| 1. Favorite Mountaineer sports moment |
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Tough to pick just one...... I'd have to name a few..... men's
basketball win over Villanova in the '05 Big East Tournament was
probably the best basketball game I've ever seen (although the win over
Wake Forest wasn't bad either).
In football, the Sugar Bowl, of course,
but also Grant Wiley's goal line tackle late in the game vs. Va Tech in
2002 is memorable for me. That win vs. Tech was the start of something
big for us in football.
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| 2. If my "research" is correct, your 2nd year at Auburn was the year
Terry Bowden resigned... in the middle of the season... the night
before a game. You were the Assistant Director of Athletic
Development at that time. How involved were you in the management of
that situation and its aftermath? Do you still keep in touch with
Terry? |
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I wasn't involved in Terry's situation at all. His resignation caught a
lot of people off guard. My involvement in the aftermath was to work to
help the new coach, Tommy Tuberville meet and interact with the right
people. Coach Tuberville was very good at development, similar to Rich.
I don't keep in touch with Terry although our paths cross occasionally.
I enjoy seeing him when I do. He always asks about Morgantown.
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| 3. When you were in grad school here, where did you live?
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Two different places. An apartment complex.....I can't remember the
name.......back behind the Ramada Inn by I-68. The bed folded out of
the wall.....I do remember that. The second place I lived was an
apartment on Van Voorhis Road by Summers Towing.....good place but no
a/c.
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| 4. Tell us a joke |
| I haven't heard a really good joke in a long time.
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| 5. What's the #1 project to which you are looking forward seeing come
to fruition?
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| There are actually two......we are raising funds for an academic center
in the Puskar Center and also an academic center in the Coliseum. Both
should be finished in 2007. We only have a little ways to go
fundraising-wise to fully fund the one in the Puskar Center and we are
well over half way on the one for the Coliseum.
Those two projects are
great for a few reasons. People see the need and like to support it
philanthropically, the facilities obviously support the academic mission
of the university, and they make a strong impact during the recruiting
process for all of our 17 teams.
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| 6. Funniest thing/story to happen inside the Puskar Center |
| It's not that it's all business all the time there....but I really can't
think of something funny that stands out. There are some "entertaining"
moments occasionally that usually involve Bill Kirelawich, Rick
Trickett, Dusty Rutledge, or Mike Barwis.
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| 7. I've read that you were one of two finalists for the A.D. job at
Bowling Green. Was one of the obstacles your buy-out? An "inside
source" told me it's currently at $2 million. |
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The Bowling Green job interview process was a great learning experience.
I'm glad I went through it.
If nothing else, being on campus there and meeting their coaches gave me
perspective on how fortunate we are at WVU for a variety of reasons.
It's not that Bowling Green, OH isn't a nice town, it's a great college
town, or that they don't have solid coaches....they do.....I more mean
that the battles that a Mid-American Conference school fights budget and
facility-wise make me realize how lucky we have it at WVU.
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| 8. Baseball team captain at JMU? Wow. Google searches for additional
details are futile... your career pre-dates comprehensive Internet
coverage. What position and care to share any career numbers with us? |
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I'm glad to know my stats aren't readily available. I was an average
player in an average Div. I program. I didn't start full time until I
was a senior. I played 1st base primarily, some 3rd base, and pitched
some in relief. That year I believe I hit .280 with 3 home runs and 3
saves. My previous three years weren't even that good.
Since I couldn't hit .300 with an aluminum bat I realized a minor league
career wasn't an option.....so I decided to try to get into the business
of sports instead and applied for graduate school at WVU for the Sports
Management program.
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| 9. What's one moment you'll always remember from your playing days? |
| East Carolina was the dynasty of the Colonial Athletic Association in
those days. I remember we beat them all 4 times we played them my
senior year.....3 times in the regular season and 1 time in the
conference tournament.
I remember hitting a home run in one of those
games and also getting the save, pitching later in the same
game......although our left fielder had to make a leaping catch at the
fence for the final out to make that happen.
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| 10. I see that in your first year at JMU (1989), JMU swept 3 games
from WVU. But, in your 2nd year, WVU swept 3 from the Dukes. What's
up with that? |
| I really don't remember any of those games specifically except for
one.......we played each other in an early season tournament at Georgia
Southern. I think WVU beat us 5-4. Dale Ramsburg was the WVU coach.
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| 11. All kidding aside, how much money would my wife and I have to
donate to get the tribute... "Dierwechter Blue Lot at Mountaineer
Field at Puskar Stadium on Don Nehlen Drive"? |
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That has a nice ring to it......seven figures not including decimal
points.
[Jim]:
Do you accept "installments", say over 180 years?
To members... The next time you donate, please indicate you'd like to put it towards the Dierwechter Blue Lot Fund.
OK, last comment... for Fletch fans... "put it on the Underhill account".
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| 12. A lot has been written... yet little details have been made
public... on the behind the scenes action in the Alabama thing. I
won't put you on the spot, but could you answer this? How much should
Mountaineer fans root for the Arizona Diamondbacks as appreciation? |
| I've seen Ken Kendrick's (managing General Partner of the D'backs) name
mentioned a few times lately. He is a Princeton, WV native and WVU
grad. Great guy. He has been involved as a donor for us for the past
few years. Last year, he funded the new Hall of Traditions in the
Puskar Center - first class - which is named in memory of his friend Don
Brohard.
Ken certainly has great giving potential, he has been very generous and
hopefully will continue to be, but Ken also brings experience and
knowledge in regard to contracts, marketing, etc...
In addition to Ken,
however, there were a number of WVU faithful in and out of West Virginia
who stepped up for us big-time in a variety of ways. Our fans and
alumni made a very strong statement nationally during a crucial time for
our football program.
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| 13. OK, one serious question... essentially, the Mountaineer Athletic
Club is what keeps WVU athletics competitive. Can you give us a snippet of your planned short-term and long-term efforts? |
| Short term is to raise adequate funds to continue the renovation and
construction of our athletic facilities in all-sports which Ed Pastilong
has established as our number one priority in addition to our
long-running endowment drive.
Long term would be for the MAC to do our part in enabling WVU to become
the premier athletic program, across the board, in the country.
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| 14. OK, back to the silliness... If you had to do an impersonation,
what coach from either the football or basketball staff could you
mimic the best? |
| I can't do impersonations. I wish I could. Tony Caridi is great at
it......he does a fair impersonation of me although his southern accent
needs work. Tony does an excellent John Beilein and also Rick Trickett.
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| 15. Complete this sentence... What people don't know about me is that
I'm really good at... (and since we just covered the fact you're good
at baseball, you can't use that!) |
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Civil War history and planting shrubs and flowers in my yard.
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