The Shane Lyon's plan is working!!!

[bbwvfan]

The one that had a 10 win season and ended up ranked in the top 25 last season.

Yep... that was the result of Luck's long term... guaranteed contract. As you've noted, Lyons was handcuffed because he was too cheap to fire Dana after the '15 season.

You being an attorney... I'm sure you understand the deal here.

Lyons was responsible for Dana not filling his '17 recruiting class. It ain't that hard dude...

 

[bbwvfan]

Hertzel gets it...

HERTZEL COLUMN: WVU’s success is based on Luck

"This Monday morning dawned with West Virginia’s baseball team being ranked in the nation’s Top 25 at No. 21 by Baseball America for the first time since it started ranking teams in 1981.

"That came after a pair of walk-off victories over Big 12 rival TCU, No. 3 at the time.

That series wrapped around the spring football game in which they unveiled Florida transfer Will Grier, and he looked to be every bit the real deal they expected him to be, giving them hope that they can build on last season’s 10-victory year."

"No, it hasn’t been luck that made this possible.

It was Luck, with a capital L and the first name of Oliver.

On June 9, 2010, the former WVU quarterback replaced Ed Pastilong as WVU athletic director.

He came in with visions of grandeur, grandeur that his plans have grown into.

Luck made sweeping changes ... again, not always popular.

Taking West Virginia from the Big East to the Big 12 is still a topic of hot discussion, the school geographically and culturally being a bad fit, but no one can argue that Luck had his finger on the pulse of collegiate athletics, and if the Mountaineers wanted to remain big time they had no choice but to make the move.


His Texas ties — not the kind you wear — helped not only greatly winning a place as an expansion team in the Big 12 but also with adapting to the conference ... bringing in a pair of coaches from there that have worked out.

The first was his most controversial move, firing the beloved Bill Stewart, who may have saved the program when Rich Rodriguez bolted out the back door, but who he believe — probably rightfully so — wasn’t the right man to make the transition to a schedule where you were playing Oklahoma and not Connecticut.

His hiring of Dana Holgorsen and his style of football was hardly met with open arms, either, and the jury remains out, but Holgorsen has matured both personally and in his approach to football, winning those 10 games last year and seemingly establishing a program and philosophy built to compete at the Big 12 level.

Luck’s other hire was the result of a house cleaning he undertook of coaches who had settled in at WVU with what seemed to be lifetime jobs, firing baseball coach Greg Van Zant in favor of Randy Mazey.

A head coach at East Carolina who lost that job and wound up as the pitching coach at TCU, where he was a key figure in a big time winning program, Mazey came in and took over a team picked last in the Big 12 and finished tied for third. He went about building a program and now has a Top 25 team that is looking toward earning its first NCAA bid in a couple of decades.

Along with on the field improvements, Luck engineered improvements to the facilities at the school, organizing a TIF that financed the new baseball stadium in which the team plays, sharing it with Pirates’ minor league franchise, the West Virginia Black Bears, and pushing through a $106 million plan for improvements to Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium and the Coliseum.

Luck also took the school’s athletic communications into the 21st century, selling its broadcast and internet rights to IMG, leading to battle with West Virginia Radio Corporation but which accomplished just what he had hoped to do.

Toss in bringing beer sales into the football and basketball arenas and you can see that Luck’s legacy is of a man who came in with vision, fulfilled it and moved on with his place in Mountaineer history etched as something more than just a quarterback."

 

[Slaton10]

Hertzel gets it...

HERTZEL COLUMN: WVU’s success is based on Luck

"This Monday morning dawned with West Virginia’s baseball team being ranked in the nation’s Top 25 at No. 21 by Baseball America for the first time since it started ranking teams in 1981.

"That came after a pair of walk-off victories over Big 12 rival TCU, No. 3 at the time.

That series wrapped around the spring football game in which they unveiled Florida transfer Will Grier, and he looked to be every bit the real deal they expected him to be, giving them hope that they can build on last season’s 10-victory year."

"No, it hasn’t been luck that made this possible.

It was Luck, with a capital L and the first name of Oliver.

On June 9, 2010, the former WVU quarterback replaced Ed Pastilong as WVU athletic director.

He came in with visions of grandeur, grandeur that his plans have grown into.

Luck made sweeping changes ... again, not always popular.

