Thursday Coal Tattoo

"Rodriguez will pay $1.5 million, spread over three years, beginning in 2010. U-M said it will pay the balance of the sum, $2.5 million, immediately and cover Rodriguez’s legal fees later."

"Either someone just agreed to pay for him (unlikely as he probably has had at least partial backing all along), Michigan finally told him to pay (more likely since the upcoming depositions of Michigan President and A.D. were finally going to drag them into this), or Rodriguez wanted to settle for personnel reasons such as the upcoming season/wanting it to end/wanting to make West Viginians happy (no)."

"Beilein's first payment was made this past spring, and at the time he added a letter warning he might still contest it at a later date. A very obvious statement that if Rich Rodriguez was able to get out of his buyout, he would use that precedent to fight.

Rodriguez agreeing to pay, removes that possibility for Beilein. The fact that Michigan is also going to pay for over half the buyout plus Rodriguez's legal fees also has to gnaw at Beilein just a bit. It is just human nature. That total paid by Michigan could be close to $3 million by the time the billable hours are tallied, or nearly double Beilein's own negotiated buyout.

Michigan refused to pay any of Beilein's buyout to WVU, stating that was not their problem. "

"My biggest question is whether West Virginians will finally let this go. One headline today read: "Rich Rod Will Pay!" A degree of bitterness is understandable, but a football coach leaving for a higher-profile job should never be the top news story in the state for months on end. There will no doubt be celebration today, but it's time for everyone, from Gov. Joe Manchin on down, to move on already."

"I applaud West Virginia for going after Rodriguez for breaking a contract extension that he’d signed just a year before bouncing for Ann Arbor. More universities need to follow West Virginia’s lead. I’ve long found it grossly unfair that players are held to their commitments and lose a year of eligibility for transferring schools, while coaches are basically mercenaries and are free to take any job they chose, regardless of contracts they’ve signed. West Virginia took this as a personal affront and they decided to go after their money and I don’t blame them."

Let's Go!.....................Mountaineers!