Ye olde notebook:
Back in mid-September of last year, University of Charleston Stadium manager Doug Carte said the Capital City would be bidding on the latest Super Six contract. He pointed to the $347,270 project of installing new lights at the field.
"Getting that done," he said, "has made us decide to green-light the bid."
Between then and now, however, the light turned from green to red.
On Monday, the SSAC awarded Wheeling the high school football championships for the next three years with an extra year option _ minus opposition from Charleston. Wheeling has staged the games since leaving Charleston in 1993.
"We didn't apply," Carte said Monday. "We went in with intentions because we thought Wheeling might not [make a proposal]."
That's odd considering the stranglehold Wheeling has on the games and the money that's poured into that community because of them. Perhaps the one argument Charleston had - historically better attendance, according to the SSAC's figures - was dented after Wheeling Park made the Class AAA finals. An estimated 9,000 attended to watch the Patriots host Capital on their home turf.
Whatever the case, Carte was bowing down to Wheeling's Super Six committee on Monday.
"They've raised the bar so high," he said. "We're blessed here to have the state track meet, the boys and girls basketball tournament, the state volleyball tournament and the state cheerleading tournament.
"[Wheeling] just raised the bar so high we couldn't do it. We asked for the [bid] forms, but, when we got them, realized we couldn't do it. It was just too much. Do you know they have 125 volunteers?"
nnn
Later this week, the Big 12 presidents, chancellors and athletic directors will meet at the league office in Irving, Texas. They are also scheduled to meet again in May.
And many, many eyes will certainly be on Texas. If you follow this column, you know waves were sent through the Big 12 recently courtesy of Oklahoma president Dave Boren. He called for "at least" 12 members, a conference network and a championship football game. (There are currently 10 members.) Also, he wants the issues bundled into a "comprehensive plan" and made a not-so-veiled threat the Sooners could bolt the league if such a plan is not enacted.
On Monday, WVU president E. Gordon Gee said he'll attend, despite a flu bug he's fighting.
"It's part of our regularly scheduled meetings," Gee said. "In addition to discussing issues of importance to the conference and college athletics, I suspect there will be some conversations surrounding the future configuration of the conference.
"I do not, however, expect any decisions to be made at this meeting on conference reconfiguration."
Don't be surprised, though, if decisions are made in May.
nnn
If you missed it, Herb Hand, a former football assistant to Rich Rodriguez at WVU, is now the offensive line coach at Auburn.
Hand has deep ties to West Virginia. He was a graduate assistant at West Virginia Wesleyan and the defensive coordinator both at Glenville and Concord. Recently, he's been at Vanderbilt and Penn State with coach James Franklin.
Hand, though, is reuniting with Gus Malzahn at Auburn. They were once co-offensive coordinators at Tulsa.
nnn
Jon Solomon of CBSSports.com put forth an interesting piece on "the most Super Bowl appearances by college."
As we head for the 50th Super Bowl, Miami is No. 1 with 117 former Hurricane appearances in the games. WVU is tied at No. 54 (with Houston, Missouri, Tennessee State and Washington State) with 32. Marshall is tied at No. 76 (with Oregon State and San Jose State) with 24. A total of 393 schools have had players in Super Bowls.
nnn
If you subscribe to the theory that NCAA tournament seedings or born from the RPI (Rating Percentage Index) rankings then WVU's men enter tonight's game at Iowa State as a No. 3 seed. The Mountaineers were No. 15 in the index.
nnn
And finally...
We're heading straight into the teeth of football's national letter-of-intent signing day.
I suspect WVU will land another 4-star player, but, as of Monday, the Mountaineers were sitting at No. 41 among teams ranked by 247 Sports. That placed West Virginia fifth in the Big 12 behinds Baylor (15), TCU (19), Oklahoma (22) and Texas (33). The site calls receiver Steven Smothers and safety Kyzir White 4-star lands for the Mountaineers. Marshall is ranked No. 67. That's second to UAB (61) among Conference USA teams. Linebacker Jaquan Yulee is rated a 4-star land for the Herd.
The numbers are rather consistent within recruiting circles. Rivals has WVU No. 42 and MU No. 66. Both are outside the Top 40 of ESPN's rankings.
The best rankings given to both are from Scout, which puts WVU at No. 37 and MU at No. 57.