Michigan Coach Rich Rodriguez, in his tireless effort to weasel his way out of paying his buy-out, has reached the point which even casual observers will recognize as the beginning of the end: he's just making stuff up now.A Fox Sports column today asserts that, in a deposition, Rodriguez claimed that he was "coerced" into signing his contract. Coerced. Into signing a multi-million dollar contract. Somehow, it seems, that Rodriguez wants us to believe that the powers that be at West Virginia are powerful enough to intimidate him into signing on the dotted line, despite his ready access to legal counsel, agents, financial advisors, and really any other sort of assistance he could ever want.
This is, in a word, nonsense.
Coercion is an interesting claim. A textbook, easy case of coercion would be if WVU's President had held a gun to Rodriguez's head and told him to sign the contract. Not all instances of coercion are as straight-forward, but they all contain the same premise: that the contract was signed under duress from some sort of threat.
What sort of threat would WVU have even been able to legitimately make?
The simple answer: there really isn't one and if there had been, this wouldn't be the first we heard of it. This is an example of Rodriguez tossing out words he doesn't really know the meaning of because they sound good. This is typically what people do when the truth doesn't sound quite good enough.
Take a look at the intro paragraph from the Fox Sports story:
Former West Virginia football coach Rich Rodriguez says Gov. Joe Manchin and three members of the university's board of governors pressured him into signing a new contract before the start of the 2007 season, even though it had a $4 million buyout clause he didn't want.
They "pressured" him, apparently, into accepting a buyout clause that he didn't want. Pressured him how, we don't quite know. After his flirtations with Alabama, you can hardly blame WVU for wanting the buyout and you can hardly blame his attorney/agent/etc for recommending that he just take it and be happy.
A different claim entirely is that WVU made him promises to get him to sign the contract that they never followed through on. This is also a bit difficult to believe because, honestly, what attorney is going to say "Yeah, we got all of this other stuff in writing... but you can take their word for those deal-breakers that you absolutely need in order to make the deal work."
Still, odd things go on in negotiations of all stripes, and it wouldn't be the first time a hand-shake rider was added to a contract, but Rodriguez should just drop the whole "coercion" argument... it'll never fly.
Michigan should step in, pay his buyout, and make this whole mess go away. It's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets any better, and it's a shame that Rodriguez needs to be wearing the Michigan logo while he throws his legal temper-tantrum.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-13-2008 @ 10:05PM
Mr.G said...
That old saying "be careful what you wish for,you might just get it" comes to mind.So many UM fans were wanting Lloyd Carr gone,well you "got it".I would'nt trust this guy to clean my toilet.What a shmuck.
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5-14-2008 @ 3:46AM
jayejoyce said...
as a college football fan if RR gets out of this buyout it will not only be a bad deal for WVU but for sports in general.he wanted a raise,he got a raise.this coach quit,he was not fired.if he would have came out and said he wasn't happy about some of the things in his contract,make it public before you agree to a raise.even when RR lost to PITT,his job wasn't in jeopardy.if he slithers out of this one,it will be a sad day for sports.
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5-14-2008 @ 7:29AM
Scalz1 said...
So say the WVU fans. While I agree, this is getting rather tiresome, no one knows what was said when this deal was signed. There may, and I do say may have been a "we'll take care of "x" later, let's just get this signed so you can git to coachin'" conversation when that contract was signed. BOTH parties are obviously trying to paint themselves in the best light, and the truth lies in the middle somewhere. Any rational person can see there are faults with both sides here. They need to shut up, have someone pay the buyout, and most importantly focus on their new jobs/staff.
This comes from a Michigan fan. I wish football would start so I don't have to hear about this anymore.
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5-14-2008 @ 9:25AM
Dan said...
Michigan you lose big if you do not turn down the volume on this with Coach Rich. ND and Ohio State Paying attention? This has got to help your programs!
Fix it Michigan, and get your team and coach out of the news and in the classrooms and then on the field!
Good Luck!
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5-14-2008 @ 9:54AM
chuck mckenzie said...
A written contract is a written contract!! Pay up! After everyone else is injured he comes up with White and Slaton who win games for him. That shows me he is not good at identifying great players! I will be watching him at Michigan to see how well he does there
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5-14-2008 @ 10:21AM
Jim said...
Seems to me Rich Rod signed the contract, so he should pay his buyout. Why would/should U of Mich pay his buyout?
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5-14-2008 @ 10:37AM
Pudge said...
