West Virginia self-reported a secondary violation on Tuesday, after some players were found to have worn equipment not allowed by the NCAA in the first days of practice.

Mountaineers players were wearing light shoulder pads, also known as vests or spider pads, shortly after opening fall camp. The NCAA bans the use of any protective gear other than helmets during the "acclimatization period," or the first two days of practice.

This is hardly a high crime. Clemson was reported by another school last year for wearing thigh pads too early in practice, and the NCAA initially took away two practices from the Tigers. Then the NCAA said, never mind, go ahead and keep your practices.

So this is the type of thing that barely deserves a headline ... except that West Virginia was just served with a notice of five major allegations from the NCAA last week. And those allegations concerned, among other things, the abuse of practice time with non-coaching personnel. The NCAA also accused the Mountaineers, and head coach Bill Stewart, of failing to promote an atmosphere of compliance.

So it's kind of like driving on a suspended license in an area where cops often patrol. The last thing you'd want to do is speed or drive recklessly. West Virginia should be on high guard against any possible violations to show the NCAA that it is, in fact, in control of itself and can comply with the rules. Tuesday's revelation may not have a huge impact on the original case, but it sure doesn't help the program's image right now. The Mountaineers will report to the NCAA infractions committee in February.

The Charleston Gazette reports that Stewart's contract contains several clauses allowing the school to fire him if he is found to have committed NCAA violations, wittingly or not. But those are pretty standard clauses in most coaches' contracts these days. I don't think this current mess will ultimately have much to do with Stewart's future, though the school could certainly use those clauses to save money if it wanted to make a change.

Again, the best thing for Stewart and West Virginia is to get the season started and to win a bunch of games. And try to keep the public missteps to a minimum in the meantime.