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Thursday, July 10, 2008

Rodriguez Mess Tells You Plenty About Him

By Michael Rosenberg
Detroit Free Press

Finally, somebody at Michigan was embarrassed enough to settle West Virginia's lawsuit.

Not Rich Rodriguez. He is way too bullheaded. And not athletic director Bill Martin. He was never going to stand up to his football coach.

It took Mary Sue Coleman, the school president, to end this mess. Coleman was on the verge of being deposed, and she obviously didn't want to be dragged into it. Not so coincidentally, Rodriguez finally settled.

Predictably, Rodriguez got absolutely nothing out of this except embarrassment. His $4 million buyout did not go down a dime, but now Michigan will pay $2.5 million of it and Rodriguez only $1.5 million over three installments.

This whole thing could have, and should have, been settled long ago. But RichRod was determined to fight West Virginia 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.

Martin should have told Rodriguez that this whole ordeal was embarrassing the university, and that the case was a lost cause. But Martin's legacy is in Rodriguez's hands, so he let his coach do whatever he wanted.

There are only two winners here. One is West Virginia, which will get the $4 million it is rightfully owed. The other is those of us who just wanted the truth.

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 said that the signed contract was not as important as an oral agreement that preceded it -- a laughable legal argument.

Rodriguez said in December that he was fighting 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.

"The Michigan way is just the right way," he said in December, before adding that a lot of schools do it the right way.

Rodriguez can charm the media, which is nice. But those who have attended his practices say his staff uses some of the foulest, most degrading language imaginable. This is a big part of why offensive lineman Justin Boren of Pickerington left the team and is transferring to Ohio State. He felt his dignity was at stake.

When Rodriguez was hired, he and Martin spun the story well: Martin landed a premier coach, and Rodriguez, who loved West Virginia, couldn't turn down Michigan. The truth is not as simple, or as pretty.

On Dec. 6, Martin thought he had landed Rutgers coach Greg Schiano. But the next day, Schiano turned down Michigan. Schiano's financial adviser, Mike Wilcox, nudged Michigan in the direction of another of his clients, Rich Rodriguez.

Rodriguez wanted a chance to compete for national championships. Martin saw a chance to hire a big name. They were in love with each other's names -- so much so that they failed to do their due diligence.

Martin met with Wilcox before he ever talked to Rodriguez. When Martin finally met Rodriguez at Wilcox's office in Toledo, he brought Coleman with him.

Martin and Coleman did not go to Toledo to interview Rodriguez. They went there to hire him.

At Rodriguez's introductory news conference, he was still selling the line that he was in Toledo to meet with his financial adviser. You know, like they were discussing tech stocks and all of a sudden the president and athletic director at Michigan magically appeared in the room.

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.