm clouds on the horizon.
Penn State left the Atlantic 10 and joined the Big Ten, and that completely changed the picture of eastern football. At the same time, other conferences were realigning, and Pastilong understood that it was time to move into a conference.
In 1991 he took the team into the Big East, then helped it through troubled times when the ACC ravaged the conference by stealing away Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College.
There was another fire to put out when Gale Catlett’s basketball team came unglued and the long-time coach walked out in mid-season, enough of a problem by itself but compounded when his replacement, Dan Dakich, walked out after eight days, spooked away when he discovered that Jonathan Hargett and his family had been taking money from an agent.
It got worse when David Hardesty, then the school president, let Bob Huggins slip away as he was about to hire him, but that turned into a blessing as John Beilein became available to lead the team into the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
Pastilong was able to smooth over Beilein’s hurried departure for Michigan by bringing Huggins home.
The Rodriguez fiasco is the latest fire and probably the last one Pastilong will deal with, a five-alarm blaze filled with enough greed and ego to make a man half Pastilong’s age consider getting out of the business of modern athletics.
“That’s what makes the job so interesting,” Pastilong maintains. “You go to work and there’s nothing going on and by lunch something will jump up that’s different, unusual or controversial that requires your attention.”
And so now a date has been set for him to step aside, not down. A search for his successor will begin in due time.
Perhaps all those boosters who knew how to run an athletic department better than Pastilong can help produce the perfect man to replace him. They can begin offering suggestions to President Mike Garrison just as soon as they figure out a way to get the corks back into those bottles of Bollinger Vielles Vignes Francaises.
By Bob Hertzel
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN— One can only imagine the glee being felt by West Virginia’s breakaway boosters when the news began breaking on Thursday that Ed Pastilong had announced his retirement date.
From Boston to Phoenix you could almost hear the corks popping on bottles of Bollinger Vielles Vignes Francaises, the world’s rarest, greatest and most expensive champagne.
Like George Bush as he rocked softly back and forth on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln with a sign “Mission Accomplished” above him, the celebration turned out to be a bit premature, if for their back-alley politics in the wake of the Rich Rodriguez resignation had done anything it was to give Pastilong two additional years of rocking chair service as athletic director emeritus at full pay.
When the full news was known, however, it became clear Pastilong had survived the assault. The only change in his contract was not an early exit, for it was due to expire on the same June 30, 2010, date that is announced as his exit from running the department.
Instead it was a pay raise up to $225,000 a year for those two years with a chance to earn an addition annual $290,000 with incentive bonuses based on the success of various teams. For example, if WVU were to win the national football championship, Pastilong would receive $30,000 for the Big East championship, $40,000 for going to a BCS Bowl and $60,000 for the national title.
This plus two years to help with the transition after he steps down as the longest-serving athletic director in WVU history with 21 years on the job do not seem to indicate any rush send Pastilong to pasture.
In truth, the contract amendment had been discussed since long before anyone had an inkling that Rodriguez would leave and Pastilong had been thinking of retiring at the end of this contract almost since he signed it.
He will be 67 when the contract runs its course and at that age you don’t really need to be dealing with rebellious boosters or egomaniacal coaches. It’s not a time for lawsuits but for bathing suits, not for football polls but for fishing poles.
“You know,” he said, “in West Virginia you can get a free hunting and fishing license when you are 65. I looked into it.”
The attempt to drive Pastilong out of the athletic department served only one purpose and that was to have the old quarterback in Pastilong rise up in him to fight for his job.
“This,” he said at the height of the Rodriguez mess as boosters threatened to withdraw their support for the school’s athletic department if he didn’t just depart, “isn’t the time to run. It’s time to fight.”
Seems like Pastilong, who is a friendly, mild-mannered man whose greatest asset to the university has been his ability to raise funds, has been putting out fires ever since he took over from the legendary coach and athletic director Fred Schaus in 1989.
It is difficult to imagine how he can be held up to criticism when you realize that he presided over the greatest period of change in school history, none of it coming easily.
He took over an athletic department with a budget of $12 million and watched it grow to its present $48 million, and if you think that was due to runaway spending on Pastilong’s part you are dead wrong. It grew out of the changing of the times, from blue collar to mink collar football and basketball coaches.
When he took over from Schaus the football team had just missed a national championship when it lost to Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl and the basketball team was nationally ranked, but there were storm clouds on the horizon.
Penn State left the Atlantic 10 and joined the Big Ten, and that completely changed the picture of eastern football. At the same time, other conferences were realigning, and Pastilong understood that it was time to move into a conference.
In 1991 he took the team into the Big East, then helped it through troubled times when the ACC ravaged the conference by stealing away Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College.
There was another fire to put out when Gale Catlett’s basketball team came unglued and the long-time coach walked out in mid-season, enough of a problem by itself but compounded when his replacement, Dan Dakich, walked out after eight days, spooked away when he discovered that Jonathan Hargett and his family had been taking money from an agent.
It got worse when David Hardesty, then the school president, let Bob Huggins slip away as he was about to hire him, but that turned into a blessing as John Beilein became available to lead the team into the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
Pastilong was able to smooth over Beilein’s hurried departure for Michigan by bringing Huggins home.
The Rodriguez fiasco is the latest fire and probably the last one Pastilong will deal with, a five-alarm blaze filled with enough greed and ego to make a man half Pastilong’s age consider getting out of the business of modern athletics.
“That’s what makes the job so interesting,” Pastilong maintains. “You go to work and there’s nothing going on and by lunch something will jump up that’s different, unusual or controversial that requires your attention.”
And so now a date has been set for him to step aside, not down. A search for his successor will begin in due time.
Perhaps all those boosters who knew how to run an athletic department better than Pastilong can help produce the perfect man to replace him. They can begin offering suggestions to President Mike Garrison just as soon as they figure out a way to get the corks back into those bottles of Bollinger Vielles Vignes Francaises.
