West Virginia University president Jim Clements said Thursday that athletic director Oliver Luck is staying in Morgantown for the foreseeable future.

Luck’s name has been mentioned as a candidate for the open athletic director job at Stanford, among others.

“I sat down with Oliver,” Clements told the Gazette. “I told him I need to know because I’ve been getting inquiries, calls and texts, and he said, ‘Jim, I love it here; I’m a Mountaineer; I’m staying.’”

Full Article at: The Charleston Gazette

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First of all, it is impossible not to get starry-eyed about the prospects of these six programs joining an already-strong football conference.

New Big 12 East: Clemson, Florida State, Miami, West Virginia
New Big 12 North: Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Notre Dame
New Big 12 Midwest: Baylor, BYU, Louisville, Oklahoma
New Big 12 South: Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech

In terms of five-year F/+ rankings, the Big 12 already has No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 6 TCU, No. 11 Texas, No. 12 West Virginia, No. 13 Oklahoma State and No. 34 Texas Tech. This move would add No. 16 Florida State, No. 18 Clemson, No. 30 BYU, No. 31 Miami and No. 35 Notre Dame, giving them 11 teams in the Top 35. The SEC only has eight. Like they say you are supposed to do when you get to prison, Larry Scott immediately picked a fight with a seemingly equal conference in the Big 12. Now Bowlsby would be doing exactly the same thing with the ACC, which many have believed has been in a deceptive position of power during realignment drama. The ACC would be half-crippled by this move and the ones that follow (in response, the SEC might pick up its interest in a program like Virginia Tech, as well), and at the very least it would have to go on the defensive.

Full Article at: SBNation

The word is leaking out that WVU will face Alabama in the 2014 Chick-fil-A College Kickoff in Atlanta to start the 2014 season.

Since 2008, Chick-fil-A has sponsored an intersectiional “bowl type” of match-up at a neutral site to highlight the opening weekend of the college football season. Now it appears that WVU will take on Alabama in the 2014 version of the game.

WVU Deputy Athletic Director Mike Parsons has not confirmed that the game has been scheduled but did say, “It’s something we’re working on,” Parsons said.

It does appear that the match-up will happen. Alabama coach Nick Saban hinted about the match-up at a Crimson Tide fund-raiser this week. Wikiepedia also has the match-up listed as one of the future games on their page about the event.

Full Article at: WV Metro News

West Virginia University football will have a part in a commercial for ESPN’s College GameDay promotions this fall.

Head coach Dana Holgorsen and WVU Mountaineer mascot Jonathan Kimble will be involved in a video shoot on Tuesday of next week along with representatives from other universities around the country.

Kimble says he just found out about the opportunity shortly after making an appearance in Parkersburg for a stop on the WVU Coaches Caravan and is thrilled for the opportunity.

“I’m so pumped for it,” Kimble said Thursday. “I’ve loved seeing the mascot commercials ESPN produces and everybody watches College GameDay Live during the football season, so it should be a great experience.”

Full Article at: WVi

Pros:

–It’s a huge opportunity to play on a a grand stage against the top program in college football in recent years. It’s an opportunity to good to refuse.

–No amount of money can buy the exposure WVU will get by playing in this game. And consider the fact that it’s a season opener which means constant coverage in July and during pre-season camp in August leading up to the game. Again, priceless exposure.

–Speaking of the money, a $3-million dollar payout would be more than most bowl games and more than WVU could make with a non-conference home game.

Full Article at: WV Metro News

Joining the Big 12 seems to be paying off for West Virginia University: Athletic department officials say sales of season tickets for football are outpacing last year.

So far, fans have requested more than 25,200 renewals, up from about 23,600 a year ago. Marketing official Matt Wells said the requests were still being processed as of late Wednesday.

He said excitement about the new competitors and last season’s Orange Bowl victory may be fueling sales.

Full Article at: NewsOK

Bob Bowlsby, the new Big 12 commissioner who seemed to walk into a job after all the work was done, has already learned the lesson that all the experienced collegiate conference commissioners have learned:
The work is never done.

When he took over it appeared that expansion had been completed, that a new TV contract was agreed upon, that stability had come to a conference that seemed ready to implode less than a year ago.
Now Florida State University is screwing up all that serenity, so much so that Bowlsby has put expansion back on the agenda for the Big 12.

Full Article at: TimesWV

Kevin Koken was the leader of the strong offensive line on West Virginia University’s undefeated 1988 football team.

The 6-foot-2, 265-pound Youngstown, Ohio, native was the center, and he must rank among the school’s all-time best at that position. His leadership helped the Mountaineers to their 11-0 regular season record and runner-up finish to Notre Dame for the national championship that year.

Koken, who now lives in the Pittsburgh area, is in his 24th year as an employee with Federal Express. He lettered at WVU in 1985-86-87-88.

Full Article at: The Register-Herald

A month ago, interim commissioner Chuck Neinas told the Tulsa World that the Big 12 Conference was indeed happy with 10 members.

Since then, former Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby was identified as Neinas’ successor, and Florida State has put itself on the Big 12′s wish list for possible expansion.

That’s the college football world today. Always moving, always shaking – sometimes seismically. That’s how fast “happy” can become, at the very least, willing to listen.

Full Article at: TulsaWorld

Well, here we sit waiting. And waiting.  Still.

More than a year now since the University of Louisville was first mentioned as a possible candidate for Big 12 Conference membership. One day U of L seems to be a shoo-in, the next day an untouchable. Sometimes the in and out occurs several times during a day. So much doublespeak, so many falsehoods, leaks, red herrings and rumors.

In fact, the conference realignment process often seems more driven by anonymous posters on fan message boards than the professionals overseeing the conferences.

Full Article at: UofL CardGame