CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Ed Pastilong's 21-year run as West Virginia's athletic director was chock-full of growth for the Mountaineer program.

No one connected with the school or program or anyone who follows WVU has much reason to be disappointed in where the Mountaineers are as Pastilong makes a big handoff.

The length of time Pastilong spent in the job is remarkable in this day and age.

Among the 66 ADs at Bowl Championship Series schools - across six conferences and Notre Dame - only DeLoss Dodds of Texas, with 29 years, has been at his post longer than Pastilong.

WVU's two decades-plus with Eddie in charge were more than steady. He not only operated one of the rare big-time programs in the black, but also oversaw success on the field and in the arena, enhanced facilities, made good coaching hires (mostly) and advanced conference membership.

The next West Virginia athletic director will be expected to do more than sustain that success. The toughest job will be to unify the forces.

When his contract ends in June, Pastilong becomes the West Virginia AD emeritus for $225,000 a year. He'll receive a $100,000 retention incentive on June 30 and is due $125,000 in deferred compensation over 2012 and '13.

It's sort of an Old Gold and Blue parachute, even though Pastilong wasn't really ready to pull the cord.

However, it should have been no surprise that Pastilong didn't get a two-year extension. He didn't really push hard for it. That's not his style. A new WVU president, Jim Clements, wanted his own man. No one should have expected a Clements' clemency for the AD.

It's also somewhat instructive that two high-profile men and big friends of Pastilong - WVU benefactor Milan Puskar and Gov. Joe Manchin - couldn't (or wouldn't) get him the extra time he wanted in the big chair.

There's a lot more at work here, however. For all of WVU's success, Pastilong had his detractors, and some of them were in the university administration and on its Board of Governors.

That faction has mushroomed through the messy exit of football Coach Rich Rodriguez, the overnight hiring of successor Bill Stewart and the progress, or lack of it, on a basketball practice facility, which is finally under construction.

The day of Pastilong's announced departure had been expected since May 2008, when a former administration ran an end-around on the athletic chiefs and sweetened and extended basketball Coach Bob Huggins' deal into a "lifetime" contract.

Ed is Mr. Nice Guy. That doesn't mean he couldn't make the tough call, but when he did, it always seemed to be in concert with his right-hand man, Mike Parsons, the longtime WVU deputy AD. Parsons often made those calls, or at least was the one who had to explain them to those who were unhappy. 

Pastilong has been a perfect team with Parsons, who is about as hands-on in the No. 2 role as his counterpart in any major college athletic department. Parsons is so tuned in and so knows the WVU operation that there are those who work with him who respectfully refer to him as "The Wizard."

I'm sure there are those among WVU leaders and monied movers and shakers who figure that with Pastilong out, Parsons will be gone, too. It wouldn't be a stretch, depending on who's really making the hiring call, that the next AD will be asked or told not to retain Parsons.

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