Rich Rodriguez (official thread of last laughs)

[buckford]

A Michigan Christmas

'Two weeks before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a new coach was stirring, not even a louse;

The banners were hung in the old locker rooms,
In hopes that there would be an end to a seven-year gloom;

The players were sequestered with playbooks marked in red,
While visions of past beatings still lingered in heads;

And English in his jacket, and I in my wrap,
Had just settled down for the season?s debacle re-cap;

When out on the field there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the film room to see what was the matter.

Away to the fifty I flew like a flash,
Tore down the sideline in a forty yard dash.
.
The glow of scoreboard on the new-fangled grass
Gave the bluster of greatness to our mediocre class,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a Lexus from Toledo filled with ex-Mountaineers,

With a shrewd little driver, so clever and odd,
I knew in a moment it must be Saint Rod.

More rapid than beagles his assistants all came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Booger! now, Boggle! now, Bubba and Nixon!
On, Billy Bob! on Stupid! on, Blunder and Gibson!

To the top of the House! to the highest of stands!
Now lose all your hill gear, and welcome the bland!"

So up to the Big House the cling-ons all flew,
With spread offense sketches, but defenses too few.

As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down to the sideline came Rod with a bound.

He was dressed all in lycra, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were tarnished with ashes and soot;

He had escaped from Morgantown with his coat tails on fire,
From Mountaineers who had thought to build him a pyre
.
His eyes -- how they squinted ! His mouth like a bow,
And the nose over his chin continued to grow;

I noticed his fingers crossed over and beneath,
As he approached, he spoke through bleach-white teeth,

Promises of loyalty, he?s a Michigan man,
For the Big East Conference, he don?t give a damn;

The Big Ten, that?s where he will nestle,
He?ll beat up on Zooker, and then take on Tressell;

"I love you so much, You know I won?t quit,
Never mind that I tanked it, when we played Pitt."

But he merely raised the volume on his IPOD?s tuner.
When I asked him about the bowl game with the ?sooners?.

And with that all said , he curled up his nose,
That had long since grown down to the tip of his toes;

And he jumped into the Lexus, headed toward Lake Erie,
And would not stick around for anymore queries;

But as he drove off, I could hear him exclaim,
"I promise we?ll compete with old Notre Dame!."

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

Two words HailTo: Pat Lazear. Do some research. Even Alabama backed off this kid. Not only was this kid an accessory to felony armed robbery, but he (and his parents) were completely unremorseful and attempted to paint Lazear as the "victim" in the whole situation. BTW, Lazear had a prior criminal episode before the armed robbery. RR welcomed this piece of filth to Morgantown with open arms.

You can say that the venom that RR is causing is just Michigan hatred by Ohio State fans or sour grapes by WVU fans, but there are a lot of people with no connections to either school looking just as skeptically at RR. Personally, I wouldn't have anything negative to say had Michigan hired Tedford or Miles or Petersen or Schiano or a host of others. There, however, is a noticeable stench to Rodriguez, and time will tell whether I'm right or wrong.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Bitch Rawgeekheads deserves every ounce of the internet ass-ripping he is getting...

 

[Steve19]

Thanks for your response HTM, here's my reaction to what you had to say:

I don't pretend that RR couldn't have handled things better...That's how coaching is these days.

No, a lot of coaches are still handling things honorably.

I don't care he was saying a few weeks ago. A coach has absolutely no choice...

I agree that a coach has the right to say, I'm the coach at WV and I don't get involved in speculation about my job or anyone else's. Yes, he has a right to decline to comment. That is not what people are pointing out.

RR lied. Repeatedly. He held the university over a fire to keep him from bolting for Alabama, told everyone he had everything he ever wanted then in his dream job and then signed a long term contract with a huge buyout to show just how permanent he was, just three months ago, for goodness sakes.

And I think Michigan did what it had to. There were three choices: Hire within the program as Carr was, look for a diamond in the rough no-namer like Tressel, or hire somebody else's big name. Option #1 sucks. Nobody within the program could possibly have fixed what is wrong with it. Option #2 wasn't really available. OSU had the luxury of being able to take their sweet time because they fired Cooper after the bowl, and they conducted their search during a dead time for recruiting. And finding Tressel did not require that much digging, him having already been with the program, and coaching in-state. Well, there's nobody like that for Michigan. That leaves Option #3: Hire someone else's coach. How should Martin have done that? Let every recruit twist in the wind while they wait politely for the bowl season to end? Play the permission game? That worked out great with LSU. Hire somebody who's not going to a bowl?

