Yesterday, Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez and his legal team agreed to pay the $4 million buy-out clause that was instituted into the coach's last deal with ex-employer West Virginia.
Rodriguez had originally disputed the clause, feeling he was pressured into signing a new deal with the university. He also felt that the school did not hold up to verbal promises made to him when the deal was finished.
So what does this mean for both parties?
Well, for West Virginia, it's pretty simple. They go the $4 million that they were owed per terms of the contract.
For Rodriguez and the Wolverines, what it means and what people think it means are taking on two different lives.
Those anti-Rodriguez pundits out there feel that this goes to show that Rodriguez got what he deserved and that he not only initiated the continuation of the lawsuit, but fought West Virginia tooth and nail until Michigan's President, Mary Sue Coleman, pulled the plug before she was set to testify.
While we may never know the absolute truth, one should look at this from a reasonable point of view. Let's look at a few things:
Rodriguez stipulated in his deal with Michigan that the school would cover at least the bulk of his buy-out. Now, this may be just me, but it appears as if Coach Rod was ready to settle this from the get-go by getting Michigan to agree to take on most of the fiscal responsibility in the case.
Rodriguez's legal fees were paid for by the University of Michigan. That should tell you that if Rod were fighting this crusade at the behest of Coleman and AD Bill Martin, it would be assumed that he would be footing the legal bills.
Those with common sense can probably decipher the truth, or at least the closest possible thing to the truth: Michigan agreed to foot most of the bill but wanted to keep the trial going in hopes of whittling down the $4 million fee. Obviously, once Coleman was called upon to testify, Michigan backed out knowing it would lose.
The end result? Michigan pays $2.5 million and Rodriguez's legal fees. Coach Rod will pay $1.5 million spread over time starting in 2010.
This proved nothing. And this accomplished nothing other than getting West Virginia the money they were legally owed.
Not that any of what I just said matters, as Rodriguez haters will undoubtedly chalk this up as Coach Rod getting what was coming to him.
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2 months ago
"Rodriguez haters will undoubtedly chalk this up as Coach Rod getting what was coming to him."
Huh? I would imagine that those who are real RR haters would only be happy if the guy was hit by a car.
I just spent the last 10 days at the beach - with no internet ;-) - and I am just catching up with my sports news. One of the things I have seen on most sites is the lack of all those alleged irrational WVU fans shouting "victory" from any venue they can find. Could it be that most WVU fans are rational, reasonable people who truly were wronged by their coach... and nationally slandered by all those people who buy into prejudiced stereotypes? Nah. That would mean that all the people who have bad mouthed us for the past 7 months were wrong, and that could never be.
Personally, I think a lot of WVU haters - along with ESPN - owe WVU an apology. Course that will happen when monkeys fly out of my butt.
from 2 months ago
Who is slandering WVU nationally? Who has nationally bad-mouthed WVU outside of the two programs? This "everyone hates us" BS has to stop with WVU fans.
from 2 months ago
BS Ryan ? Since I'm a sports fan, I'm used to seeing the crazy fanatic shout irrational supports for his team while suggesting their opponents perform some impossible physical perversity. I even agreed with you that there are some out there who will not be satisfied till RR is gone for good. What I am disappointed about is the opinionated reporting casting WVU in a poor light that has been done again and again by so called professional sports journalists. You want a "for instance"? Well, I saw plenty of head lines suggesting that WVU administrators were racist... but I never saw one head line retracting those suggestions.
When the news was announced about the settlement, I saw plenty of people asking if WVU could now behave. How about this article from an ESPN commentator... http://myespn.go.com/blogs/bigten/0-1-4/RichRod-saga-over-.html?prosaction=newpost&status=ok
"Will WVU fans finally let this go" he asks. All I made was a comment that apparently they have despite all the predictions. How you interpret my comment as "everyone hates us" is beyond me.
May I suggest you spend some time growing a thicker skin ?
from 2 months ago
A.) You're just realizing that many sports journalists are biased and go after their own agenda?
B.) After the fallout during the trial, how can you defend anyone associated with the WVU administration?
C.) My "complaint" wasn't for a lack of thick skin. Obviously I don't mean every single WVU fan when I say this, but any one of them I've come across still holds a grudge and acts like we plundered their school and that everyone agrees Michigan does no wrong. Hell, if most WVU fans have let it go, why is it that wearing a Michigan hat in WVU got me more dirty looks than I ever have living in Ohio?
You seem to be knowledgable and well spoken; if you've moved on then that's tremendous. But many of your bretheren seem to still feel that the world is out to get them and so on. Don't overreact to what I say--mostly everything on this site is opinion anyways.
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