The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

January 9, 2013

Pastilong not interested in DMV position for now

By Mannix Porterfield Register-Herald Reporter

CHARLESTON —

Ed Pastilong’s name has surfaced as a potential successor to retiring Motor Vehicles Commissioner Joe Miller, but the longtime athletic director at West Virginia University doesn’t appear interested.

Reached Tuesday at his home, Pastilong acknowledged the prospect of filling Miller’s shoes is an appealing one.

“The idea was suggested to me and it’s a position that I would enjoy being a part of,” Pastilong said in a telephone interview.

“And it’s a very important position. However, for my consideration, at this time, the timing is not good.”

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s communications director, Amy Shuler Goodwin, downplayed a published report in Charleston that pointed to Pastilong as the next DMV commissioner.

“We have a DMV commissioner right now,” she said. “The governor will make an announcement on his own.”

Goodwin said she doesn’t know if the governor has been considering Pastilong for the post.

Pastilong invested 37 years of his life in the athletic department at WVU, and 21 of those were as athletic director.

He was succeeded in that position by a former Mountaineer quarterback, Oliver Luck, whose son led the Stanford Cardinal before being drafted by the Indianapolis Colts.

For now, Pastilong said he is working part-time as a consultant with West Liberty University in its development office, dealing specifically with athletics.

“That’s a very nice university with an excellent academic reputation,” he said.

Pastilong said the Hilltoppers boast “very competitive athletic teams,” as evidenced by the current top ranking in NCAA Division II men’s basketball occupied by West Liberty, a squad averaging 116 points per game.

The former WVU official described West Liberty’s Robin Capehart as “an excellent president” and said he enjoys his working relationship with both him and Athletic Director Jim Watson.

“They’re having a successful development year,” he said.

“In fact, just last week, West Liberty University’s development office got its largest single donation in its history.”

The $1.6 million bequest came from a alumnus identified as Gary West.

Goodwin gave no indication when Tomblin would appoint a successor to the 77-year-old Miller in the DMV.

Pastilong described performances of West Virginia in losing to Syracuse in the Pinstripe Bowl and Monday’s night dismantling of Notre Dame by the Alabama Crimson Tide in the BCS Championship game as “meltdowns.”

“Both of them were hard to watch,” he said.

“The Mountaineers’ was a little harder to watch.”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com

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