Of course, TSUN could have waited until after the bowl game. Isn't that what Ohio State did with Cooper? The problem we identified is not with TSUN, it is with RR. It is how he gave those folks the promise of his undying love and then cut them like a bad habit a few weeks later when the new suitor came to the door.

I don't think he is an idiot. I think Vlloyd was tired and anyone of a high calibre will make TSUN a tougher opponent. I don't know if he'll ever learn to win big games.

However, my mind focuses on what I was taught at Fisher College thirty years ago and recently heard Jack Welch repeat.

People can be evaluated on their values and on the performance that emanates from those values. Some people have the right values. They get it, they grow others around them, they interact with others in ways that multiply their contribution, because they so uplift others. Some people perform well. When evaluated over the short-term, they get results.

Making succession decisions about people who have the right values and good performance or people who have the wrong values and poor performance is very straightforward. As Welch said, one of the greatest lessons he learned during his years at GE is that he had to change his outlook about people who had one of those performance criteria but not the other.

In the old days, the people who performed but had the wrong values remained while those with the right values but low performance were dismissed. Welch learned that the former group actually were a cancer that destroyed a company from within whereas the people who had the right values could be moved to other responsibilities within their grasp and contribute for years.

My point about RR is this. From what we see right now, from the evaluations by players on the website referred to earlier in this thread, from his actions during defeats this year, from his behavior during this courtship with TSUN, everything I see tells me he has the wrong values. Again, maybe my first impression is wrong, but I don't think so.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

When one in seven of your players list "Troubled" as the most fitting description of you, you're not a head coach of very high values...

 

[xcrunner]

When one in seven of your players list "Troubled" as the most fitting description of you, you're not a head coach of very high values...

Exactly...
Those polls are completely unscientific... but I say bullshit that it's a coincidence that Tressel is given raving remarks while Rodriguez not so much.

 

[muffler dragon]

Two words HailTo: Pat Lazear. Do some research. Even Alabama backed off this kid. Not only was this kid an accessory to felony armed robbery, but he (and his parents) were completely unremorseful and attempted to paint Lazear as the "victim" in the whole situation. BTW, Lazear had a prior criminal episode before the armed robbery. RR welcomed this piece of filth to Morgantown with open arms.

I figured I would go ahead and add some background for those who aren't "in the know".

RR when recruiting Pat Lazear

As for Rodriguez and the Mountaineers, they've got a new lad on board who has already felt the reach of the law, as the WVU coach reminded everybody this week. WVU recruit Pat Lazear, a top linebacker prospect, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery after his involvement in a holdup at a Smoothie store in suburban Washington, D.C.

Lazear's original sentence was 10 days in jail and a 10-year suspended sentence before it was revised to three years' probation, three days house arrest, 150 hours of community service and the restitution of $463 to the store.

Lazear changed high schools for his senior year, and might as well have entered witness protection when it came to the colleges that had been drooling for his services, but WVU never stopped pursuing him and he landed in Morgantown.

"If I didn't feel Pat had outstanding character, we wouldn't have kept recruiting him," Rodriguez said. "There are so many players out there, guys who can do it you can get ...

"But you sit down and talk to him and his parents, get to know the young man and then make a judgment. We wouldn't have taken him if we didn't have a good feel for that."

It was interesting Rodriguez would be the one to bring up Lazear, but since Lazear is going to be on the team it was also a pretty smart thing to do. Why not address it head-on since the subject of his past is bound to continue to come up in light of the behavior of some of WVU's infamous football alumni?

But Rodriguez made it clear. It was on him to bring Lazear in, and it will now be on Lazear to make the best of the opportunity. And if the kid's past is still part of his present, rather than having "picked the wrong friend," as Rodriguez said Lazear did, or being "in the car at the wrong time," and making "a terrible mistake," it won't be much of a secret since Morgantown is not the place for a WVU football player to attempt covert operations.

 

[muffler dragon]

Exactly...
Those polls are completely unscientific... but I say bullshit that it's a coincidence that Tressel is given raving remarks while Rodriguez not so much.

Based on what?

edit: btw, personal opinion polls are rarely "scientific".

 

[xcrunner]

Based on what?

edit: btw, personal opinion polls are rarely "scientific".

I just don't think it's likely at all that Tressel, who has a reputation for being a good, honest person, is given good reviews while Rodriguez has some reviews that are not good in the slightest.

And I said it wasn't scientific.

 

[ytownbuckeye]

he's a choker. we'll take him. :scum4:

 

[GrizzlyBuck]

After further review, the transcript supports it:

One of each, as I thought.

While we're being pedantic: you misspelled "emanated".

Oops, just proves I did not attend the "Harvard of the west"

 

[sandgk]

Interesting rebuttal of the article putting into perspective how $200K of demands balances against over $8 Million of works in progress to help WVU's team.

