Bob Huggins wants to end his career and retire at his Alma Mater WVU.

Huggins just signed an 11- year extension and will be pulling in major buckets…. 1.5 Million a year! And he even signed it with that dreaded $4 million buyout.

“It’s a great day for myself and for my family. To be able to represent this great state is an honor,” Huggins said. “It’s great to be able to work in a place where you enjoy the people that you work with and you trust the people that you work with.”

This is fantastic news and I want to say congrats to all of those involved in this deal! Maybe this will destract the media from the “Masters-Degree-Gate” story that is stealing the WVU headlines lately.

Huggs seems very happy about it and can now get to the job at hand.. a National Championship.

“I’m excited that we’re able to go full steam into the future,” Huggins said. “We want to win a national championship. We want to go to the Final Four.”

I have a feeling we’ll all be buying tickets to the Final Four very very soon! LET’S GOOOOO MOUNTAINEERS!!!!

This is the funniest freak out by a manager I think I’ve ever seen. I especially like his fake slide to the base before he rips it out of the ground.

I probably don’t have to remind you how much everyone loves Notre Dame.

Though, Rudy is one of my favorite movies, it doesn’t take much press before I’m tired of hearing about the Irish. Hell, they have their own television station. At the end of the 2007 season, when Notre Dame was struggling to do anything, ESPN and Fox Sports were still tooting the Notre Dame horn, taking up for the coach and saying it was simply a down year in a “storied history.” I can’t image what it would be like if Notre Dame was any good (but I doubt we’ll have to worry about that for awhile.

This rant was initiated when I came to work today and flipped over my daily Fox Sports calendar for my morning nugget of sports trivia. When I noticed the tell-tale signs of a football trivia day, I began longing the days of football seasons passed, and doing the mental-math to figure out the number of days before the Mountaineers kick-off. Here’s what I read:

At the end of the 2006 regular season, Notre Dame senior Brady Quinn ranked ninth in career passing touchdowns (93) and 10th in career passing yards (11,614) for all-time NCAA division 1-A football records.

So?

Since when in this country is 9th and 10th good enough to mention…much less be calendar bound? Since there are about seven sports that are represented in this calendar, that leaves only 52 football tips. My non-scientific recollection says that half of the tips have been NFL and half college. That means only 26 questions ALL YEAR cover college football (America’s Pass-Time). Tweny-six questions and we have to hear about an over-hyped quarterback, on a declining football program.

Next thing you know I’ll be reading trivia questions about Tim Tebow’s junior high school passing records.

Just a quick rundown of how our “former” boys in Gold and Blue fared in the 2008 NFL Draft.

Steve Slaton went first out of the 3 Mountaineers that got the call over the weekend. He went in the 3rd Round and was the 89th pick. He’ll be playing for the Houston Texans.

Owen Schmitt went next in the 5th round, 163rd Pick by the Seattle Seahawks. It was reported they wanted him and looks like they got him. I can’t wait to see Schmitt on the field this fall. I’m actually shocked  and  awed by this late pick. It seems everyone thought he would go earlier than 5th round.

Ryan Mundy got picked up by his home town team the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 6th Round, 194th pick. He’s staying close to home close to his Alma Mater. I’m sure we’ll see him down in Motown on Saturdays this fall.

Reynauld, Dingle, Magro, Wicks and Dykes didn’t get the call, but I’m sure they will fit into a program somewhere out there they will just have to work a little harder to make the cut at training camp.

WVMountaineerSports.com would like to congratulate all of the players that were picked and wish them the best in there professional careers.

*The Big East had 19 drafted players in all and 2 players, Pitts Jeff Otah and USF’s Mike Jenkins, went in the 1st Round.

So we have quite a few players with a realistic chance to go to the big show this weekend in the NFL Draft. Actually we have 8 that have entered the draft… Saturday might actually be interesting for a WVU fan because usually it’s an eight hour waste of time. I can’t believe people actually sit around and party watching this thing? It’s so friggin’ boring. But to each it’s own I guess and since I’m more into College ball maybe I just don’t understand. I do however always want to see WVU Alums go far no matter what their career is, and this could be a great year for WVU players in the NFL.

Here is my quick rundown of the our top prospects:

1) Steve Slaton

Slaton is by far one of the most popular players to come out of WVU in years. One would think his chances are very good to get into the NFL, but he did have one more year of eligibility in the NCAA and maybe should have taken it. I think we all know the reason he is giving this a shot is because this past year wasn’t his best and with Noel itching to get the ball, things weren’t looking great next year in Morgantown for Steve. I think he made the right choice and I believe he will be drafted, he’s just too much of a talent to let fade on a practice team somewhere, it would be a shame. He’ll probably go mid-round. Hopefully he’ll get the chance to prove himself in the pros like he did against VT 3 or so years ago!

2) Owen Schmitt

What can you say about Owen that hasn’t already been said. He has the heart and passion we all wish we could tap into in our every day lives and I’m sure the scouts out there have taken notice. He’s the 2nd ranked FullBack prospect in the draft and should be able to get picked up pretty quick. I think he’ll be the first to go. The Seahawks seem interested:

“We’re not that kind of team,” Seahawks president Tim Ruskell said. “We definitely go off the film and we definitely go on what is inside the kid … the makeup of the kid. You won’t find a chart in our room where the linebacker has to be 6-feet tall.”

If this is true, Owen would fit perfect into the Seahawks lineup. I personally would like to see him go to Pittsburgh so I could watch him play and it would give me a reason to like the Steelers. We’ll see what happens this weekend.

3) Darius Reynauld

Here is the scouting report for Reynauld:

Could have gone back to school in ‘08 year but decided to go pro…Struggled with academics early in his career..His statistics can be misleading because he was not showcased much in the Mountaineers spread offense…Is built more like a running back than a wideout..He is potentially a solid #3 / #4 option and return specialist.