Taking West Virginia from the Big East to the Big 12 is still a topic of hot discussion, the school geographically and culturally being a bad fit, but no one can argue that Luck had his finger on the pulse of collegiate athletics, and if the Mountaineers wanted to remain big time they had no choice but to make the move.


His Texas ties — not the kind you wear — helped not only greatly winning a place as an expansion team in the Big 12 but also with adapting to the conference ... bringing in a pair of coaches from there that have worked out.

The first was his most controversial move, firing the beloved Bill Stewart, who may have saved the program when Rich Rodriguez bolted out the back door, but who he believe — probably rightfully so — wasn’t the right man to make the transition to a schedule where you were playing Oklahoma and not Connecticut.

His hiring of Dana Holgorsen and his style of football was hardly met with open arms, either, and the jury remains out, but Holgorsen has matured both personally and in his approach to football, winning those 10 games last year and seemingly establishing a program and philosophy built to compete at the Big 12 level.

Luck’s other hire was the result of a house cleaning he undertook of coaches who had settled in at WVU with what seemed to be lifetime jobs, firing baseball coach Greg Van Zant in favor of Randy Mazey.

A head coach at East Carolina who lost that job and wound up as the pitching coach at TCU, where he was a key figure in a big time winning program, Mazey came in and took over a team picked last in the Big 12 and finished tied for third. He went about building a program and now has a Top 25 team that is looking toward earning its first NCAA bid in a couple of decades.

Along with on the field improvements, Luck engineered improvements to the facilities at the school, organizing a TIF that financed the new baseball stadium in which the team plays, sharing it with Pirates’ minor league franchise, the West Virginia Black Bears, and pushing through a $106 million plan for improvements to Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium and the Coliseum.

Luck also took the school’s athletic communications into the 21st century, selling its broadcast and internet rights to IMG, leading to battle with West Virginia Radio Corporation but which accomplished just what he had hoped to do.

Toss in bringing beer sales into the football and basketball arenas and you can see that Luck’s legacy is of a man who came in with vision, fulfilled it and moved on with his place in Mountaineer history etched as something more than just a quarterback."

I could have not written this article any better!!... HAIL KING OLLIE!!!

Vision!...A PLAN!!...fearless in making great change albeit not popular in some instances!!...LYON"S has yet to even scratch out a NEW vision of what's next!...All he has done is complete Ollie's bucket list of things he had already laid out..

We already had that AD here once for 20 plus years and it set the program in idle!!..(Disclaimer I never used Eddie P's name here..or did I just do it??..)


Lyon's need to message PHASE II...but I don't see that coming..its like the president, he needed to set and act on an agenda int he first 100 days in the chair..even if it was a 10 year capital list of improvments...but correct me if I am wrong...I didn't see one?

 

[mad2mc]

Not sure of his input on that. He must have been playing on Facebook when the call came in. It will probably cost us a bunch of money which will be cut from football assistants.

I see lots of good things happening with our sports programs, and very little bad news such as NCAA investigations, student athlete crime, coach turnover. Other than his handling of Holgerson over the past two years, what is there really to complain about. Sounds like a bunch of old men bitching.

Not sure about Facebook, I don't have an account. As far as an old man bitching, absolutely. I'm old and I'm bitching. When our AD comes in without a plan or a vision, so far, and guys on this board want to give him credit for shit he has not done, I'll call bullshit. When he comes in and says contracts will be yearly hecause that is the way of the future, guess what, bullshit. When an AD comes in and hampers your major money revenue maker by not making a decision, I bitch. When an AD can lie about salary contracts but can't lay out a vision for our sports programs, i tend to wonder why he can't do it. My honest guess is that he really doesn't have anything to do because it was all laid out for him. He better figure out what to do with Huggys contract. If I'm not mistaken, this is the year he can step down and still be involved in the program. Luck gave him a Mountaineer for Life. But we have some idiots on here can't get over the fact that his favorite AD, football coach and wrestling coach were canned. If No Balls would have fired Dana, I may not have liked it, but it is his program to run. If Dana didn't fit in, then so be it. Tell me the future of Mountaineer sports. Tell me that you negotiated a contract that will benefit the programs. Stop telling me the status of the stadium and Coliseum every time uou get press time. Tell me your working on making assistant coaches salaries better or on par with those in the Big 12.

