By Bob Hertzel
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN — Having once been married to a woman who could spend an hour and a half in a shoe store trying to decide if she wanted her pumps in red or blue, only to walk out with a pair of pink mary janes, I understand just how difficult it has to be for an 18-year-old kid to decide upon which college he will attend, especially if this kid is among the best football players in the nation and getting sold a bill of goods from every direction.
That is why I normally don’t pay too much attention to all the recruiting hullabaloo until the choice is made, for most of what you read and hear is either planted by someone trying to push the kid in one direction or the other or simply the kid’s feelings on a Monday when you know they will have changed by Thursday.
So it was in January when safety Latwan Anderson used the U.S. Army All-American Bowl as a backdrop to his earth-shattering announcement that he would be attending West Virginia University and playing football for Bill Stewart. I took it not as a signal I should be making my reservations for the 2013 national championship game but, instead, as a signal to go the fridge and pull out another coldie.
Sure enough, Anderson would retract the commitment. Come signing day, he failed to sign, saying he wanted to visit USC, which now was interested.
USC is still waiting for that visit.
Finally, Anderson appears to have made up his mind, SI.com’s Krisitian R. Dyer writing yesterday that Miami had won the Latwan Anderson sweepstakes and that he will sign with that school.
When the letter of intent shows up I’ll believe it, although the quotes certainly sound as if the lad has made up his mind and is going to be heading for Miami.
That West Virginia lost a top recruit is of little or no concern to me, for my only stake in it is as an outside observer, but what was somewhat troubling was Anderson’s reasons for selecting Miami over West Virginia.
Recruiting, you see, is mostly creating an image, and if the kid had said something about being tired of shoveling the snow that has built up in Glenville, Ohio, over this winter it would have been totally understandable. I might even have asked him if he needed a roommate down there.
But it wasn’t the weather and it wasn’t the glitz and glamour of South Beach. It had nothing to do with the Dolphins of the NFL or the Heat of the NBA or even trying to get as far away from the Pittsburgh Pirates as he could get.
No, this was strictly a decision based upon his image of the football programs.
"I felt that all things were equal between West Virginia and Miami," Anderson was quoted as saying. "The only difference was the football. In my opinion, Miami is far and away closer to winning conference and national championships than West Virginia."
Let us first and foremost understand that neither Miami nor West Virginia is on the doorstep of winning the national championship.
Let us also understand that when the two teams played in losing bowl games, leaving each of their records at 9-4, Miami played as the nation’s No. 15 team, WVU as No. 16. In the final BCS bowl rankings, it was Miami No. 15, WVU No. 16.
That sounds as if you have two programs that seem to be in quite similar situations, yet to this top recruit the feeling is that “Miami is far and away closer to winning conference and national championships than West Virginia.”
If someone can tell me what Miami is doing to look like it is a potential national championship team while West Virginia isn’t, I would be grateful, especially with the Mountaineers being in the unique position of being able to go out and get a hand-picked leader for its athletic department who is willing to commit whatever is necessary to move forward from where they are.
Certainly, it would appear, whomever is selected to replace Ed Pastilong as athletic director would have to put high on his agenda looking into why the image WVU’s football program is projecting isn’t as strong as Miami in the recruiting game.
Anderson made one other comment in the article about a factor in his decision.
“Even if I don't make the NFL, I could see myself living in Miami after I get my degree," Anderson said. "I don't know if I can say the same if I went to West Virginia. I don't know if I can see myself living there after school."
Funny thing was, I never could see my former wife in pink mary janes, either.
But when she put them on, I kind of liked it.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
