Mike Florio: Out of Touch

So, I knew it was only a matter of time before Mike Florio was involved.

Who is Mike Florio? Well, it’s probably a good thing you didn’t know.

He’s the putz that runs ProFootballTalk.com, and also co-founded CollegeFootballTalk.com. Both were eventually sold to NBC. Now, you can see Florio sitting next to Peter King on Football Night in America’s pre-game and post-game segments.

Or, as someone else put it, “he sold his soul to the devil for commercialism.”

Anyway, CFT is a good site with John Taylor & co. running the show. However, when Florio puts his greasy mitts on the site, you wish you could gouge his eyes out with a Taco Bell Spork.

But, I’m not the only site that has issues with Peter King’s buddy. Check out the always-excellent Kissing Suzy Kolber for how they feel about Florio. And, here’s an entry where it shows how out of touch Mike Florio is with people. $2K for winter gear? Get out of Clarksburg every once in a while, Florio!

Why am I talking about Mike Florio today? Simple… he posted something on CFT about how Rich Rodriguez should be brought back. Bad move, Mikey. First you think it costs $2K for winter gear, then you bash football fans for demanding to the NFL owners that we want football, now you say bring RRod back? Nope. After the jump is all the fun!

WVU’s current mess has an easy, albeit controversial, fix

Posted by Mike Florio on June 7, 2011, 9:04 AM EDT

Rich Rodriguez previously admitted it was a mistake for him to leave West Virginia more than three years ago.  Now, West Virginia could be admitting it was a mistake not to deal with the Bill Stewart/Dana Holgorsen mess by bringing Rodriguez back.
Hey, Mike, where have you been? Since RichRod left, the school has gone through TWO Presidents at WVU… an interim (C. Peter McGrath) and the current President (James Clements.) Garrison had everything to do w/Rodriguez leaving. Clements lets Oliver Luck run the Athletic Dept.

Though the move surely would create significant local controversy in the short term, all parties need to take a longer view of the current situation.  The Mountaineers need a stable, long-term fix at the coaching position.  And with Rodriguez’s tail currently tucked between his legs after being fired by Michigan, this could be the perfect moment to secure true long-term loyalty, along with consistently high-level performance.
But, bringing back a guy that said West Virginia’s “not that f**king special” is your answer, Whorio? Do you even remember the paper shredding, the nixed late resignation, playing the race card on Calvin Magee’s behalf!? Apparently not.

Whether it’s Rodriguez or not, change is surely coming to Morgantown.  The one-year forced marriage between Stewart, the outgoing coach, and Holgorsen, the offensive coordinator/incoming coach, was doomed from the outset.  Athletic Director Oliver Luck surely hoped that Stewart’s pride would prompt him to walk away once Holgorsen arrived, with Stewart giving up all or part of his severance pay in lieu of suffering the public awkwardness of being a lame duck with his replacement, a stranger to the program, on the staff.
It was doomed from the outset because Benedict Bill wouldn’t take his marching orders like a “good soldier.” He chose to engage in insubordination.

Luck’s instincts were right, sort of.  Stewart reacted, but not by quitting.  Instead, he fought back, reportedly launching an effort to smear Holgorsen, either in an effort by Stewart to save his job or in a fit of vengeance aimed at blowing the whole thing up on his way out the door.  With WVU now possibly having enough ammunition to send Stewart out that door without paying him another penny, the three-year head coach who never should have been given the job in the first place could soon be fired “for cause” based on the disclosure that Stewart asked a Pittsburgh reporter to dig up dirt on Holgorsen.
Can’t disagree with Florio on this one, believe it or not.

But that doesn’t mean Holgorsen is the answer.  Questions remain regarding the much-publicized incident involving Holgorsen and more than a few Heinekens at a Charleston-area casino last month, not to mention the report of five other similar incidents.  Even if Stewart had a hand in publicizing those five incidents, there’s a chance the report of those five incidents contains some truth.
How do you know they were Heinekins, Whorio!? What if they were YUENGLINGS!? Mmmm… Yuengling! WOOHOO!!!! BEER!!!!!!

With Rodriguez currently available and engaging in an obvious image reclamation effort in his native state, why not bring him back?  Folks in West Virginia were outraged (count me among them) when Rodriguez left, primarily because we all wanted him to stay.  If a prodigal son who took to program to the cusp of a national title is willing to truly come — and stay — home, slaying the fatted calf could translate to finally hoisting the crystal football.
What Whorio doesn’t realize is that if Rich Rod is brought back, there would be riots by the masses in WV! Idiot.

Current rumblings out of Morgantown suggest that, if Holgorsen and Stewart are sent packing, Tommy Bowden could be the replacement.  Bowden, the former Clemson head coach, Rodriguez mentor, and son of legendary Florida State coach and West Virginia coach Bobby Bowden, has been involved in recent fund-raising efforts at his alma mater, and many assumed he, not Holgorsen, would be Stewart’s replacement.  Still, we (or at least I) think that Rodriguez is best suited over the long term to take the program back to the brink of the one thing that every West Virginian covets — a national championship in football or basketball, and preferably both.
Now, if Ed Pastilong was running the show, I could definitely believe a Bowden would be coming back… but, there’s a new Sheriff in town, and his name if Oliver Luck!

Given the current state of the football program, Bob Huggins’ basketball program may continue to be the best bet for finally getting it done.  But there’s still an opportunity to emerge from the current mess in a positive way.  Though it will require plenty of forgiving and forgetting from the fan base (especially since many of them genuinely believe Rodriguez threw the 2007 Pitt game so that he could take the Michigan job), it could be the best thing for both parties.
RichRod did throw the Pitt game, and I’ll say that as long as I live!

With Luck suddenly having good reason to worry about his own job given the manner in which the ill-conceived Stewart-Holgorsen arrangement has played out, Luck’s best chance for keeping the job over the long haul could come from bringing back the coach who found out the hard way that the grass is always the greenest in his own backyard.
Luck’s job is safe… this isn’t the Pastilong Show anymore, dude! Rich Rod is NOT welcome back to West Virginia University in ANY capacity, and those that want him back are just plain idiotic!