Published: January 27, 2008 12:46 am      

Pastilong proud of WVU ‘positives’

MORGANTOWN — Leaving litigation of Rich Rodriguez’s pending issues to the legal minds, athletic director Ed Pastilong talked about the positives of West Virginia University’s overall sports program he has headed for some 19 years.

During that stretch, his self-sufficient department’s operating budget has skyrocketed from about $12 million annually to in the area of $40 million.

“Our athletic department is very strong, well-respected through the country, and our competitiveness is exceptional as declared by the most recent No. 7 rating by the Directors’ Cup,” he said. “And that is the highest ranking in our history.

“Obviously, that’s very prestigious and we’re all very proud of that.”

While he pointed out that WVU’s 48-28 upset of No. 3-ranked Oklahoma in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2 in Arizona is arguably the school’s greatest football victory ever, he emphasized that teams have been highly successful in other sports, too.

He mentioned women’s soccer coming within a goal of possibly winning the NCAA tournament as well as national ranking by the men’s soccer team this past fall. He also is thrilled that the women’s basketball team is ranked 12th in the country and that the men’s team was tied for second in the Big East heading into Saturday night’s game with Georgetown.

“The good part about it is we’re respected by our peers and we are playing by the rules,” Pastilong said. “We have a wonderful bunch of student-athletes whose graduation rate is in the area of 60 percent.”

The veteran administrator, now 64, also is pleased that the Mountaineers’ fan base is outstanding. There were sellouts of season tickets in football last fall, and now there are sellouts in men’s basketball under alumnus and former player Bob Huggins.

“We are fortunate to have Bobby, a Morgantown native who’s one of a handful of coaches in the nation with 600 victories,” he noted. “And Mike Carey from Clarksburg is doing a wonderful job coaching the women.

“Our people are helping very much with facilities’ renovations and updates, and contributions from our followers continue to be strong. All of these things together have enabled us to have a very, very strong athletic department.

“Having said all of this, it comes down to having strong people in the athletic department as well as outstanding coaches in every sport.”

Pastilong praised Bill Stewart, who was appointed on Jan. 3 to succeed Rodriguez, now the head football coach at Michigan.

“He’s a gentleman from New Martinsville, W.Va., and I think he’s the right fit for the job,” Pastilong said.

Stewart, who served as an assistant coach for eight years, guided the team in the bowl after being named interim head coach. He earned the public support of all the players after that triumph, the highest-ranked team conquest ever by WVU away from home.

“He has coached throughout the country and even in Canada, and he did a tremendous job managing the football team with good people behind him while beating Oklahoma in the Fiesta,” Pastilong said.

“So I’m sitting here well-pleased and appreciative of our coaches and our student-athletes, personnel in our department, and our other parts of this university as well as our great fans, alums and contributors.

“Everybody associated with the department helps make it a very nice feeling.”

Pastilong recalled that athletics were in the black, financially, when he took over from Fred Schaus in July 1989. It was the former WVU All-America basketball player and coach who had taken the department out of the red the previous seven years.

“I certainly appreciated that and commend my predecessor,” he said. “Fred had put the department in solid shape.

“Our budget then was $12 million. Today it’s in the area of $40 million a year. We continue to grow and to be competitive.

“I believe one of the finest things that has occurred since then was to become a full-fledged member of the Big East Conference and, in the process, be a Bowl Championship Series (BCS) participant.

“It’s a must to be in the BCS mix if you want to be a national football championship contender. We have done very well in the conference with victories in two BCS bowls in the last three years.”

Another thing Pastilong is quite proud of is the establishment of an Athletic Endowment Scholarship Fund with a $1 million gift from Mike Puskar.

“That is one of the play-ins that will enable us to be strong in the future,” he explained.

“We hope to fund the scholarships for student-athletes. All; the others things follow that — the coaches, facilities, etc.”

In that connection, he said there not only has been proper maintenance but outstanding facility upgrades, He called the comparatively new Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium one of the finest in the East and thinks the Coliseum, built in 1970, hardly looks its age because of renovations.

“Our expansion of Puskar Stadium with the added suites provides revenue opportunities, and we’re proud of that,” Pastilong said. “Our new academic center in Puskar Center is outstanding, and the same can be said for the new academic center in the Coliseum.

“Locker room updates have been done in the Coliseum, along with the weight room and meeting rooms, and we’ll complete this summer the new locker rooms in Puskar Center. That complex will continue to be as good as if not better than any others in the East.”

WVU also is going to construct a practice facility for basketball. It’s something both Huggins and Carey think will be very beneficial to their programs.