While as a UM alum/fan I would like this whole thing to just go away, here's the thing about buyouts. Apparently, they AREN'T that enforceable. Just ask John Beilein, who got off with paying a fraction of the buyout in his contract. $4 million is a lot of money, and UM isn't paying it. What's more, there will be no booster riding in on a white horse to pay it. Everyone seems to assume that's the easy solution, but it's not. If a booster or UM were to pay that buyout for RR, it would be treated by the IRS as income. Meaning RR would probably have to come up with close to $2 million in taxes -- and the IRS doesn't take installment plans like West Virginia is eventually going to.
This is an issue for lawyers to work out, and it seems the ugly nature of RR's departure has made a peaceful settlement impossible, so it might just go to court. But the money involved is very real, so I really don't care if RR fights to have it reduced. Employment law almost always comes down to money, as this has.
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5-14-2008 @ 5:12PM
Harrison said...
Pete, I have to disagree with your conclusions, especially these sentences:
"This is an example of Rodriguez tossing out words he doesn't really know the meaning of because they sound good. This is typically what people do when the truth doesn't sound quite good enough."
Speaking as a resident of Philadelphia, a city almost as corrupt as New Orleans, I imagine Coach Rodriguez DID feel intimidated into signing. WVU is a program where the GOVERNOR of the state was actively interferring in the football program, to say nothing of the governor's crony, the Chancellor of WVU. I'm sure Coach Rodriguez felt intimidated and surrounded by people who could do very bad things to him or his family if he did not sign. Pete, you should check around the internet and read the many stories that chronicle the punishment inflicted on Coach R. after he signed with Michigan and beat a hasty retreat out of the Mountain State. May God bless the poor fool who took his place...
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5-14-2008 @ 7:17PM
wsv said...
The morning Coach Rod left the Mountaineers, I recorded on his office answering machine that he was a scum bag --he was and still is a scum bag. A real disappointment to our wonderful State.
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5-14-2008 @ 9:38PM
keegankenfield said...
People need to understand that he is not trying to get out of the entire 4 million. Only part of it. And that is due to the fact that the AD made promises to RR that he did not keep. The owner of the Diamondbacks, who is their biggest alumni donor, has come out against the AD and their mid-handling of the promises made to RR. No one is saying he shouldn't pay part of the buyout. You need to realize that no one outside of a few people truly knows what happened and what will happen so keep the pity "he's scum" comments down until you know all of the facts.
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5-15-2008 @ 1:26PM
wsv said...
keegankenfield--as a Mountaineer for 73 years, I will continue to think of Coach Rod as a scum bag, regardless of the final resolution. He let his own State and the University down. He should pay the 4million, avoid the newspaper and get on with life in MI.
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5-15-2008 @ 1:26PM
wsv said...
keegankenfield--as a Mountaineer for 73 years, I will continue to think of Coach Rod as a scum bag, regardless of the final resolution. He let his own State and the University down. He should pay the 4million, avoid the newspaper and get on with life in MI.
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5-15-2008 @ 1:26PM
wsv said...
keegankenfield--as a Mountaineer for 73 years, I will continue to think of Coach Rod as a scum bag, regardless of the final resolution. He let his own State and the University down. He should pay the 4million, avoid the newspaper and get on with life in MI.
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5-15-2008 @ 1:26PM
wsv said...
keegankenfield--as a Mountaineer for 73 years, I will continue to think of Coach Rod as a scum bag, regardless of the final resolution. He let his own State and the University down. He should pay the 4million, avoid the newspaper and get on with life in MI.
Reply
5-15-2008 @ 1:26PM
wsv said...
keegankenfield--as a Mountaineer for 73 years, I will continue to think of Coach Rod as a scum bag, regardless of the final resolution. He let his own State and the University down. He should pay the 4million, avoid the newspaper and get on with life in MI.
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5-19-2008 @ 1:27PM
rik said...
Only the high and mighty Michigan would have to go to WV to find a football and basketball coach. Great tradition, Bo, Lloyd, now coach Nimrod! He shouldn't have much trouble keeping that losing tradition going. Go Bucks!
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8-15-2008 @ 12:07AM
GOWVU SHAKEANDBAKE said...
That coming form a suckeye fan. We will see what coach rod does to them suckeyes. Are them suckeyes going to play any one this year? it should be called the big three {oops forgot illinios}. But i bet that you haven't forgot the ass whipping they gave them suckeyes. WWWOOOAAAAA NEEEEELLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!