Now comes the breaking news by Pete Thamel of The New York Times that the school has hired a search firm to find a suitable replacement for Robinson, who is 8-34 overall and 2-22 in the Big East in three-plus seasons. Syracuse is currently 1-6 overall and, at 0-3 in the Big East, is one of only two winless teams in the conference.

The story in Thursday’s editions says Syracuse hired Chuck Neinas, a veteran consultant and former Big Eight Conference Commissioner, to seek a new coach and that UConn coach Randy Edsall has been contacted. Edsall played QB at Syracuse and was later an assistant coach who was passed over for the head job when Paul Pasqualoni was hired in 1990. Edsall recently signed an extension at UConn through 2013.

Syracuse AD Daryl Gross denied that Neinas had been hired.

“That’s not true, that’s speculation,” he told The Times.

Besides Edsall, other potential candidates include Buffalo’s Turner Gill, TEmple’s Al Goldstein, former Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin and Florida assistant head coach Steve Addazio.

MCCOY TO RETURN

The Sporting News is reporting that Texas QB Colt McCoy will return to campus for his senior season. The frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy, McCoy has led the unbeaten Longhorns to an average of 48.1 points per game.

“I play a lot like [Cowboys QB] Tony Romo,” McCoy told The Sporting News. “Maybe not as risky now, but he’s a playmaker. He can make some yards with his feet, but he’s also right on the money, he’s accurate and he’s smart with the ball.”

Payback is a bitch, huh?

Thirteen years to the day after O.J. Simpson was cleared of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, Simpson was found guilty of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room.

Simpson and co-defendant Clarence “C.J.” Stewart face sentencing for armed robbery and kidnapping Dec. 5.

Simpson said he was trying to recover his own memorabilia that had been stolen from his trophy room and was unaware that the other men with him were armed.

“I don’t like to use the word payback,” defense attorney Yale Galanter said. “I can tell you from the beginning my biggest concern … was whether or not the jury would be able to separate their very strong feelings about Mr. Simpson and judge him fairly and honestly.”

On a personal note, I remember being in a large common room at Columbia University when Simpson was declared not guilty of the murders in 1995….The reaction was pretty much split, with many of the white people in the room shocked and upset over the verdict, while many of the African-American people cheered and celebrated.

Thirteen years later, it appears O.J. finally got what he deserved.

Apparently word got out to Page Six when Steve Van Zandt made an all-tables reservation at a Tampa-area Hard Rock Cafe.

Ever since the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction, Super Bowl officials have gone with aging classic rockers like Tom Petty, Prince and, of course, KISS. Check that sweet video here.

One online poll had fans choosing Van Halen in a narrow margin over The Boss, with my man Neil Young and U2 trailing far behind.

Who knows? Maybe Brett Favre will join Bruce for the big game?

Mauk, one of the key components in Cincinnati’s rise to Top 25 prominence last season, had his final appeal for another year of eligibility turned down Friday by the NCAA. It was the third time that Mauk’s request for another season has been rejected by the NCAA.

“I’m disappointed for Ben,” coach Brian Kelly said after the team’s practice Friday. “But he’s a pretty resilient kid. Obviously he’s quite disappointed himself. But he’s got a lot of good options out there.”

Read the rest of the AP story below.

Mauk was an inspiring story last season, when he overcame career-threatening injuries and led Cincinnati to a No. 20 ranking in the final USA TODAY coaches’ poll. He threw for 31 touchdowns and 3,121 yards even though his right arm and shoulder were still in pain.

Afterward, he appealed to the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility because of the injuries, but was turned down. He appealed again on a different basis, pointing out that he redshirted his freshman year at Wake Forest in part because of different injuries. The NCAA again turned him down.

Finally, Mauk took his appeal to the NCAA’s reinstatement committee, which decided Friday that there wasn’t enough medical documentation to support his claim that he missed his freshman year because of injury.

Mauk was with the team at its summer camp Friday morning when the university got the decision. He left camp to be with his family. Kelly said that Mauk would like to try to join an NFL team in training camp. If not, he could be a graduate assistant with Cincinnati, where Mauk is working on his master’s degree.

The ruling means that Cincinnati will head into the season with senior Dustin Grutza as the No. 1 quarterback. Mauk replaced Grutza as the starter last season.

“I kind of felt bad,” Grutza said. “Ben’s a good friend of mine, and we’ve been through a lot of stuff together.”

Read my story from Big East Media Day on how Grutza is prepared to be Cincy’s starting QB.

OSEI TO RUTGERS

David Osei of Abington (Pa.) High School verbally committed to Rutgers on Friday, giving the Scarlet Knights 19 commitments for 2009.

“I came to the decision to go to Rutgers because I thought it was a place that would make me the best player and give me the best chance to win a national championship,” Osei told John Otterstedt of Rivals.

Osei’s coach, Tim Sorber, said he play a slew of positions.

“I see him playing somewhere on the OL,” said Sorber. “I know Kirk Ciarrocca sees him as a possible center or guard. I can see him as a kid who can play anywhere on the OL because of his athletic ability and ability to pass protect. I think he could be one of those kids where there is a lot of flexibility.”

Osei’s commitment comes in the wake of a decommitment Thursday by Immaculata center Mark Brazinski, who is considering Rutgers, Penn and Boston College. Brazinski is ranked the No. 5 center in the nation.

Yet in the span of a few minutes at Big East media day, the quarterback made some startling comments to me that have since thrust White, who is African-American, and Van Zant, who is white, into the national spotlight.