C'mon Another. It's all about making my sports teams better. We are at a disadvantage when it comes to recruiting. I don't need more shit in the game. This university has had enough head football coach turnover. No Balls is from the state, he should already know the challenges and some plan to attempt to fix them. The NCAA threw 2 bones his way. I hope he capitalizes off of it. The baseball stadium and broadcast rights negotiated by Luck helped. We are scheduled to play VT, Pitt, and Tennessee under Luck. Get a home and home with Penn State.

 

[Slaton10]

Not sure about Facebook, I don't have an account. As far as an old man bitching, absolutely. I'm old and I'm bitching. When our AD comes in without a plan or a vision, so far, and guys on this board want to give him credit for shit he has not done, I'll call bullshit. When he comes in and says contracts will be yearly hecause that is the way of the future, guess what, bullshit. When an AD comes in and hampers your major money revenue maker by not making a decision, I bitch. When an AD can lie about salary contracts but can't lay out a vision for our sports programs, i tend to wonder why he can't do it. My honest guess is that he really doesn't have anything to do because it was all laid out for him. He better figure out what to do with Huggys contract. If I'm not mistaken, this is the year he can step down and still be involved in the program. Luck gave him a Mountaineer for Life. But we have some idiots on here can't get over the fact that his favorite AD, football coach and wrestling coach were canned. If No Balls would have fired Dana, I may not have liked it, but it is his program to run. If Dana didn't fit in, then so be it. Tell me the future of Mountaineer sports. Tell me that you negotiated a contract that will benefit the programs. Stop telling me the status of the stadium and Coliseum every time uou get press time. Tell me your working on making assistant coaches salaries better or on par with those in the Big 12.

C'mon Another. It's all about making my sports teams better. We are at a disadvantage when it comes to recruiting. I don't need more shit in the game. This university has had enough head football coach turnover. No Balls is from the state, he should already know the challenges and some plan to attempt to fix them. The NCAA threw 2 bones his way. I hope he capitalizes off of it. The baseball stadium and broadcast rights negotiated by Luck helped. We are scheduled to play VT, Pitt, and Tennessee under Luck. Get a home and home with Penn State.

IMHO Wv is as disadvantaged as a school like Oregon..Oregon may be worse off!!...but they CLEARLY understand they need to be better than the USC's and other blue bloods of the Pac12 to BE COMPETITIVE...and no one throw in NIKE money....Wv has the where with all to do what it wants..

 

[WVUDAD]

Ladies and gentlemen the FACE of WVU athletics...
View attachment 158155[/QUO

IMHO Wv is as disadvantaged as a school like Oregon..Oregon may be worse off!!...but they CLEARLY understand they need to be better than the USC's and other blue bloods of the Pac12 to BE COMPETITIVE...and no one throw in NIKE money....Wv has the where with all to do what it wants..

REALLY, don't throw in the Nike money.......WOW, just WOW

 

[Slaton10]

REALLY, don't throw in the Nike money.......WOW, just WOW

Why would it matter??..you have argued against that it makes a difference?...the one thing I do know that it is much more difficult to get to Eugene than Morgantown...the closest, I guess most affordable airport to get into is Portland and is well over 2 hours to get to the campus...

 

[Anotherwvufan]

Yep... that was the result of Luck's long term... guaranteed contract. As you've noted, Lyons was handcuffed because he was too cheap to fire Dana after the '15 season.

You being an attorney... I'm sure you understand the deal here.

Lyons was responsible for Dana not filling his '17 recruiting class. It ain't that hard dude...

You my recall that on signing day, Dana stated that he intentionally left some spots open so he can go after more JUCOs and grad transfers. Dana can only look to himself (and numerous injuries) to see why he ended up on a hot seat.

 

[Anotherwvufan]

IMHO Wv is as disadvantaged as a school like Oregon..Oregon may be worse off!!...but they CLEARLY understand they need to be better than the USC's and other blue bloods of the Pac12 to BE COMPETITIVE...and no one throw in NIKE money....Wv has the where with all to do what it wants..

WVU has better overall sports programs than Oregon and we have no Phil Knight to buy us nice uniforms and facilities.

 

[mad2mc]

WVU has better overall sports programs than Oregon and we have no Phil Knight to buy us nice uniforms and facilities.

NOT sure I buy this 100%.

