Rich Rodriguez: The Coach Who Cried Wolf

kevin wall — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 08:33:53 -0500

Once again Rich Rodriguez runs to the media to ease his tortured soul.

In an interview conducted on ESPN, newly hired Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez pleaded for WVU fans to "stop making death threats to his family."

While no one with any sense would condone such behavior, it is worth noting every time coach Rodriguez gets some bad press he cries "wolf" about something WVU may have done.

As previously reported about these death threats, it appears no official police report has been filed. ESPN, in order to get the jump on the story as usual, fails to verify the facts or to even ask the coach about any official reports.

During the interview coach Rodriguez talks about how his children along with his nephew continue to be harassed by classmates who, according to Rodriguez, tape death threats on the kids' lockers.

While no one has actually seen these messages, media talking heads automatically assume this occurred.

At one point of the interview as he is mentioning his children coach Rod pauses and chokes back the forthcoming tear(s). This was a nice effect for the viewers tuning in for the "show."

Prior to this interview, coach Rodriguez was publicly called out by Purdue football coach Joe Tiller as being a "wizard and snake oil salesman." This was in response to Rodriguez "poaching" one of Tillers prized recruits, who had committed to Purdue prior to Rodriguez's arrival at UM.

Instead of addressing this issue, Rodriguez runs to the media about the death threats.

After WVU filed the lawsuit to recover the buyout clause of $4 million owed by Rodriguez to the school for taking the UM job as agreed upon in the contract signed in September, Rodriguez responded by accusing the WVU administration of not living up to a "verbal agreement" he made after signing the contract.

WVU then paid Rodriguez the $287,000 owed as a bonus for Rodriguez's services for the 2007 football season. Rodriguez offered to pay $1.5 million, when the school made it known they would not settle for anything less than the $4 million owed.

Rodriguez once again ran to the media and complained he never wanted to take another job, but the WVU administration had forced him to leave. This contrary to previous interviews where coach Rodriguez, when asked why he accepted the Michigan job, responded by stating "because it's Michigan."

So which is it, Coach?

When it was reported Rodriguez had returned to his WVU office and shredded "personal files" instead of just taking them with him. Suddenly news came out WVU had told Calvin McGee (who is African-American) he would never get the head coach's position because of his color, once again no official report or grievance was filed regarding this action.

This tit-for-tat game between Rich Rodriguez and the WVU administration, while not uncommon in legal issues, has become tedious and redundant. While the media fails to recognize Rodriguez's continuous efforts to improve his image by using hearsay over facts it will be the courts with the final word.

Coach Rodriguez, I wish you the best and hope the fans of Michigan are as forgiving if things start to go south in your first few years as WVU fans were.

So be the best "Michigan Man" you can be.

Hopefully the two schools will eventually meet on the gridiron and settle it once and for all.

Enjoy all the media attention you are getting now, because one of these days no one will be there when the real "wolf" shows up.

Rich Rodriguez: Out Again

kevin wall — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:21:32 -0500

Early today it was learned through a source within the University of Michigan that President Mary Sue Coleman has requested the immediate resignation of embattled coach Rich Rodriguez.

According to the source, who disclosed this information on the condition of anonymity, the University has learned Rodriguez has been meeting with Atlanta Falcons' owner Arthur Blank regarding the head coach position. President Coleman, in an effort to avoid any further embarrassment to the school, requested the resignation "so the school and its boosters can move forward and get on with the business of replacing its head coach," the source says.

A visibly upset President Coleman spoke just recently of how Coach Rodriguez had assured her "I am a Michigan Man and this is my dream job and I will be here as long as you and the University will have me." When asked about the recently agreed upon buy-out clause within Rodriguez's new contract, President Coleman assured all concerned that UM would pursue the collection of the buy-out and would not agree to any settlement.

Coach Rodriguez, who was unavailable for comment, did refer us to his agent Mike Brown, who confirmed Rodriguez was offered the head coaching position with the Atlanta Falcons, but had not accepted. Mr. Brown said that his client would be willing to hear any matching offers from Michigan and that if Michigan failed to match or better the offer, Rodriguez would seek to void the current buy-out agreement since Michigan had failed to live up to their agreement within the contract.

Mr. Brown stated UM had agreed to rename the stadium known as "The Big House" to "The Big Rod's House," and since they had not done this, had forfeited the buy-out.

A spokesman for Rodriguez, Ken Kendrick (part owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks), has stated he will immediately withdraw all support and will no longer be donating due to the administration’s "poor handling" of the situation. Mr. Kendrick did say Rich is an Atlanta man and this is his dream job and he will be there as long as the Falcons will have him.

Bleacher Report - Articles by kevin wall

Rich Rodriguez: The Coach Who Cried Wolf

Rich Rodriguez: Out Again