MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The conference meetings going on across the country are more about brainstorming ideas than implementing them and discussing problems instead of fixing them.

Still, I remain hopeful Athletic Director Ed Pastilong returns to West Virginia University's campus Wednesday with an agreed-upon explanation for exactly what happened on "Lost."

One thing Pastilong and the rest of his Big East brethren will discuss this week is the concept of an early signing period for football. I say this because the Big Ten had pushed the topic and that league seems to be - or believes to be - the first domino in all college athletic initiatives.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - At the beginning of the 2010 season, and not long after his preseason all-Big East third baseman was lost before it ever started, West Virginia baseball Coach Greg Van Zant had a talk with his staff about what to expect.

What they'd known previously wasn't entirely optimistic. Gone from one of the best offensive teams in the country were leadoff hitter Justin Parks, Austin Markel and his 15 home runs, Vince Belnome and his school-record 81 RBI, Joe Agreste, who'd been drafted previously, and  catcher Tobias Streich, who went in the second round to the Minnesota  Twins.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Seven outstanding contributors to Mountaineer athletics make up the 20th class of honorees in the West Virginia University Sports Hall of Fame, announced today by Director of Athletics Ed Pastilong.

The 2010 class includes Eddie Barrett, Marc Bulger, Bobby Carroll, Bill Karr, Ann-Marie (Pfiffner) Johnson, John Radosevich and Ronnie Retton.

Induction ceremonies will take place this fall at a date to be announced. This class brings the total number of inductees to 128.

MORGANTOWN - Monday was the first day incoming players could report for West Virginia's football program.

Almost all of them will wait until separate reporting dates next month, but Coach Bill Stewart was happy to see safety Travis Bell, quarterback Barry Brunetti and cornerback Ishmael Banks on campus and giving themselves the best chance to play right away.

They repeated that phrase to each other all the time, reminding themselves that after three years on campus, they'd both be bolting for the NFL. During the buildup to the Gator Bowl in January, the plan remained the same.

I came across a link to an interview that Bill Stewart did on the web site The Solid Verbal. The interview is about three weeks old, yet still relevent. Stewart covers a range of topics with the shows hosts, Ty Hildenbrandt and Dan Rubenstein. It is a lengthy interview, about 25 minutes with Stewart.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Changes in Big East Conference basketball could change the contract for West Virginia University Coach Bob Huggins.

Four conference schools fired and hired coaches this offseason and three others agreed to revise contracts with their current coaches. All of the new coaches were hired at salaries above their predecessor's and each of the extended contracts gave the coaches more total compensation.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Given his place in West Virginia basketball history and the way things ended on the floor at Lucas Oil Stadium in the Final Four, Da'Sean Butler understands people are concerned and curious.

He just wants people to understand something. That ending will not be his ending.

MORGANTOWN - It's hard to characterize West Virginia's spring drills as anything but a rousing success, at least based on the finish.

Talk about your feel-good endings - one of the largest crowds in the history of the Gold-Blue game watching the best of the Mountaineers rough up the rest of the Mountaineers by a tidy 38-0 count.