 

[Anotherwvufan]

Not sure about Facebook, I don't have an account. As far as an old man bitching, absolutely. I'm old and I'm bitching. When our AD comes in without a plan or a vision, so far, and guys on this board want to give him credit for shit he has not done, I'll call bullshit. When he comes in and says contracts will be yearly hecause that is the way of the future, guess what, bullshit. When an AD comes in and hampers your major money revenue maker by not making a decision, I bitch. When an AD can lie about salary contracts but can't lay out a vision for our sports programs, i tend to wonder why he can't do it. My honest guess is that he really doesn't have anything to do because it was all laid out for him. He better figure out what to do with Huggys contract. If I'm not mistaken, this is the year he can step down and still be involved in the program. Luck gave him a Mountaineer for Life. But we have some idiots on here can't get over the fact that his favorite AD, football coach and wrestling coach were canned. If No Balls would have fired Dana, I may not have liked it, but it is his program to run. If Dana didn't fit in, then so be it. Tell me the future of Mountaineer sports. Tell me that you negotiated a contract that will benefit the programs. Stop telling me the status of the stadium and Coliseum every time uou get press time. Tell me your working on making assistant coaches salaries better or on par with those in the Big 12.

C'mon Another. It's all about making my sports teams better. We are at a disadvantage when it comes to recruiting. I don't need more shit in the game. This university has had enough head football coach turnover. No Balls is from the state, he should already know the challenges and some plan to attempt to fix them. The NCAA threw 2 bones his way. I hope he capitalizes off of it. The baseball stadium and broadcast rights negotiated by Luck helped. We are scheduled to play VT, Pitt, and Tennessee under Luck. Get a home and home with Penn State.

I'll state my opinion this way. Luck built WVU into a nice sports car. Lyons took the car and started driving it. He may have taken a couple of left turns when he should have gone right, but he kept the car on the road and moving forward. It runs well so no need to change the engine or put on the brakes.

Do you all believe that Lyons had nothing to do with bringing rifle and gymnastics championships to WVU? Do you believe that Lyons has nothing to do with the success of our sports teams?

What criteria do you use to rate the job of the AD? Does great success across the board in sports programs matter? Does spending within your means matter? Does the absence of any NCAA sanctions or investigations matter. Those matter more to me than whether he adopts a new 10 year plan every year. Things are looking great across the board for WVU sports. MAC look and realize that your sports teams are better. If you believe that Lyons had absolutely nothing to do about it, we can agree to disagree.

 

[bbwvfan]

You my recall that on signing day, Dana stated that he intentionally left some spots open so he can go after more JUCOs and grad transfers. Dana can only look to himself (and numerous injuries) to see why he ended up on a hot seat.

I'm not sure he said he intentionally left spots open. But, he is brilliant... and knows how to put a positive spin on his situation. We're lucky he knows how to handle the BS thrown at him.

 

[Slaton10]

You my recall that on signing day, Dana stated that he intentionally left some spots open so he can go after more JUCOs and grad transfers. Dana can only look to himself (and numerous injuries) to see why he ended up on a hot seat.

Well I think this wraps it up in a nutshell my brother those with different opinions when it comes to this...I don't think its a stop gap process... I think it's what Dana believes is the silver bullet for lack of being able to grow home state talent...

 

[Slaton10]

I'll state my opinion this way. Luck built WVU into a nice sports car. Lyons took the car and started driving it. He may have taken a couple of left turns when he should have gone right, but he kept the car on the road and moving forward. It runs well so no need to change the engine or put on the brakes.

Do you all believe that Lyons had nothing to do with bringing rifle and gymnastics championships to WVU? Do you believe that Lyons has nothing to do with the success of our sports teams?

What criteria do you use to rate the job of the AD? Does great success across the board in sports programs matter? Does spending within your means matter? Does the absence of any NCAA sanctions or investigations matter. Those matter more to me than whether he adopts a new 10 year plan every year. Things are looking great across the board for WVU sports. MAC look and realize that your sports teams are better. If you believe that Lyons had absolutely nothing to do about it, we can agree to disagree.

Better analogy...Luck actually thought of buying a car to get where the program needed to go instead of sitting on his porch waiting for the city bus to come by ...but the bus hadn't driven by that neighborhood in decades!!!...but Eddie P never gave up hope!!...god bless the man!

Criteria: Revenue Sustainable Business Plan(Revenue Streams) , Athlete Graduation Rate, Athletic Facilities Development Plan, Alumni Influence, Conference Stature, Compliance, Marketing, Overall Program success ie wins/losses. Defining a Culture, setting the standard..

