Touchdown City Meets Spin City: West Virginia's Desperate Need for Damage Control

If I were the media adviser to West Virginia University boy-president Mike Garrison, I would make an observation and give some advice.

It is important to note that I am not privy to inside information into how Rich Rodriguez's departure was handled; I only know what I read in the papers and online.

That information may be incorrect—in fact, we have found so far that some of it is incorrect (the fevered blog reports over flights to and from Michigan, for instance), but a media adviser's job is to help their client manage the perception of the situation—not the situation itself.

Based on the information WVU fans have received, here is the impression that is being created:

The first piece of evidence: According to super-booster Ken Kendrick, Managing Partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Rodriguez could have been kept at WVU for $200,000 worth of concessions from the school.

May be true, may not be. Doesn't matter. That's the story Kendrick is selling.

The second piece of evidence: The botched attempt to land FSU assistant coach Jimbo Fisher. According to media reports, an offer had been hammered out that would have given Fisher a large salary and paid his $2.5 million buyout from Florida State.

But at the last minute, other university officials swooped in and ruled that Fisher would receive one or the other—a big salary or WVU would pay his buyout—but not both. That scotched the deal and Fisher remains at Florida State.

Advice: As long as Kendrick is acting as Rodriguez's mouthpiece, either self-appointed or otherwise, the university's side of the story is getting no traction.

Kendrick has been relentless in spinning Rodrigueuz's side—a few days ago, Kendrick called an Alabama newspaper columnist who had written on the WVU-Rodriguez divorce and had sided with the university.

Hours after the column was posted online (Kendrick must have a Google news alert for Rodriguez), Kendrick called the columnist to tell Rodriguez's side of the story. The result was a column favorable to Rodriguez—P.R. win, Coach Rod.

This means that the university—Garrison, athletic director Ed Pastilong, and Stephen Goodwin, chairman of the WVU Board of Governors and reluctant spokesman—must counter what Rodriguez is saying, and counter hard.

It does no good to say you're not going to be pulled into the gutter of accusation and counter-accusation—Kendrick and Rodriguez's agent Mike Brown have already taken you there.

Now Rodriguez is speaking on his own behalf in the Detroit Free Press. And from Morgantown: relative silence.

There is nothing but upside for the university here. The state of West Virginia has already turned on Rodriguez and is willing to believe the university, were they to hear anything from it. But if Kendrick and Rodriguez's proxies keep hammering WVU in the press, that tide of public opinion will turn.

Garrison, whose silence on this topic has been conspicuous, should publicly take the high road by touting WVU as a great academic university that will not be held hostage by a football program, beloved as it may be.

In the week leading up to the Fiesta Bowl, Garrison should tout the players on WVU's team and even co-opt some of its more stand-up citizens, such as Pat White, for a public appearance or two. White and Steve Slaton have enormous amounts of goodwill in the state; it can be used.

Some carefully-worded language about Rodriguez, his demands, and his departure issued by Garrison would both explain the university's side and delicately damn Rodriguez.

It would also be helpful to shed some light on the university's actions following the loss to Pitt. The story out there so far is that the administration, particularly Garrison, came down on Rodriguez like a ton of bricks for losing the biggest game of his career.

What WVU doesn't need is a martyr coach engendering public sympathy.