Problematic

It has always been sort of accepted gospel that Tulane erred in not offering its top football job to Rich Rodriguez.

But I wonder. His record on pure on-field success gets increasingly muddied- that 3-13 Big Ten mark ain’t too good people. His off field issues are increasingly problematic as well. Here is a guy whose departure from West Virginia merits an entire Wiki entry!

The announcement of his departure came just four months after Rodriguez last renegotiated his contract with West Virginia, and was made despite his stated long-term commitment to the Mountaineers. The contract included a $4 million buyout if he left WVU within one year of the August 2007 signing date....

On December 27, 2007, West Virginia University filed a motion for declaratory judgment in Monongalia County Circuit Court, asking the court to find that Rodriguez's contract with the University was valid, that WVU had not breached that contract, and that Rodriguez had breached it. Subsequently, on January 18, 2008, WVU added a count of breach of contract after Rodriguez allegedly failed to pay the first installment of the $4 million liquidated damages clause...

Rodriguez and WVU agreed to settle the lawsuit. The terms of the settlement stated that the University of Michigan would pay $2.5 million of the settlement. Rodriguez is required to pay WVU the remaining $1.5 million in three installments of $500,000 each, spread over three years starting in January, 2010.

The mixed on-field record at West Virginia and Michigan has to make one wonder about the impact at Tulane- a place that has real competitive problems (rather than lavish amenities) and looking, at the time, at looming “issues”: the "shut football down" review and Katrina. Let’s explore with today’s Detroit News:

The odds don't look good. The troubling news never stops. New athletic director David Brandon publicly and repeatedly supports his coach, but adds this season is "huge" for the future of Michigan football. Of course, that means it's huge for the future of Rodriguez.

Michigan faces five major violations, and now there are similar allegations stemming from Rodriguez's tenure at West Virginia.

That is the rub. The NCAA feels they have identified a pattern of malfeasance started, exported and replicated. Patterns of misbehavior are bad.

With RichRod’s lapses, would you have wanted him the face of Tulane during a review or Katrina? Big risk. Those were eight years of trouble. Football at Tulane might not have survived a trial for “an atmosphere of lack of institutional control”. There were a myriad of enemies of the program out in force looking for a catalyst.

The Great White Whale

Coach Rich Rodriguez will always be the great white whale to a generation of Tulane fans- sitting in the lobby in his green blazer, unaware that his then dream job was being handed to Chris Scelfo. This wiki entry will let you know how that turned out.

But as the Free Press points out, Coach Rod is in trouble yet again. So, funny how things work out. Maybe the Wave caught a break? The sanctification of Coach Rod is one our fave obsessions....

"But these accusations cut to the core of the NCAA’s biggest hypocrisy — the idyllic illusion of the student-athlete, at least as it pertains to football. And that should be Michigan’s greatest worry at the onset of the any inquisition.

The NCAA might have no alternative but to stain the sainted image of Michigan football if it means protecting the greater fallacy of major college football as a part-time academic diversion.

Football is a full-time job at Michigan. It’s a full-time job at Michigan State."

-->Me again. It is a full-time job at those Big Ten schools- but Tulane does try to provide a sort of balance past lip service- at least more than the BCS powers. If Coach Rod is messing up the rules already, maybe the Wave was right to pass?

So Many Finks

It is interesting how many people think this guy is a real fink:

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.

Rodriguez said in December that he was battling the buyout because “we have to do what we feel is right.” He meant right for him, not the school.

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.

I know nothing about Rich Rodriguez and his past Tulane situation myself. But the guy makes a ton of enemies. He better get to the Rose Bowl real quick- cause a lot of folks seem ready to kick him when he's down.

He clearly is a serial job shopper. Add "jerk"... I wonder if that had any bearing on why he did not get the job at Tulane?