Official: WVU does not want to extend series with Marshall

I hope every one read Chuck Landon’s excellent article in the Herald Dispatch yesterday about WVU dragging its feet on renewing the “Friends of Coal Bowl” with Marshall. If not I have linked the story below:

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/marshall/x2094511942/WVU-has-plan-to-end-series-with-Marshall

In today’s Charleston Daily Mail WVU deputy athletic director Mike Parsons indicated that Marshall was not in WVU’s plans for 2016:

THE WVU 2016 schedule currently has two openings, and Parsons said the Mountaineers want both as home games (in addition to four big East games and a Maryland visit) to reach the seven Mountaineer Field dates the program wants annually.

Parsons said the optimum would be for WVU to start another home-and-home with a non-conference BCS foe that year, following series with LSU, Florida State (2012 and '13) and Michigan State (2014 and '15). The other home game would likely be against a Football Championship Subdivision (former I-AA) foe.

One thing that could change that would be if the Big East decides to add a ninth football member, be it Villanova or another program. That would necessitate changes in the non-conference plans for WVU. However, we're talking six seasons away.

You can read the whole story here: http://www.dailymail.com/Sports/201009281134

Personally I don’t understand WVU’s reluctance to continue this series. In a Herald Dispatch report the day after this years Coal Bowl it appeared Marshall was willing to give WVU six home games to its four so the series could be extended through 2022. The arrangement included a 2016 game in Morgantown that would accommodate WVU’s demands of seven home games every season. Read the HD report I am referring to here: http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/briefs/x1940240898/No-Headline

So if Marshall is willing to accommodate WVU by giving them more home games to assure they get 7 in Morgantown every year what is stopping this deal? The only thing I can think of is that WVU is scared to play Marshall. I know one of the Mountaineers primary colors is yellow but you don’t have to act like a Yellowbelly too.