A great piece from Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press about the Rich Rodriguez settlement with West Virginia University.
According to Rosenberg this all came to an end as the president of the University of Michigan was about to be deposed. President Coleman said "Fuck this" and told the AD to end this thing.
OK, so maybe she didn't say "Fuck this". She probably said something slightly more scholarly like, "This is un-fucking acceptable".
Anyway, more from Rosenberg...
This whole thing could have, and should have, been settled long ago. But RichRod was determined to fight West Virginia all the way to the bitter end. Anybody who has even driven past a law school knew he had no case, but that didn’t matter to Rodriguez.
We now know Rodriguez to be a serial job-shopper. His agent, Mike Brown, had pitched Rodriguez’s services to Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana State in recent years before pursuing Michigan.
We now know Rodriguez doesn’t believe in contracts. He signed an amended contract with West Virginia just four months before he left. He then claimed that the signed contract was not as important as a verbal agreement that preceded it — a laughable legal argument.
Michigan is just a name to him. The school is just a platform for winning championships. This is evident in everything Rodriguez does, from his abandonment of a century-old captains tradition to his bristling at the notion that Michigan holds itself to a higher standard.
Rodriguez is an excellent coach. I’m not sold that he is the right coach for Michigan.
Rodriguez might win big at Michigan. But if he does, and he demands a big raise every year, or flirts with other employers, or ignores his contracts, or refuses to put the school’s interests ahead of his own, then Michigan fans should not be surprised. As we have seen in the last few months, this is who he is.
POW! And from a Michigan alum to boot!
Personally I think Rodriguez is a good coach and that he will succeed at Michigan. Improving the quality of play is good for the conference and in turn good for Ohio State. In addition to being a good coach, Rodriguez may also be a slimy opportunist.
No comments:
Post a Comment