Published: July 04, 2008 04:05 am         

WVU football future interesting

Albert Einstein said, “I never think of the future — it comes soon enough.”

With apologies to Big Al, he didn’t need a column. So, today let’s look at West Virginia University’s football schedules of tomorrow.

This isn’t about what’s already there (Florida State, Michigan State, Marshall), but instead it’s what hasn’t been announced, or what might be done in the coming months.

A flurry of phone calls across state lines to schools and conferences has yielded some intriguing potential opponents for the Mountaineers’ schedule. There are even a couple of done deals, I’m told.

New coach Bill Stewart said back in April that he’d like more of a regional slant on the WVU non-conference schedules. The possibilities of making that happen — while still having a quality schedule — are real.

First, a primer on what WVU has announced:

The 2009 schedule is done — Colorado, East Carolina, Marshall and Liberty in Morgantown, and road-tripping to Auburn. WVU has Maryland and Michigan State at home in 2010 and visits Marshall, so two vacancies exist.

In 2011, the Herd plays at Mountaineer Field and WVU goes to Maryland and Michigan State. The 2012 schedule has Marshall (ending the original Coal Bowl series) and Florida State at home, and WVU visits the Seminoles in 2013.

That’s that. So, what’s next?

Maryland

The two-game break the Terps requested from a longtime series with WVU to play California this season and next will be replaced.

Maryland Athletic Director Debbie Yow confirmed that there’s an agreement for games at College Park in 2012 and in Morgantown in 2013 ... but no dates beyond that.

“I think we’re just fine where we are,” Yow said from her College Park campus office. “2013 is five years away. We have other issues here that are more pressing. We’re not at a place right now to go past that ... I’m sure we’ll talk again down the road.”

Virginia

This one could be really attractive, and not just because the teams are within driving distance of each other and share about a 400-mile border (from the Mountain State’s Jefferson to Mingo counties).

The ‘Eers and Wahoos haven’t met in the regular season since 1985, but Virginia left WVU deflated in the 2002 Continental Tire Bowl. It’s also the kind of game Stewart wants to play.

Since former rivals Virginia Tech and Penn State won’t play WVU anymore and who knows if the Terps will continue beyond 2013, the Cavaliers are a logical West Virginia foe.

“I’d say we very much would want to play Virginia, no question,” WVU Athletic Director Ed Pastilong said. “It would be great for the fans of both teams and a very competitive game.”

(Hey, and it might also give Virginia defensive coordinator Bob Pruett another crack at his native state foil, something he couldn’t get at Marshall.)

Anyway, WVU and Virginia are talking a four-game series that could start as soon as 2010 or as late at 2012. If the teams can’t make the home-and-home breakdown work out, they could start and end the four-game set with neutral site games at 91,700-seat FedEx Field in Landover, Md.

That plan would put the FedEx games in 2010 and 2016, with games in Charlottesville and Morgantown, respectively, in 2014 and 2015.

A 2011-2013 break in the series would allow WVU to finish its Michigan State, Maryland and FSU home-and-homes, too.

East Carolina

A few weeks ago, we reported that ECU AD Terry Holland said two schools were talking future dates, but the series would take a break after 2009 because both teams (primarily the Pirates) had little working room among ambitious schedules that include South Carolina, N.C. State, North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Navy.

Now, there’s this. The WVU-ECU series interrupts after 2009 but is penciled in to resume by at least 2013, or perhaps sooner if both teams have an available date.

Sources say six games are agreed upon, as a home-and-home alternating from 2013-18 between Morgantown (odd years) and Greenville, N.C.

Coastal Carolina

The Chanticleers seem to be really stepping up. The Big South Conference member in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) program plays Penn State this season, Clemson next season and Georgia in 2011.

A season opener at WVU in 2010 also is a strong possibility (that would give WVU seven home games, which is what the Mountaineers want, even if a potential Virginia date goes to the NFL Redskins’ home).

Stewart has said he likes future I-AA games against Virginia teams, because WVU is heavily recruiting the Hampton Roads/Tidewater area.

Hampton might make sense, especially since the Pirates are coached by former WVU defensive back Jerry Holmes, with ex-Mountaineer All-America linebacker Canute Curtis and receiver Milo Austin on the HU staff.

Conference USA teams

Sources say West Virginia has talked with at least two of Marshall’s league brethren (besides ECU) in Central Florida and Southern Mississippi. The UCF possibility is much more likely on WVU’s docket (2011 and ’12 or 2012 and ’13, perhaps?).

As for the Herd and WVU continuing the Coal Bowl after 2012, Pastilong said the seven-year series Gov. Joe Manchin helped push through the rapids isn’t getting an extension ... yet.

“There’s nothing beyond what we already have in the existing contract,” Pastilong said. “For the time being, we’re going to leave it as such.”

     

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