Fans have been up in arms all day about the article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette quoting some big WVU donors as saying this entire situation with Rich Rodriguez was handled poorly. Folks are sending out 'Fire Eddie Pastilong' petitions and fans seem furious that West Virginia would 'let him get away over $200,000 worth of improvements.
First, let me say that the article was very poorly written. As a journalist, I have always been taught to find both sides of a story before sitting down to put a piece together. This writer certainly did not follow those guidelines. Although there may be some boosters upset about the events of the past week, I happen to know for a fact that there are some equally big contributors who were completely fed up with Rodriguez because they had given up so much to keep him last year and thought they wouldn't have to go through this process again. Where were they in this Pittsburgh story? You also have to remember the source. I can't imagine why a writer in Pittsburgh would want to deal a blow to the West Virginia football program, can you?
...
West Virginia likely would have been willing to discuss moving forward on those improvements. What it was not willing to do, however, was have those discussions year after year with a coach demanding they be made immediately or he will bolt for another position. Continually making decisions with a gun held to its head is not a good move for any athletic department, and West Virginia began to see a trend and realized it better not immediately cave or it would put itself in a terrible position.

 

[stowfan]

Oops, just proves I did not attend the "Harvard of the west"

Hey Griz,
It's the WVA of the north, not the Harvard of the west

 

[xcrunner]

Another argument against DickRod... (by a friend of mine, a runner).

For me personally, I could care less about Mr. Rodriguez specifically. He is what most college football coaches are ? one eye always on the next step up. My concern about Rodriguez move goes beyond the petty concerns of college football. He, along with the previous basketball coach, and the AD, had between the three of them, forced the elimination of several varsity sports at WVU (see below). Sports with long successful histories, more successful than football. Last year around this time, when Mr. Rodriguez was doing his annual flirtation with another school, as he had done in previous years although less widely covered, I wrote to a local paper in WV and expressed my opinion that his was going to be an annual event, and that each year Mr. Rodriguez was going to hold WVU hostage for more money and more and bigger and better facilities. As I recall, the editor quoted me (although not by name) in one of his articles and essentially said I was being ridiculous, that I didn't know what I was talking about, that WVU had to do what it did to keep Mr. Rodriguez, and that he was worth all they paid and then some. Unfortunately, I did not keep a copy of the article to remember the exact wording.

I find it interesting then that this past Sunday I picked up the paper and read how much this editor's tone had changed, to the point where he said if Mr. Rodriguez wants to leave, let him leave. Obviously, my opinions were not as far off base as many made it seem last year? I said at the time that he was never going to be satisfied, and that to keep him would continue to be a yearly event where he would entertain offers from some other school and then come back and hold that over WVU and the state of WV, at the expense of other programs and people. I have not often agreed with much Mr. Pastilong has done with WVU athletics, but perhaps this year finally he just said, this is it, we can't give anymore. If so, finally, I can say to Mr. Pastilong and the rest of the WVU administration, "Well done." I am sure that many would respond that in order to compete, WVU has to do these types of things, and that although Rodriguez snookered WVU and the state on this one, this is just the way things are and we need to keep on paying ridiculous sums of money to coaches and for facilities all in the name of "winning." Unfortunately, the Men?s Cross Country, Men?s Indoor/Outdoor Track, Men?s Tennis, And Rifle Teams (albeit rifle was saved by the NRA), cannot share in that viewpoint. As you recall, WVU cut those sports saying they couldn't fund them, and so those athletes lost their opportunities for what was called a cost-cutting measure, saving more than $600,000 a year. Which, coincidentally, was about the same amount that Rodriguez, together with Beilein, got the WVU administration to pony up the first time all this went down. Beilien received a salary raise to somewhere in the range of $700,000 per year, with an annual raise $20,000 in each season of the deal, whereas Mr. Rodriguez received a salary increase from $1.1 million to $1.75 million annually. Mr. Rodriguez received more than his fair share of support, both financially and in the way of enhanced facilities and staff and other amenities. To me his demands were being met. Whether or not he had another 7 graduate assistants or waived the admission of HS coaches or his players got sell their textbooks (shoot ? they?re getting a free education already), had nothing to do with whether they could have been playing for a national championship or could have defeated Pitt and/or South Florida to get to that game, which by the way, is irrelevant in and of itself ? see below. This whole monster of college athletics and winning at the expense of our souls is a genie that needs to be bottled.

And while some might argue that football at large schools pays for all the other sports - it also has a ton of unneeded expenditures - things like catered buffets before and after games, staying in hotels the night before home games, multiple uniforms (heck, just the cost of one of those uniform sets would be enough to fund the WVU men's cross an track travel needs), not to mention the hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent on recruiting, and the hundreds of thousands spent to fly the team around to games.

