Litany of the Litigious

So, the esteemed Coach Rod thinks this list of items is worth screwing his employer over, to say nothing of the players and others:

• Allowing players to keep textbooks for resale, a practice that occurs at some other schools.

Just because some schools, likely schools that either have no money for their student athletes or schools that run close to breaking the NCAA regulations about how student athletes get the money they have, allow this doesn’t mean it should be the case at WVU. Also, can you spell small potatoes?

• Waiving a $5 charge for high school coaches to attend Mountaineers games.

I understand this as a public relations issue, but come on. Give them five dollars, Rich. We know you’re good for it. Lame.

• Having authority over distribution of sideline passes. Kendrick said Rodriguez “negotiated” one for his wife, Rita.

Unless there’s someone on his staff who can’t get on the sidelines, shut the fuck up. This is so stupid, it begs the question: was there anything that Rich was truly unhappy with?

• Having authority to allocate funds from the 1100 Club for coaches.

It may have been negotiated, but to me, I’m not entirely sure I want the head coach in charge of this. It’s kind of off the beaten path of things that should be on the head football coach’s mind, isn’t it?

• A committment to increase pay for his assistant coaches.

My read of this is that the pay for this assistant coaches was raised, but they may not have received negotiated bonuses yet. This is the first comment that’s worth being pissed with the athletic department. But, it’s also not entirely clear that this issue is unresolved. We’ll have to wait and see.

• Additional money to pay graduate assistants.

How much money does he want? This is the kind of thing that can be abused, and while I understand why the department would make the promise, I also understand how they might want to drag their feet. Who decides who’s the graduate assistant? Coach? Or the payroll department? This might have been a bad promise to make by the administration.

• Hiring an additional recruiting assistant

I can understand being ticked that the position isn’t yet filled. Likely, Rodriguez had someone in mind, and when the athletic department balked, he never suggested anyone else. I’m just guessing, but…

So, that’s two legitimate complaints, none, in my mind, worthy of the subterfuge and slinking around that Rodriguez engaged in.
Still, there’s discussion that the women’s soccer coach is also leaving for Michigan. It does beg the question: is there something rotten in Denmark? Or, has Rodriguez pitted employee versus employer?
The Athletic Department is more successful overall than it has EVER been. So, where’s the crime? Is it the athletic department, or is it the bigger egos going a little money crazy?

I don’t know.
All I know is this: If the list above is what Coach Rod intends to use as his cause for getting out of paying his buyout, I’d let the fucker take me to court, because I’m going to win, if I’m West Virginia University.

Also, if I’m WVU, I’m shrieking about Rodriguez stealing the nation’s top QB recruit, and charging him $5M for that.

But, I’m bitter, and I can be vindictive when I’m bitter.

Don’t Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out

An Open Letter to Coach Rodriguez:

Fuck you.

Yeah, that’s right. You brought WVU to the brink. You had Mountaineer fans everywhere proud to be Mountaineer fans again. You brought us two or three of the greatest athletes ever to take the gridiron for WVU in Patrick White, Steve Slaton, and Noel Devine. You made an unorthodox offense regularly referred to by ESPN as “unstoppable.” And, it almost was. We were sixty minutes from playing for the national championship, however mythical such a designation may be.

But, my beloved Mountaineers won’t play for a national title this year. And it’s your fault.
All. Your. Fault.

And I’m not saying this out of bitterness. Let’s face facts: why did WVU lose to South Florida earlier this year? Or last year? Why did WVU lose to Louisville last year? Why, indeed?

Because you lose focus. You lost focus on the important things going into the game against Pitt? Your game plan was uninspired. So you started Devine over Slaton, so what? That move had been crying out to be made for months. Slaton has been taking it easy, waiting for the NFL draft almost all season long. But, did you ever going to a more downfield passing game once Jarrett Brown entered the game? No. Did you consider insisting that Jarrett run? No. You sat there, wondering what happened to your tickets to New Orleans.
Sure, Pat was gone. But, Jarrett’s won for us before. Hell, he nearly pulled it out against the Bulls earlier this year, and performed very well last season against Rutgers. Was he ready to play Pitt? It didn’t appear that he was. Worse, it didn’t appear you were prepared to go to him.

But, let’s get beyond the Xs and Os. Let’s talk motivation. How motivated were the Mountaineers? So motivated that they didn’t do anything for most of two quarters. They read the papers, and believed everything they read: “favored by 28 points,” “the only question is how long will White need to play,” “Backyard Maul.” And then Wannstedt, who, let’s face it, is a marginal coach at best, got his guys ready to play. He used every headline that was printed relating to the game as motivation.

Sure, it’s easier to get motivated when no expects you to arrive on the field. But, when you’ve got a national title chance on the line, shouldn’t that be motivation? Clearly, it wasn’t. For them or for you. You didn’t coach them. And they didn’t play.

I wandered around the net earlier, and found this gem about what the greatest coach in West Virginia history did in preparing to play the 1982 Oklahoma Sooners. And I couldn’t help wondering if your knowing that there was no way you could coach your team up to play the 2007 Oklahoma Sooners was motivation enough for you to run to Ann Arbor. You couldn’t get them ready for a shit team like Pitt, so how could you be expected to stand up to the Sooners. That’s what I see.

I don’t care about the truth today.

Today, I have only two words for you.
And they aren’t good luck.

Indeed, I’ll repeat:

Fuck. You.