MORGANTOWN — It was a few months back now and, if Bill Stewart had his way, he would have that interview he gave to WTAP in Parkersburg erased from our memory.

Certainly, when he talked about the inevitable death of the Big East Conference in the midst of the changing landscape of collegiate athletics, he was called on the carpet by those above him. That became terribly obvious the next day when Stewart was forced into a rather lame recantation of what he had said, accompanied by a statement from athletic director Ed Pastilong, vowing never-ending love for the conference in which they reside.

The problem is Stewart is at his best when shooting from the hip, not delivering one of those golly-gee-whiz lectures he is inclined to do. When Stewart decides to talk straight and tell the unvarnished truth rather than the half-truths that public relations people demand from the modern football coach he is worth paying attention to.

So it was on that day in Parkersburg when asked about the future of the Big East Conference in light of growing talk that the Big Ten could raid the Big East as it expands past 11 teams:

"It's exciting. It's disheartening as well. ... The Big Ten could ... they'll pick a couple of our teams. However, the SEC and the ACC will also do the same, so that's exciting. I don't know where we're going to land. We could land, whatever, in one of maybe three conferences, the ACC, the SEC, maybe the Big Ten.

"But right now, we're still Big East and we need to keep that focus. And that's the disheartening thing, when you break up a Big East contingency like we had. We had a lot of fun, a lot of rivals, and I hate to see that end. But there are exciting times on the horizon with new conferences. We'll be in one of them; which one I don't know, I really don't. But that's down the road a couple of years, I do believe."

As this is written, the wheels are turning faster than ever. The Chicago Tribune reported this week that the Big Ten was putting expansion on the fast track and it could get done faster than the original 12 to 18 months it originally projected.

On Wednesday, the Trib backed off from that, saying Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney denying the timetable had been moved up, but having been raided once before the Big East knows better than to believe the denials of a rogue commissioner about to feast upon their teams.

Also on Wednesday, the Big East announced took the proactive more by taking on former National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue as an unpaid advisor on strategic matters, which one assumes is how to survive in the climate that now exists in college athletics.

Notre Dame, which has always said there was no way it would join a conference for football, has softened its stand recently and hinted that if it were caught in the midst of a complete reshuffling of conference affiliations, that it may have to join the Big Ten.

The Big Ten is strongly considering of jumping to 16 teams, Notre Dame being the prime catch for them. The talk also involves the Big East’s Syracuse, Rutgers and Pitt, as well as some Big 12 teams, including Missouri and Nebraska.

There is certainly too much smoke for there to be no fire burning, and if it comes to pass, most likely to get burned in the Big East are South Florida, Louisville, Cincinnati and, yes, West By God Virginia, which is not included in any of the expansion talk.

Think what it would mean to the Mountaineers’ football program if the Big Ten did take Pitt, which isn’t farfetched, for Pitt would be in a stronger conference and be reunited with Penn State.

You could almost bet the rivalry with WVU would end, and a world without a Backyard Brawl is no world at all, as anyone from this state can tell you.

The Big East had to scratch to reshape the conference when Virginia Tech, Boston College and Miami defected to the Atlantic Coast Conference. What happens if Syracuse and Pitt were to leave, along with Notre Dame?

There is almost no doubt if the Big Ten goes to 16 teams the SEC and/or the ACC would also expand to 16 teams. As Stewart said, West Virginia surely would go somewhere, but the face of its athletic programs would be changed forever.

And don’t think this isn’t coming.

There is no one in the athletic world who cares one iota about anything but themselves. The focus is always on revenue and television ratings and the ability to run your own network. It is never on what is best for the sport or for the public or — ranking absolutely last in all this — the kids who play the game as amateurs while thousands upon thousands of coaches, administrators, conference officials, TV executives, announcers and Erin Andrews reap in big bucks on the bruises the athletes suffer and the sweat they give up for dear old "Immakingmillions U."

E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.