http://blogs.post-gazette.com/sport...s/44245-barnes-talks-wvu-more-at-acc-meetings
Barnes talks WVU, more at ACC meetings
Written by Sam Werner on Tuesday, 12 May 2015 6:34 pm.
AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — How long did it take incoming Pitt athletic director Scott Barnes for someone to ask him about the dormant Backyard Brawl rivalry with West Virginia?
"About 30 seconds," Barnes said with a laugh Tuesday at the ACC spring meetings.
"In fact, literally, I was asked before I was officially named the AD. Those are hot topics and we'll continue to look at it."
Barnes, though, declined to go any farther than that. He won't officially take the reins as Pitt's until June 15, but said he has already started learning about the Panthers' rivalries with the Mountaineers and Penn State.
"I'm learning more. Particularly, any in-state rivalry, you know those are huge. But I learned more about the rivalry with West Virginia and how important that is to some folks. I'm continuing to be educated."
Here are a couple of other notes from Tuesday at the ACC spring meetings:
- One of the highlights of Barnes' tenure at Utah State was his rebranding of the Aggies' athletic programs. I asked him what went into that, just in case he decided to undertake a similar initiative at Pitt.
"It's a 15- to 18-month process," he said. "It was a strategic process. If we're to go through that process, we'll determine that. We don't have to determine that yet.
"You value the history and the accomplishments of the past in terms of respecting the history at Pitt. How do you take that and mold it into an exciting new look and vision to move forward. We want to look at it, we want to explore it, and if we did want to move forward in a partnership with Nike, as an example, that process is a long process. We'll definitely evaluate it. Now will that be one of our top priorities? I don't know yet."
- Clemson coach Dabo Swinney reaffirmed Tuesday that ACC coaches, as a whole, were opposed to the concept of satellite camps.
"We're for keeping recruiting scholastic," Swinney said. "We're the last sport out there that recruits only on campus, either at the [high] school or our campus. That's where we recruit."
Barnes talks WVU, more at ACC meetings
Written by Sam Werner on Tuesday, 12 May 2015 6:34 pm.
AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — How long did it take incoming Pitt athletic director Scott Barnes for someone to ask him about the dormant Backyard Brawl rivalry with West Virginia?
"About 30 seconds," Barnes said with a laugh Tuesday at the ACC spring meetings.
"In fact, literally, I was asked before I was officially named the AD. Those are hot topics and we'll continue to look at it."
Barnes, though, declined to go any farther than that. He won't officially take the reins as Pitt's until June 15, but said he has already started learning about the Panthers' rivalries with the Mountaineers and Penn State.
"I'm learning more. Particularly, any in-state rivalry, you know those are huge. But I learned more about the rivalry with West Virginia and how important that is to some folks. I'm continuing to be educated."
Here are a couple of other notes from Tuesday at the ACC spring meetings:
- One of the highlights of Barnes' tenure at Utah State was his rebranding of the Aggies' athletic programs. I asked him what went into that, just in case he decided to undertake a similar initiative at Pitt.
"It's a 15- to 18-month process," he said. "It was a strategic process. If we're to go through that process, we'll determine that. We don't have to determine that yet.
"You value the history and the accomplishments of the past in terms of respecting the history at Pitt. How do you take that and mold it into an exciting new look and vision to move forward. We want to look at it, we want to explore it, and if we did want to move forward in a partnership with Nike, as an example, that process is a long process. We'll definitely evaluate it. Now will that be one of our top priorities? I don't know yet."
- Clemson coach Dabo Swinney reaffirmed Tuesday that ACC coaches, as a whole, were opposed to the concept of satellite camps.
"We're for keeping recruiting scholastic," Swinney said. "We're the last sport out there that recruits only on campus, either at the [high] school or our campus. That's where we recruit."