You know, it all comes back to the almighty dollar. We bemoan and decry the movement of college coaches?we yell because if an athlete wants to leave for another school he has to sit out a year, and claim that?s unfair. We say there is no loyalty in sports. And yet, as media and fans and citizens, we continue to stand by and allow college AD?s and Presidents with no backbone and who have only selfish interests in mind allow these football ?coaches? to run institutions into the ground, and run roughshod over and ruin athletic departments all for their egos.


The goal of college athletics, as it was originally seen, and as it preached and given lip service with fingers crossed behind the back has long been lost, and college presidents and administrators need only to blame themselves for the demise...they have truly lost their way and we keep seeing and will continue to keep seeing these types of occurrences. If they (presidents and ADs) truly cared, they could easily put an end to all of this. Contracts are a joke. Mind you, and I believe this is important, I have no trouble with someone looking for another job in any field. What I do have trouble with is this "if you don't give me this and this and this, I'm going to school X'...and then when all those demands are met...the next year it all happens again, and another set of demands is put forth. And this comes at a cost to someone - there is not just some bottomless money pit somewhere outside of Rivesville that all these things Mr. Rodriguez asked for last year in order to stay come from. They came from peoople and funds that could have been used to reinstate sports...or improve other sports...or GASP! actually improve education or life for students at WVU and around the state. Mr. Rodriguez has asked for, and received more, in the past 6-7 years than did Nehlen and Bowden in their tenure's combined. And in the global reality - has he done that much more??? Not really. Maybe they've been just a bit more consistently nearer the top...but at what cost? And is that what is important anyway? Do we have such an inferiority complex as a state and flagship institution that we have to hang all of our hopes and dreams and self-image on Mr. Rodriguez and a bunch of 18-22 year old kids? An article on ESPN.com the other day complained that Duke was basically incompetent because nowhere in their job description posted on the human resources website for their then vacant football position did they mention that the coach must win games. Sure, it's nice to win, we all like to 'win' - but we also have to keep in mind that in any sporting endeavor, someone must win, and someone must lose, and there are more important things. As a mentor of mine would say, there is winning with a small ' w ' (defined by the score on the scoreboard), and there is Winning with a big ' W ' which encompasses so much more and is the foundation of sports participation. There is a Grand Paradox at work - sports are simultaneously of greatest significance, and utter insignificance, at that same moment. And we need to treat that delicate balance with respect. Major college athletics, and unfortunately, it is trickling downward, are losing sight of that balance. It's how you approach the process of sport that is important, not the end result. The end result is comparatively insignificant and minor and has little to do with anything in the grand scheme of who we are as a people and what we have learned from our sporting experience. Alas, athletics has long ago lost sight of that balance and has sold it's soul to people who wish to live vicariously through others and use others to pump up their status satisfy their own inferiority. As another mentor would say, "remember, in the end, nobody wins unless everyone wins." It has to be about more than the final score or we've lost the real game before it even started. And, by all accounts, it isn't about anything more than the final score. And what is sad, having read so many articles and so forth where AD's and presidents talk about this arms race in college athletics, they acknowledge the problem, they admit there is a crisis, and yet none do anything about it. What does that say about them? We need to deemphasize winning as the only criteria of success, we need to regain perspective on sports and their role in education, and then the transfer rules become moot; return football schedules to 11 or even 10 games, put coaches on 1 year contracts with salaries that are in alignment with the general population, the constant and abrupt and apparently deceitful movement of coaches will begin to subside, athletic departments will no longer be ruled by one or two people, and all the student athletes will be served and benefit from their involvement, regardless of their sport or level of ability.

Finally, perhaps the individuals with the large financial resources such as Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Kendrick who were quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-gazette article by Mr. Finder could be convinced that at least some of their support could be used to bring back the aforementioned sports at WVU, and restore those once proud programs and their traditions?sports with coaches and athletes who would more than likely greatly appreciate and pledge (and follow through) their loyalty to WVU.

 

[mash08]

My husband and I are both from a small town in southeast ohio (marietta) so we are about 5 min away from WV. My uncle played for WVU in 1952, my husbands uncle played for them in 84 with Rich Rod. I don't mind WVU until my uncle gets on a rant about how much better they are than OSU. They don't give us any credit to the point that when we watch football with them I want to punch one of them by the time the night is over. So the fact that Rich Rod left , WVU lost to pitt and OSU is going to the NC is funny to me. It is probably the best xmas present so I don't have to listen to their shit talking when we get together for xmas..lol