While Steph Curry continues to await his handshake from Adam Silver ...
n New SSAC executive director Bernie Dolan did more than simply take in the state tennis action this week in Charleston.
He visited with area hotels in preparation of next week's state track meet. And he made an important Thursday stop to submit a proposal to the state Board of Education.
As you may know, Dolan has a proposal in place dealing with out-of-season coaching. If approved by the Board, it would allow coaches to work with athletes three weeks during the summer in addition to six "flex" days. The three weeks, to be determined by each coach, would have to be grouped together and couldn't be over July 4. School principals would have to approve the schedules.
So far, the Board of Controls has (overwhelmingly) passed the proposal. Now, the Board of Education has approved the proposal for comment. That will take 30 days. Expect a vote in early July. Ditto a proposal to allow middle school wrestlers to participate in 16 matches, excluding conference tournament action.
n So what's next for Dolan? Well, a re-set of sorts after the spring state championships are in the rear view mirror.
"First, hopefully, we'll have a replacement for [assistant] Ray [Londeree] next week," Dolan said. "That's on our agenda. And then, for the first time, the new guys will have a chance to sit down and examine where we are.
"We're wanting to make changes to our website. We'd like to find easier ways for coaches to submit forms and scores either through an app or website.
"Also, we've started a media committee. We're asking the [West Virginia] Sports Writers Association officers, folks from MetroNews and others to see how we can help them and how they can help us. We think it will be a positive."
n Last Monday, Megan Bailey, a Horace Mann pole vaulter, cleared 8 feet, 7 inches at the Kanawha County middle school championships at Laidley.
Bailey not only broke the school record, but the previous Kanawha County mark of 8-4.
So ... why is that notable?
Her older brother, you see, is Capital High standout Tristan Slater, who is headed to Tennessee to pole vault.
n Former WVU guard Darris Nichols is having some nice off-season success as an assistant coach at Florida.
This past week, Nichols, Gators head coach Mike White and staff landed not one but two highly regarded hoops transfers: Virginia Tech guard Jalen Hudson and College of Charleston's Canyon Berry.
n In a column centered on the ever-evolving Big 12 expansion possibilities, I mentioned how Texas officials were key in helping WVU get into the league.
Another man, though, was instrumental and never really got much credit. His name is Dr. M. Duane Nellis, Ph.D.
Nellis was the Texas Tech president at that time - which was fortuitous for the Mountaineers. See, he was the former dean of WVU's Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, the largest academic college at the school.
Since then, Nellis has stepped down because of governance structure frustrations at Tech. He was in place, however, at just the right time for West Virginia.
n I earlier mentioned the state tennis tournament.
Well, our Doug Smock does a terrific job covering that each year and pointed out the buzz this week around Huntington High freshman J.J. Mercer.
Mercer just happens to be the brother of former Highlander standout Cassie Mercer, who earned a scholarship to Virginia after dominating the state high school scene.
If you're wondering, Cassie Mercer is now a sophomore for the Cavaliers, who boast the nation's No. 2- and 12-ranked women's players. As a freshman, she was 19-16 in singles and 28-14 in doubles. This season, she broke into the lineup at season's end to post victories over opponents from Virginia Tech, Pitt and Notre Dame. She split matches at the No. 6 singles competition in the ACC tournament before twisting an ankle.
Oh, and remember boys' standout Hunter Tubert, also of HHS? Well, he's now at Big Ten power Ohio State.
Tubert did play this year for the Buckeyes, albeit in doubles for coach Ty Tucker. He was 7-0 in doubles play this spring. He was 4-1 in doubles play in the fall and 1-3 in singles play. According to OSU contact Gary Petit, Tubert was basically the Buckeyes' No. 8 singles player.
n And finally ...
Iowa State apparently landed a heck of a basketball player in junior college signee Emmanuel Malou back in November.
The signing, though, went kaput when Malou decided he'd skip past the Cyclones and go straight into the upcoming NBA draft.
I bring that up for absolutely no other reason than to put "skip" and "Malou" in the same sentence.
Enjoy your Sunday.