Read the full story at SNY.tv here.

On Thursday, White apologized for his comments, though I hope they still provoke some discussion at West Virginia about what triggered them in the first place.

“I am sorry my comments have caused so many distractions. I am looking forward to putting this behind me and getting on the practice field with my teammates on Saturday.”

We also thoroughly enjoyed this take from the Sporting News, entitled, “What Exactly Did Pat White Apologize For?”

Ed Pastilong, WVU’s veteran athletic director, said in a statement issued Tuesday night:

“The university is committed to diversity as evidenced by the development of the OneWVU program. Our coaches and staff also are committed to an atmosphere of community for our student-athletes. I look forward to speaking with Pat more about his thoughts.”

During an interview at Big East Media Day in Newport, R.I., White told me (and several other reporters) that he did not play baseball because because of the lack of African-Americans on coach Greg Van Zant’s squad.

“In my knowledge of West Virginia baseball, there’s not been many players of my race on his team. [Van Zant's] not too high on it,” White said. “Every player I’ve talked to doesn’t like him. He’s not a well-liked coach, but I guess he has tenure so they never got rid of him. They’re not successful at all.”

Two newspapers contacted me Tuesday night after Big East Media Day — The Dominion Post and the Charleston Gazette — to inquire about the comments. I played them the tape of the interview on the phone and they subsequently reported the comments in today’s editions.

The Gazette further reported that: “A check of the WVU baseball roster on the program’s Web page showed no African-Americans on the 2008 squad.”

Van Zant has not yet responded to a phone message I left, nor did he comment to the West Virginia papers.

On a personal note, I found White to be very sincere and thoughtful in his comments, and I’m sure it required great courage to make them.

***
In other West Virginia news, two basketball players, Joe Mazzulla and Cameron Thoroughman were arrested Monday for underage drinking and resisting arrest outside a Pirates game.

Also, Pete Thamel of the New York Times has a good feature on West Virginia head football coach Bill Stewart, who is a great interview and apparently a big Yankees fan. He said he watched Mike Mussina pitch a gem at the Stadium recently and also took great pleasure in seeing Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez play.

A year after finishing 10-3, 4-3 in the Big East, many observers don’t expect the Bearcats to do that well again in 2008. Hence the No. 5 pick by the coaches in the Big East Football Preseason Media Poll announced Tuesday. Defending league co-champ West Virginia was chosen No. 1, followed by South Florida and Pittsburgh.

Read the rest of the story with notes on West Virginia, Oklahoma and the Presidential race.

“In my knowledge of West Virginia baseball, there’s not been many players of my race on his (head coach Greg Van Zant’s) team,” said White, who is African-American. “He’s not too high on it.”

Van Zant did not immediately return a phone message left at his office.

A Heisman Trophy candidate, the 6-foot-2, 192-pound White is also a talented outfielder. He was a fourth-round draft pick of the Anaheim Angels in the 2004 MLB Draft and was selected in the 50th round of the 2008 MLB June Draft despite not playing baseball since his senior year of high school.

White said he discussed playing baseball this year with new head football coach Bill Stewart, a big baseball fan.

“A couple months ago he told me if I wanted to play, I could,” White said of Stewart. “He knows the game and (he knows) there’s few athletes on the team that can play more than one sport and he just wanted to give (me) the opportunity.”

Stewart praised White as the “second coming of Major Harris” and said “people in West Virginia are blessed” that White is the school’s quarterback.

He joked that White told him he wasn’t going to play baseball because he couldn’t hit the curveball.

“Coach, I don’t know if I can hit the curve,” Stewart quoted White as saying.

White, however, said he would have considered playing, but not for Van Zant.

“I definitely thought it over, I still think about it sometimes,” White said. “I’m loyal to my (football) team. I have another year left. I want us to be successful and I want to be part of that success.”

The West Virginia football team was picked by the Big East coaches to finish first in the eight-team league following last year’s victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.

Asked if he had spoken directly with Van Zant about playing for him, White said: “(No), he wasn’t (excited). He wasn’t interested.”

Then he paused and added:

“In my knoweldge of West Virginia baseball, there’s not been many players of my race on his team. He’s not too high on it.

“Every player I’ve talked to doesn’t like him. He’s not a well-liked coach but I guess he has tenure so they never got rid of him. They’re not successful at all.”

Asked if he might have played if there were a different baseball coach at West Virginia, White said, “Maybe.”

http://web.sny.tv/images/2008/07/25/PMa8cCYp.jpg

NEW YORK — The Ray Rice Era at Rutgers is over.

Now it’s time to move on.

With Rutgers set to open the 2008 college football season with a nationally televised game against Fresno State on Sept. 1 at Rutgers Stadium, head coach Greg Schiano says it may take more than one tailback to replace Rice, now with the Baltimore Ravens.

“Certainly, you lose a guy of Ray’s ability, it’s a big loss,” Schiano said Wednesday during a press conference at the SNY studios. “But then you put on top of that the kind of person he was and the things he did for our football team off the field, there’s a big spot vacated.

Read the full story here. In other RU news, Desmond Scott, a 4-star all-purpose back from Durham (NC) Hillside, has de-committed and chosen Duke.

Check out my first video interview on Big East football and basketball.

While there, check out the interview with Rutgers head football coach Greg Schiano and, of course, we highly recommend the daily edition of “The Nooner” with Brittany Umar.