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Richie Rod Wants a Discount on His Buyout
Posted by The Danza on Jan 29, 2008
West Virginia wants $4.0 million. Rich Rodriguez says, “Nahhh, I’ll give you $1.5 million, and let’s call it even.” The buyout was set last year at $4.0 million, which in today’s terms, contrary to typical financial math, should be discounted back at a rate of 62.5%, according to Rodriguez, because the deal was securitized by subprime mortgage bonds.
This Divorce is Getting Messier by the Hour (UPDATED from SNOWY South Carolina!)
Posted by The Chosen Blogger on Jan 17, 2008
The evidence that Rich Rodriguez is a top notch low-life grows by the day.
The newest bit of evidence comes from the Charleston Daily Mail. Seems Sargent RichRod (SAY RICHROD!) was doing a bit of Michigan recruiting on a WVU cell phone shortly after he informed his team that he was leaving. Adding to that was the fact that the not-so-media-embattled coach was calling recruits during the recruiting dead period wherein coaches are forbidden from calling prospects.
On a related note, I went to ESPN.com this morning to read up on this new bit of info on the RichRod saga. I was also looking forward to reading about the Reggie Bush/ USC scandal that is boiling ever more vigorously by the day. I was sadly disappointed…
Update 1 (11:52, Greenville S.C. Time…) Sargent RichRod finally broke his silence on all of the very-well-publicized-by=ESPN reports of various acts of impropriety.
“The things they are saying are not true,” Rodriguez told the Blade. “It’s a lie. How can you put out lies and think it’s OK? They don’t care what the truth is, they just want to smear Rich Rodriguez.”
Besides suing Rodriguez to collect a $4 million buyout clause in his contract, West Virginia University is continuing its investigation into missing records associated with the program under Rodriguez.
“It’s very frustrating,” Rodriguez told the Blade. “I knew there’d be some emotions involved when I left, but I wanted to take the high road. I’ve chosen to move on, but it’s almost like it’s something new every day, and it’s totally ridiculous.”
I think that it was a mistake for Mr. Rodriquez to come out and make a statement, especially when in the midst of contentious litigation. Note that he does not ever deny shredding every document in his office.
While I’m not sure whether he does or does not have the right to go and destroy his files (that is currently a legal question as of now, I do know that it was a dirty, nasty thing to do. And while I do not by any means believe that Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban is a saint, he and other coaches typically show the common courtesy of leaving behind appropriate and necessary personal notes for the incoming staff.
Either way, my opinion of Mr. Rodriguez is no different than it was an hour ago…he is a slimy character.
Update 2 (12:05, Greenville S.C. Time) One more thing…do you ever trust a guy who speaks about himself in the third person?
“It’s a lie. How can you put out lies and think it’s OK? They don’t care what the truth is, they just want to smear Rich Rodriguez.”
Just a personal thing…
Is Rodriguez now a “Bad Guy?”
Posted by The Chosen Blogger on Jan 15, 2008
Malfeasance in the sporting world manifests in many forms….especially in the wide world of college coaching.
Be it Nick Saban pulling a 360 in Miami or Bobby Petrino turning tail and running from the NFL…
In the oftentimes strange world of the media, these are “Bad Guys” who do “Bad Things…….”
Lets see how a media “Good Guy” (Michigan Coach Rich Rodriguez) is portrayed now that this story has broken.
Coach Rod went through official documents like Phil Fulmer through a dozen Krispy Kreme’s. ESPN reports;
the missing files include all of the players’ personal files, which encompass contact information, scholarship money awarded, class attendance records and personal conduct records…
The report continues;
If a player spoke to a school or did public service, we don’t have a record of it,” the source said, according to the newspaper. “If he broke a rule or missed class, we don’t have a record of that, either. We don’t have anything. All the good things these kids have done over the years, there’s nothing — not a picture of somebody speaking to a class, nothing. Why would somebody do that?’
According to the report, multiple sources said several people in the Puskar Center reported seeing Rodriguez and at least one of his assistants, video coordinator Dusty Rutledge, in Rodriguez’s private office shredding paperwork on Dec. 18 — the day he returned from Ann Arbor after being named Michigan’s new head coach. Those who say they witnessed the action said they either paid it no mind or did not know what was being destroyed, according to the report.
Cousin Avi Resigns as Hawaii Warriors’ Coach (Updated Jan 8, 2008)
Posted by The Danza on Jan 6, 2008
**UPDATED Below** Junes Jones has resigned the head coaching position of the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. According to reports, he was tired of the lack of support coming from the Hawaii athletic department, and he knew things were not going to change. It has also been reported that Jones has been offered between $1.7 and 2.0 million per year from SMU (a school that received the NCAA death penalty in 1987) to be its head coach. Jones’ current contract with Hawaii had him earning around $800k annually, but his five-year contract was coming to an end on June 30, 2008.
Call me crazy, but if I was somehow making $800,000/year and living in paradise where business attire was short-sleeve button-up shirts with palm trees on them, I wouldn’t mind that I was only getting a $50,000 recruiting budget. I especially wouldn’t trade that to move to the middle of Texas. No disrespect to Texas, but it most certainly is not Hawaii-caliber. Read the rest of this entry »
Fire Rick Neuheisel
Posted by The Danza on Dec 31, 2007
Rick Neuheisel was just hired by UCLA a few days ago. Now, FireRickNeuheisel.com is up for sale…..for $250,000. But the owner is not one of the typical guys who hordes domain names involving firing college coaches, which has become a big thing lately with all of the firings that go on each year. No, this guy wants money donated to the schools the Neuheisel has screwed up in the past. $75,000 to Colorado and Washington for non-athletic scholarships, for those students who Neuheisel didn’t have boosters pay to play. On top of that, he also wants $100,000 steered toward the Teach For America program, “because there’s no better way to stop this cycle of using sports as a focal point for school than at the beginning.” Very interesting. Who knows? Maybe it will be sold and make money fairly soon. Some are already saying that UCLA will regret hiring Neuheisel.
