Rich Rodriguez (official thread)

[MaxBuck]

Originally Posted by osubartender23

My question is how does DickWad feel that 1.5 million is a justifiable amount to pay? He signed the contract in August knowing full and well there was a 4 million dollar buyout.

My only response to this is that, if the $4 million is identified specifically as being "liquidated damages," there are other criteria that could be applied to lower the maximum amount to be paid -- WVU could only collect to the extent they suffered actual losses demonstrated to be $4 million, as I understand the law. If it is not liquidated damages (i.e., if there are other things such as punitive damages at play), then the $4 million may be upheld.

This is all contract law, fans, and non-contract-lawyers cannot really play. (And I'm not one.)

[cincibuck]

Originally Posted by Folanator

You now, before this point I thought that both sides we going to back and forth then settle at some mid number. But after reading this I think that WV is just going to go for his throat.

IMO they have RR by the short hairs. This is the problem with fighting a Bank, a University or the Govt. You could be 100% right, but sometimes it is easier just to roll over. A University has a bottomless pit of hours to devote to legal work. RR has to pay $4,000 a day, $21,000 a week, $84,000 a month.... I have been there, been right and still had to take the deal and roll over.

I think WV has him just by virtue of the legal fees he is accruing. They know it and they are going to make him pay. I think that this is going to cost RR the first 3 years of his salry at UM after all legal fees are paid.

1. I don't think Dick Wad is paying the bills on this. Michigan had to know they were stepping into some significant issues... Still don't understand why they felt so pressured to sign a coach so soon... and no, I don't buy the signing season argument... kids want to go to Michigan and they'll sign counting on the selection of a good coach and the reputation of the school.

2. The fact that no one from Michigan has stepped forward and quietly paid off the WVU folks seems to me to say something about Michigan's "love" for the guy... and perhaps the state of the American Automotive Industry.

[BB73]

This article talks about how it's unfair that Mallett has to sit out a year.

si.com

Unfair system
Mallett shouldn't pay price for UM's coaching change

The ugly parting of the ways between West Virginia and former coach Rich Rodriguez continues, longer and more drawn out than even the college bowl season.

It has been a bitter battle, with each side hurling recriminations at the other and haggling over money, as in any nasty divorce. The latest development is the offer from Rodriguez, who broke his contract with the Mountaineers to take the Michigan job, to pay West Virginia $1.5 million to leave him alone.

Seems like a reasonable attempt to settle things, except for the fact that his contract with the university called for a $4 million buyout.
But the two parties will eventually come to some sort of agreement, and frankly, we could care less what that compromise is, since both sides have become equally tiresome.

Rodriguez is just another ambitious coach, a native son of West Virginia who swore his love for his state and his school before abruptly bolting for a higher-profile program and a bigger paycheck.

Cont'd ...

[LightningRod]

Originally Posted by osubartender23

My question is how does DickWad feel that 1.5 million is a justifiable amount to pay?

I'll give this a stab. Try and think like RR if you were in his situation. RR first claimed that WVU breached its contract in substantial part. The problem RR will have with this line of defense is that he did not provide WVU with written notice of what terms of the contract were breached by WVU in order for WVU to have a 30 day opportunity to correct the breach. The next step would be to claim that the new contract was somehow invalid in order to limit damages to that contained in the amended contract that was signed on 6/24/06 [the first amended contract]. The first amended contract called for a payment of $2 million by RR if he terminated his employment before the contract expiration date without cause. The $2 million was to be reduced to $1.5 million of termination occurred 8/31/07 and before 8/31/08. Using this $1.5 million buyout amount tells me that RR intends to offer as an affirmative defense fraud in the inducement. In order to support this fraud defense, RR must prove that WVU induced him to sign a contract that the University never intended to uphold. There are many press articles detailing how RR and his agent were complaining of oral promises [I am ignoring the MAJOR hurdle RR's defense must overcome to have these alleged oral promises entered into evidence] made that were not kept, and certain influential WVU alumni have allegedly supported RR's contentions on this point. If successful on the fraud defense, the first amended contract remains the governing instrument between the parties, and the $1.5 million buyout figure from the first amended contract becomes the liquidated damages amount to be paid by RR.

[Crashcup]

"Rodriguez will pay what court orders"




Duh, This guy must be a Roads Scholar as in learning the three R's...Reading, riting and the route (road) to AA.

[OCBucksFan]

Well, the court needs to hit him hard and not let him off easy, if they don't it's going to set a bad example. There's already a huge problem with college coaches moving on all too often to the next thing, if he has a 4 million dollar buyout and they let him go for 1.5 then every coach in America will realize that those contracts aren't worth the paper they are written on.

Those buyouts are there for a reason, so the people who recruit the kids are staying there, not so that these kids come in and every year or two have a different coach. This isn't just because he's tsuns new head coach, this is because there's a problem and it needs to be resolved, otherwise what's to keep a coach in place when he becomes the slightest bit unhappy?