I have heard people up here in Pittsburgh talking about Reynauld going to the Steelers to help out an aging Ward and a weak at beast passing game. He is much like Ward in style and size so that might be a good pick up for the Steelers (I think they need a deep threat though).

I think Darius does have a good chance to get picked up in the middle rounds, we’ll see.

Johnny Dingle, Ryan Mundy, Eric Wicks, Marc Magro, and Keilen Dykes round out the other WVU players entering the draft. I don’t have much hope for them but you never know what a NFL team is looking at and looking for.

GOOD LUCK GUYS and Let’s GOOOOOO Mountaineers!!!

EXTRA POLL!

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I can never get enough of this one.

Obviously the Mountaineer will have the advantage in this mascot battle if they let him bring the Musket into the stadium. I have a feeling they will try to pull a Wisconsin and ban the Musket.

Ladies and Gentlemen meet Ralphie, or as I like to call him… Target Practice!

Here is another vid of him, I link to this one because of a great comment by a fellow Mountie:

Hey all, WVU fan here. I love Ralphie, she is one of the best mascotts in college football. I hope the new Ralphie isn’t gun shy though, because when White and Devine and the rest of the Mountineers get to Boulder the mountineer will be firing his muzzleloader off a LOT.

Thanks go out to JWilson for these.

Enough time has passed, the wounds have healed, we have a Fiesta Bowl victory, we have one of the best coaching staffs in NCAA football, and we’ve moved on, so I’m officially lifting the moratorium on Rich Rodriguez. Now he can only embarrass himself and Michigan.

- Here is a good article from the Sporting News that sums up how we all feel about the RR situation.

- On that note, here is an interesting thing that happened to me today. I was just at a meeting at a large corporate bank today and saw the best thing written on their whiteboard (It put a smile on my face and makes me hope I can spend more time with these wise folks).

There  was a picture of Rich Fraud with a question similar to this: How long will Rich last at Michigan? Under the picture and question was about 10 answers: 1 year, 3 years, 8 months, 3 years, 2 years, 2 years, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, etc.

They must be doing some sort of office pool. It’s great to see that even in the city that is home to our nemisis, Pittsburgh, most people don’t think he will last at Michigan longer than 2 or 3 years. I would like to add my answer to the pool:

• 1.5 years: After losing to OU 2 years in a row, he’s gone.

- Today on Rivals Radio MU fans were cutting him up about his recruiting tactics, and it seems ESPN has finally seen the light and is turning on their love child Richy Rod. I can’t wait to sit back and enjoy watching Michigan loose to the likes of Penn State, Ohio State, Miami (OH), Utah, Toledo, Wisconsin, Notre Dame.. and watch the ESPN commentators squirm in their seats as they  try to spin Michigans collapse.

- But, of course, there is always the few who refuse to admit that WVU and the Big East are a better conference than the Big Ten. Pete Fiutak over at Fox Sports is still cutting us up. If you have 2 minutes of your life to waste READ HERE. He has a poll that goes with this article so I guess it’s worth clicking on to vote Big Easat. To me, it’s obvious the Big East is a better conference. I guess we’ll just have to prove it AGAIN this year (oh well, makes for a fun season of blogging).

- Here is an interesting article about the recruting tactics RR has used this year. We might see some of this come back and bite MU in the butt?

- The depositions are flying left and right. Read about it here.

- Rod offered help to accused WVU fundraiser. Interesting. Very interesting. I particularly like the calling out of RR:

Aschebrook’s attorney, Dean Hartley of Wheeling, said Thursday he would like to see Rodriguez publicly clear his client’s name.

“Sure. I mean, if Rich and Calvin were interested in hiring Larry at Michigan, the allegation that Larry is a racist has no basis in fact, does it?” Hartley said. “Why would an individual who has alleged that another individual is racist want to work with that person?”

- Here, Dave Hickman explains why this Aschebrook is good for WVU in this lawsuit.

I thought I was going to the Gold/Blue game but something way more important than football threw a wrench in the plans. So I’ve been frantically reading all the news I can find about the game. Here ya go!

Register-Herald: Offense Wins 59-15

MSN Sports Net: A Spring Thing

The State Journal: Gold/Blue Game Helping Children

BlueGoldNews.com: POG: Gold-Blue Game

BlueGoldNews.com: Offensive Outing

Charleston Daily Mail: Stewart happy with Gold-Blue Game

more to come?…….

A quick one from ESPN’s Big East Notebook:

West Virginia tailback Noel Devine, one of college football’s most fleet-footed players, didn’t have to see Florida freshman Chris Rainey run for 75 yards and catch a 65-yard touchdown pass in the Gators’ spring game to know Rainey was fast.

When Devine was still attending North Fort Myers High School in Florida, he participated in a flag football tournament in Rainey’s hometown of Lakeland, Fla. Some of Rainey’s friends obtained Devine’s cell phone number and challenged him to race Rainey in a parking lot near Devine’s hotel.

Rainey won the race. “I didn’t have my shoes on,” Devine said. “He got a good head start on me, but I was catching him at the end.”

Devine, who will become the Mountaineers’ primary runner this coming season, already has proved that he’s fast on the football field. Last season, he ran for 627 yards and six touchdowns, averaging 8.6 yards per carry. “This isn’t track,” Devine said. “This is football.”

Rainey ran the 40-yard dash in 4.24 seconds during a competition against a few Florida students on Saturday. It was the fastest time by a Gator during coach Urban Meyer’s tenure. Rainey figures to start at either running back or wide receiver this season.

Devine said he’s ready for a rematch whenever Rainey is willing to run against him again. “If that’s what he wants, I’ll show him that was then and this is now,” Devine said.