UPDATE: Uh-oh! CMU, EMU and now WMU in big trouble thanks to Rich Rod!

I do have somewhat of a problem with them going after Rich Rod. If they knew about this and sat on it until now, that's bullshit.

West Virginia is full of shit if they are still have a hard-on on how he left. It's been two years since he left and they can't get over it. Secondly Michigan fans need to shut the fuck up. UM pushed Carr out and hired Rich Rod. If they didn't do their homework before hiring him, they should be put on probation for being stupid.

Yeah, OOP, Rich Rod is a dolt. WVU are a bunch of fuckups as well. They gave him empty promises and he in turn decided to take a dump on them on the way out.

 

This isn't just R-Rod... Old Uncle Billy and his staff are also in on this on. So no, This is not allll about R-Rod .... But hell yeah, folks are still bitter about the way he left.
Don't expect that wound to heal anytime in the next decade.

 

U-M absolutely did not push Carr out. Sure some fans wanted him gone, but that was everywhere. Didn't some USC fans want Pete Carrol gone? The Free Press did a really nice send off for Carr, among the package was a story about how he wanted to retire after the Rose Bowl loss to USC. He came back, and said he wasn't focussed and actually took the blame for the ASU loss. He retired at the end of the season, and helped pick his replacement. It's not like they took Rich Rod the day after Carr retired. If I remember correctly, Carr announced his retirement before Ohio State which was mid to late November. Rich Rod wasn't hired until right before Christmas, the 21st of December or something.

Between both events, you had the Les Miles saga, the Schiano thing, and then Rich Rod. You make it sound like it is an orchestrated plan by U-M to hang Lloyd Carr.

And I agree with Zag here (ha, that sounds ridiculous) but this seems like a case misdemeanor in a college football system full of unpunished felonies. Of course Michigan didn't help its cause when the dumbass student assistant lied, and Brad Labadie was found to be completely incompetent, but I also don't think Rich Rod was blatantly cheating. I think they were clearly operating among a gray area within the rule book and got caught. They were operating by the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law (for many things, but most notably, practice hours).

Also, I think some of the administrative stuff dates back to the summer before Carr left. It is all detailed in that huge document drop the Michigan athletic department made a few months ago.

 

Mustang is right - Carr was not pushed out. He retired on his own. He had been thinking about retirement for a while. It was the perfect time to walk - he was losing a four-year starter at quarterback in Chad Henne, a four-year starter at tailback in Mike Hart and the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, left tackle Jake Long. It was the perfect chance for a new coach to put his stamp on the program.

Well, Bill Martin really, really f-ed up, and now his successor, David Brandon, is left holding the bag.

It sure looks like Michigan is going to suck again this year. At least that gives Brandon the opportunity to fire DickRod.

Funny, but I remember looking in the media guide (the last one they printed, if memory serves) and wondering about why there were so many "quality control" guys on DickRod's new staff. Uh, isn't "quality control" what full-time coaches are paid a boatload of cash to do? Sounded like a scam then, and it still does.

 

D-3 fan, you really believe Rodriguez's stories about how WVU somehow betrayed him? Utter crap. He was just looking for an excuse for his disgraceful behavior.

Let me be clear. I'm a Pitt guy. I don't really hate WVU, but I certainly am not a fan of the program. I never had a strong opinion about Rodriguez either way until the story about him leaving for Michigan broke. Let's remember how that happened. Before he had told anybody at WVU he was leaving, Rodriguez started calling kids he had been recruiting for the Mountaineers and asking them to come with him to Michigan. He was still on the WVU payroll and he was recruiting for Michigan. Terrelle Pryor was one of those players and he told a reporter about it. That's how it first came out that Rodriguez was leaving.

Then he destroyed a bunch of files at WVU on the way out. Maybe it was to keep information from his replacement because he was already fighting with the school. Maybe it was to cover up his rulebreaking. Either way, it was inappropriate at best.

Of course, he also tried to get himself fired from WVU so he could get out of paying the buyout in the contract he had signed. Then he tried to find other ways to fight paying it. He's a dirtbag and as much as I'd love to blame WVU, they are not the bad guys in this. It has always been Rodriguez.

 

Also, this really isn't WVU going after DickRod. It would be the NCAA looking into DickRod's past coaching gigs.

 

Name one.

 

Bill Martin is the real reason they are in this mess right now. His compliance department was a fucking mess. Thankfully Dave Brandon seems to be on the right track. He started by taking complete blame for the whole situation even though he wasn't around.

I heard something along the lines of Rich Rod wanting new and better facilities. WVU didn't get it done. Michigan told him it would happen. Within a year of Rich Rod being hired, Michigan got a brand new weight room.

 

Sounds like just another bullshit excuse Rodriguez leans on to try to justify his behavior.

 

I don't know that you can fault the guy for leaving whether he had a reason or not. I'd take a better job any opportunity I could get. The shredding papers and shit, yeah that's bad, but leaving? Are we going to fault him?

 

That was DickRod's specious smokescreen. The facts: WVU planned to renovate the locker room between the 2007 and '08 seasons. DickRod complained that some financial bogeyman held up the funds. The renovated locker room was completed before the 2008 season.

From a 2008 ESPN.com story:

According to West Virginia officials, the school met each of Rodriguez's demands. The athletic department spent nearly $3.5 million to build a new academic center at Milan Puskar Center, and nearly $1 million to replace the artificial playing surface at Mountaineer Field. A $4 million renovation of the team's locker room began shortly after the 2007 regular season ended.

The school also increased the salary pool for assistant coaches by $150,000 on July 1. The salary pool would have been increased an additional $50,000 in each subsequent year of his tenure, according to the contract Rodriguez signed with West Virginia on Aug. 24.

"In reality, all commitments were fulfilled by West Virginia," Pastilong said. "In fact, we exceeded what was requested for assistant coaches' salaries. We felt very good about our responsibilities and obligations and were comfortable regarding our focus to the football program."

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&id=3220002

 

mustang, I don't fault him for leaving. I faulted him for starting to recruit for Michigan while he was still West Virginia's coach. I faulted him for trying every method he could think of to weasel out of the buyout clause in his contract. And the shredding papers thing.