May 9, 2002 3 min read

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – West Virginia University President David Hardesty has told the athletic department to examine itself and develop a strategic plan after both the football and basketball teams struggled through dismal seasons. The department is to present a report to the university’s Board of Governors June 7, Hardesty said Tuesday.

He said the athletic department review was not related to the protracted search for a men’s basketball coach following Gale Catlett’s retirement this past season, or to an internal investigation into alleged NCAA violations involving the basketball team.

“I think the board will make its assessment on June 7 and over the summer people will see if there is a sense of movement,” Hardesty told the Charleston Gazette. “And if fall comes and the (football team) starts to win or it is clear they will the following year, there will be a different mood. I think there’s a period of testing going on and maybe it’s natural, given where we are right now.”

Hardesty said the athletic department is “capable of stepping up” but would not comment on the status of Athletic Director Ed Pastilong. Disgruntled fans have called for a new athletic director on radio talk shows and Internet chat sites.

“Eddie has a lot of friends and they’re strong friends and he has a very loyal staff. And I think they’re probably hearing the same things,” Hardesty told the newspaper.

He said back-to-back losing seasons by the football and basketball teams, WVU’s major revenue-producing sports, spurred the review. The football team was 3-8, while the basketball team was 8-20.

Fan interest in the sports programs, both in ticket sales and donations, is crucial to the financial stability of the department, which has an annual budget of nearly $24 million.

“The two are related, and I don’t want to lose that point,” Hardesty told the Gazette. “For example, if we had gone to the Sugar Bowl we wouldn’t have many of these concerns. If we had gone to the third or fourth round of the NCAA (basketball tournament) we probably would have raised more money from our fans. So competitiveness is the issue.”

“The governor I have to put on that – like the old automobile governors that wouldn’t let you go too fast – is that we can’t have cheating and chewing up and spitting out of players to get there. We want our (athletes) to be students and to graduate and we want to run an honest program,” he said.

Hardesty said he also has asked the WVU Foundation to help the athletic department improve its fund-raising.

“They’re giving professional guidance on how to restructure their fund-raising activities in athletics. The fund raising has not been adequate there over the years and we want to change it. But it’s going to require some investment and some professional guidance, the kind the foundation can get,” he said.

Hardesty said the review would help the entire university, and not just the sports programs.

“Athletics are very important to the university, generally,” he said. “We are going to break a record on enrollment this fall, but I don’t think we would have to work nearly as hard or advertise nearly as much if we were having Major Harris-type years or the kind of year that Maryland just had.”