Ye olde notebook:
Before the NCAA basketball tournament, we brought you coverage of the Mountain East Conference tournament. Within the package, we brought you news that the MEC event just might be ripped from its roots in Charleston and moved. As in next year.
Afterward, I heard whispers some within the city of Charleston reacted and reached out to MEC commissioner Reid Amos. If you don't remember, the league has a clause in its contract saying it could leave the Capital City if ticket revenue didn't reach $60,000. It did not.
On Monday, I followed up with Amos.
"The Mountain East Conference has a contract with the City of Charleston through March of 2017," he said via email. "While the MEC has the right to exit the final year of the contract, we are making arrangements for meetings with Charleston city officials and stakeholders in April in an effort to address concerns and identify strategies to make what is already a high quality event a great event."
Let's hope the meetings are constructive and the event, which annually brings Charleston over $1 million in business, remains in place.
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WVU's football team is off for spring break this week, but I had a chance to speak with defensive line coach Bruce Tall recently.
If you follow the Mountaineers closely, you know the eligibility of many starters from the defensive side has expired. That includes nose tackle Kyle Rose along WVU's three-man front.
Still, West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen has expressed confidence in the 2016 defensive line, saying "I think we're at a better place at D-line than we've ever been." He's also pointed to end Noble Nwachukwu, saying he's the returning Big 12 sack leader.
"We haven't been able to say that in a while, right?" Holgorsen asked.
Technically, Nwachukwu is the returning sack leader only if you narrow the search to conference games. Oklahoma State's Emmanuel Ogbah is off to the NFL draft, leaving Nwachukwu tops there. Counting all games, though, three other returning players - Kansas State's Jordan Willis, Iowa State's Dale Pierson and TCU's Josh Carraway - had more.
Technicalities aside, however, Tall is thrilled to have Nwachukw back.
"He had a really good junior year," said the line coach. "I'm excited about what he can do. He's a really good pass rusher, real powerful and has good speed and movement. We're just looking for more consistent play out of him."
Also, watch for some special twists with Nwachukwu.
"We have a plan of attack for him," Tall said, "and I think he's excited about that."
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If you're wondering which players will complete the WVU defensive line, look for Darrien Howard at nose guard and Christian Brown at the other end. The latter started last year.
"Christian hit a home run in the [Cactus] bowl game," Tall said. "You could see what he's capable of doing."
Howard is a 6-foot-1, 297 pound senior.
"He was part of a great one-two punch for us," Tall said. "You hate losing Kyle [Rose] but Howard is powerful and strong. He was a linebacker in high school and that helps him diagnose plays quicker. He moves very well diagonally. He was kind of our nickel nose last year."
Depth will have to come from Xavier Pegues, a junior college player that redshirted last season; Adam Shuler, a redshirt freshman; Jaleel Fields, a redshirt sophomore; and Larry Jefferson, a junior college transfer now a senior. Tall said Jefferson is "working to be the nickel rusher because of his quickness."
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And finally...
The career of former WVU running back Charles Sims seems to be progressing nicely.
As you might know, he's with the Tampa Bay Buccaneeers and behind Doug "Muscle Hamster" Martin.
Well, according to an NFL.com piece, the Bucs are more than happy with Sims. Team general manager Jason Licht was asked by the media outlet if Martin and Sims could emerge as the NFL's top running back tandem.
"Absolutely," Licht said.
Last season, they had a league-best 2,763 combined yards from scrimmage.
"We love Charles Sims," Licht said.
The pass-catching specialist had 51 receptions last season.