Richie Rod To The Big House
Posted by The Late Spider Moltisanti on Dec 16, 2007
Both Yahoo! and ESPN are reporting that Rich Rodriguez will be leaving as head coach of West Virginia’s football team and take the same position with Michigan. A press conference has been scheduled for Monday morning to announce the hiring.
This looks be a great hire for Michigan and the Big 10 conference. Rodriguez’ spread offense will infuse life into a team conference that has struggled to compete with the fast athletes and big play offenses of other conferences. Michigan is always one of the top teams in the Big 10 and now maybe other schools will follow suit by converting to high powered offenses, either by coordinators or head coach, in order to keep pace. Auburn just hired Tony Franklin of Troy to be its new offensive coordinator. Franklin has run a spread offense at Troy University successfully to the point that the Trojans hung over 40 on Oklahoma State and stayed competitive with a tough Georgia team. Could we be seeing a trend developing in college football? We’ll see.
Michigan Looking Into Richie Rod (or so ESPN says)
Posted by The Late Spider Moltisanti on Dec 14, 2007
Just watched College Football live on ESPN and Rece Davis, Desmond Howard and Joe Schadd just said that Michigan is targeting West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez to fill its head coaching vacancy. This is ESPN, so you will forgive my skepticism as I say I’ll believe this when I see him in front of a podium with a Michigan M emblazoned curtain behind him singing “Hail to the Victors” with the rest of the room and all the male cheerleaders (I wanted to throw up watching Bobby Petrino do that at Arkansas. Seriously, Male Cheerleaders on the podium with the new head coach?) More on this story when it develops or is reported to be false.
David Cutcliffe Reportedly Hired to Coach Smart Kids
Posted by The Late Spider Moltisanti on Dec 14, 2007
David Cutcliffe, former head coach at Ole Miss and offensive coordinator at The University of Tennessee, has reportedly agreed to go coach those smart kids on the Duke football team. This seems to be a good hire as Cutcliffe once made Eli Manning look like a great quarterback and a number 1 overall draft choice. He did the same for Eli’s brother as the offensive coordinator at UT, you might know him from those ads on TV and from Saturday Night Live (I think his name is Peyton). If he can work such magic with the Manning’s gene pool, then I am sure he could do well with student/athletes at a basketball school such as Duke. No word on whether Phillip Fulmer will have “getting me donuts from Krispy Kreme” as a requisite to be a coach on his staff.
Fourth Coach the Charm? Petrino Reportedly to be Arkansas Coach.
Posted by The Danza on Dec 11, 2007
Tommy Tuberville, Tommy Bowden, and Jim Grobe. Now, Bobby Petrino joins the other three as the fourth coach in the last two weeks to have “reportedly” accepted the job. I said that the Jim Grobe story sounded legit, and it did not work out, but this story actually does sound legit as there are press conferences scheduled on both sides for announcements. ESPN is reporting that Bobby Petrino has phoned in his resignation to the Atlanta Falcons and will accept the Arkansas Razorbacks job. Arkansas has called a press conference tonight scheduled for 11:30 p.m., where Petrino is expected to be announced as the new head coach. The Falcons have scheduled a press conference for tomorrow.
Ok. If this story turns out to not be true, then Arkansas is sure to become the laughing stock of the NCAA coaching carousel. If it is true, then we of the SEC fanbase will welcome another well-qualified coach into the league. He tried his damnedest to get into the SEC before back in 2003 when he was “interviewed” by Lowder and a few other Auburn bigwigs and officials, but we all know how that turned out.
It is being reported that he will earn approximately $3 million annually, and with Petrino having no buyout with the Falcons, the Razorbacks should come out of this monetarily sound, paying average top-tier coach salary (for this day in age, at least) for a great coach. I wouldn’t expect immediate results out of Fayetteville, as they are possibly losing two NFL first-rounders in Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, but Petrino should have the Hawgs back on track after a couple of seasons of his own recruits. Congratulations to Arkansas. We others of the SEC are glad you are not going to drop off the face of the Earth.
Les Miles Still Gettin’ Love From Michigan AD, Bill Martin
Posted by The Danza on Dec 11, 2007
Oh, boy……..is this Nick Saban to Alabama, part deux? The Detroit Free Press is reporting that Miles and Michigan AD, Bill Martin, have been in contact again. Even though Miles signed a contract extension at LSU and aggressively denied leaving for Michigan, rumors still swirl. Many people close to Miles believe Michigan was always his dream job (c’mon, he cried over it earlier this year) and that this has not changed. Could he be using some of the cards from Nick Saban’s deck but just adding his own touch (actually signing a contract extension at his current job)? Is he going to turn around after the BCS Championship Game and accept the Michigan job? To be honest with you, I have no idea, and I don’t think anybody else does either. In this season of college football, one would be hard-pressed to deny the possibility of anything happening short of Bear Bryant and Bo Schembechler being raised from the dead to coach again.
If he does go, however, how else would anyone have liked for him to handle the situation? His players were about to play for the SEC Championship, with a win giving them a infinitesimally small chance of going to the BCS Championship Game. Cover all your bases, Miles. Make sure you have something to fall back on if your dream job falls through. Read the rest of this entry »