 

[Slaton10]

WVU has better overall sports programs than Oregon and we have no Phil Knight to buy us nice uniforms and facilities.

Well I would argue it has little to do with it..see Kevin Plank and what that has done for Maryland...

 

[GoldRusher]

WVU has better overall sports programs than Oregon and we have no Phil Knight to buy us nice uniforms and facilities.

Any athletic departments worth mentioning have their sugar daddies/mommas.

We may not have an uncle Phil but we do have (among others that are not as public) a REALLY good one of our own in Ken Kendrick.

 

[mad2mc]

I'll state my opinion this way. Luck built WVU into a nice sports car. Lyons took the car and started driving it. He may have taken a couple of left turns when he should have gone right, but he kept the car on the road and moving forward. It runs well so no need to change the engine or put on the brakes.

Do you all believe that Lyons had nothing to do with bringing rifle and gymnastics championships to WVU? Do you believe that Lyons has nothing to do with the success of our sports teams?

What criteria do you use to rate the job of the AD? Does great success across the board in sports programs matter? Does spending within your means matter? Does the absence of any NCAA sanctions or investigations matter. Those matter more to me than whether he adopts a new 10 year plan every year. Things are looking great across the board for WVU sports. MAC look and realize that your sports teams are better. If you believe that Lyons had absolutely nothing to do about it, we can agree to disagree.

Just because you sit at the helm of the Starship Enterprise does not make you James T. Kirk.

NO! I think the rifle team and gymnastics team brought this to Morgantown. Shane had nothing to do but say 'Yes' and get things in order to host these events. What has he done in reference to the success of our sports teams? I would have greater faith in the guy if he canned Dana when he first took over as AD than go through what he has done so far. Can you share any information that I missed about No Balls plans for the sports programs? I admit that he has it fairly well right now. All he has to do is remain at the helm and not fall asleep. This guy has not told us anything outside of the usual and sprinkle a few lies in there.

I gave you a few criteria in my previous post, but I can always add more. As the Lead Dog of a D-1 program, I would like to know more of what he is looking at down the road. Are there any other programs that will be added / deleted? What other upgrades or new projects are being considered? Is he a go with the flow type of guy or a think outside the box?

Not sure what money is being spent out of our means? WVU has more money since joining the Big 12 and from selling beer than they ever had. Cutting Dana lose 2 seasons ago would not have been spending outside of our means. Maybe when we were in the Big East, it may have caused a problem. But then again, RRod was on a payment plan. That comment is a non-factor in discussing what No Balls is doing because he hasn't told us. He only refers to projects that were underway with Luck. All seem to be funded and well received.

Plans for new WVU track, aquatic center introduced

This is not sports related, outside of demo of Stansbury Hall, but you will see that this donations from outside resources to support them are funneling in:

WVU to replace Stansbury Hall with business school complex

All Lyons has to do is keep the wheels meet the road.

NCAA sanctions - Lyons department found rules violations while Luck was at the helm and did the right thing by reporting it. A point for Lyons.

You mentioned that you rate No Balls ahead of Eddie P. Then say that you are not concerned with Lyons having a plan. Isn't that what Eddie P did? Got comfortable with the job and lived off his move to the Big East? So we will have to see what No Balls has up his sleeves. To say the teams are better because of No Balls, I disagree. If keeping us out of NCAA penalties is your major accomplishment then it is what it is. Luck failed us at this, but he was the one that made the sports programs better by cutting dead wood and thinking outside of the box to create additional revenue streams for the sports program.

Right now, No Balls is just participating. We will see, hopefully, what he is going to do to keep this sports car on the road.

 

[Mac_Bridger]

WVU has better overall sports programs than Oregon and we have no Phil Knight to buy us nice uniforms and facilities.

I do believe Oregon was a 3 seed in the NCAA tournament and was in the final four. Yep, much worse than exiting in the sweet 16.

 

[bbwvfan]

It is complete ignorance to claim WVU has better overall sports than Oregon.

All one has to do is look at the Director's Cup. Oregon has finished in the top 15 something like 4 or 5 straight years. Last year, Oregon finished #10 while WVU finished #60.

Oregon has mustered the highest finish among Div 1 schools with 18 out of the 20 sports that can be used for earning points.

 

[bbwvfan]

Oregon is the home of Track and Field USA... or something like that... for a reason.