This pisses me off. Very sorry on Rodriguez's part. It shows a lack of caring for his players at WVU, and a complete lack of decorum. Between this and the way the Ryan Mallett situation seemed to go down, Rodriguez looks to be not-ready-for-primetime.
While I like to believe guys are innocent until proven guilty, he looks pretty guilty here right now.
this seems like it can only end badly. In what circumstance would his shredding records be acceptable?
My parents are alumni and I have been going to games my whole life. RichRod was the second coming for the longest time, eventhough I kept hearing he was a giant c-sucker. As a marginal WVU fan I loved how well they played, but I cannot understand how bad he continues to screw his alma mater. He left telling UM that he wouldn't have to pay out the $4mm for breach of contract. WVU called him on that and now he deleted all player files? He is obviously hiding indescrestions, be it recruiting or otherwise. I am guessing he doesn't want people knowing he was recruiting players to UM pre-Pitt game. I wouldn't be suprised if he ends up as something UM fans would quickly like to erase and forget. There will be more to come and more law suits.
or someone at WVU is trying to make him look bad. seriously, think about this for a minute. the school has NO ELECTRONIC COPIES of key player information? of SCHOLARSHIP information? of NCAA COMPLIANCE information? as Rich's lawyer said: "But I sure hope the originals of such information are in the compliance office or the academic programs at West Virginia. If not, then they have serious institutional control issues." what's truly more likely? that RichRod had all available scholarship/money files, all NCAA compliance information and personal contact information for all players in his own office, without any other copies anywhere? that the Athletic DIrector and Compliance Office had 0 oversight over the football program? or that RichRod had personal copies of this information, and that he shredded his own personal copies for privacy reasons (his and the players). that as part of clearing out his office, he shredded personal notes in addition to any copies of player data that he had. and that some middling in the Athletic Department is trying to make much ado about nothing (note that no official or legal comment was made, according to the article).
txMaize...I concur with you. I was thinking the same thing as I was reading the article. I find it hard to believe that the school has no electronic document of the sort of information identified in the article. It seems like what they are saying is that RichRod had all the information in a file cabinet in his office or only on his computer hard drive that is not associated with the atheletic department server. This is just odd to me.
the simple fact that he hired Todd Graham back in the day is enough to make me question the guy's character
Mike, I'm gonna completely disagree with you there. Multiple copies of sensitive or private documents is not unusual, and a person who has a set of such copies and leaves the company will often shred them. No need for that crap to float around, and if they are not originals, it shouldn't matter. If RRod shredded originals, then that's pretty sloppy. Do y'all think he has some file with all these secret payments to players or something? Or that he had files, in the football office, that were compliance related and the compliance office did not have copies? That's insane. I want to hear some more about Todd Graham.
The NCAA nickel and dimes programs with every little thing. Players can only log so many hours practicing, weight lifting, and have to spend so much time dedicated towards academia. If a player is treated to a meal it must be recorded for the school can only spend so much on the meal and cannot exceed an amount over a period of time. These are the kinds of things I think RR shredded. No payments to players or anything Reggie-Bushlike. Just little things that the NCAA would slap you on the wrist for.
I'm sorry, but this one is on WVU. I work for a very large computer company. I left in the mid 90s to do the whole start up thing, and then came back 3 years later. When I left they tried very hard to keep me, but once they knew for sure I was leaving, I was escorted out the door that day. I had an excellent rating, etc... That was not the issue. Once an employee is leaving a company, it is up to that company to protect it's intellectual capital. I worked with a lot of confidential information on pre-announced products and there was no way in hell my company was going to let me walk out without assuring that information stayed. In this case, the compliance office should be with RR to protect their information. To do otherwise is just bad business. Keys, badges, etc... get confiscated that day. I don't know what he did, but he should have never had the ability to do it in the first place.
this is very Aggy of them. but, they are West Virginia. RichRod asked for some very simple concessions fo rthe football team, namely a raise for his assisntant coaches and a couple perks for the players, and he stated in his letter to WVU that there wasn't a single Big10 team that didn't give those perks to their players, and they denied him. The WVU alumni, namely the REALLY influential boosters vowed to stop giving money if they blew and let Rod go. WVU is equally at fault as RR in this, although all the crying from WVU makes them seem like victims.
There is no doubt Rod can coach. There is no doubt Rod raised the level of talent in Morgantown above anything they have ever had up there, but the negative rumors started immediately. When he was hired word around the tailgate was that he was a giant ******* who cares only about himself. Rumor is now that with the new law suits, WV will have to self report some recruiting violations, i.e. Neuhisal style calls when not allowed. I am guessing if I am hearing that from WV alums, it may be a little bigger than they are willing to admit or believe. I am thinking that these missing player files are probably linked to recruiting violations and the a cover up. I think that Michigan fans are proud of having a classy program. They should be. Rod's lawsuit about the buyout and now this... I would think that if UM wasn't concerned, they would pay and make the lawsuit go away and move on. It doesn't reflect well on Michigan to have this linger. I am sure that something soured between Rod and the University and I hear the AD could lose his job over that, but you have to look at Rod also. He is from West Virginia. He played at West Virginia. Now, he is in a $4mm breach of contract with his alma mater and may have deleted all personnel files... If I were a Michigan fan I would be real nervous. But I am not, so screw them.
