Seven years ago WVU football fans screamed for the hiring of Rich Rodriguez as our head coach. No one will deny that Rich has been good for our football program. He took us to levels we had never seen and now is about to take us to levels the other direction which we are not willing to accept.
Coach Rodriguez was given everything he was asking for, including a hefty pay raise in December of 2006 when he flirted with leaving for Alabama. I can still see him at the press conference stating that the University and the large donors have given him exactly what he has always dreamed of and that he would be here for as long as we wanted him.
Fast forward to December 2007: We learned that Coach Rodriguez is meeting with the Michigan representatives and is about to abandoned ship in Morgantown and go to Ann Arbor, Mich. Contrary to what the people in West Virginia expect, where a handshake still means something, a signed contract means nothing to Rich Rodriguez. Any educated fool knows that “greed” still appears ahead of integrity in Webster’s dictionary. Obviously, it also is ahead of integrity in Rich Rodriguez's lifestyle. Rich wants to blame everyone in the athletic department for his leaving, however we have learned that he is in the same class with the Sabans, Petrinos and the other greedy coaches in college football.
Not only did he abandoned his team and forget about his signed contract, his first act upon making his decision was to call the number-one quarterback prospect whom he was recruiting for West Virginia University to advise him long before he told his team who had sweated and worked hard for him for the last seven years of his decision. He did not even have the guts to advise the administration of his decision, sending his letter by a graduate assistant.
All of which goes to prove that we made a huge mistake in ever trusting Rich Rodriguez to lead our football program and thinking he was any different than the other greedy coaches in this country. I also was personally shocked to know that a coach who we held in high esteem for his integrity would advise Rich to take the Michigan job as there may not be another chance like this for him. Apparently, his integrity does not include honoring a contract either.
Rich, for the most part, the fans in West Virginia did without things that they needed, like my family did, to buy seasons tickets and support your program. We did this of our own free will. However, there is one problem we have to leave for you to deal with, or maybe with your extra income you can hire someone to teach your children what a contract and integrity mean. I would imagine someone else will have to do it because, apparently you do not know.
Also, the buyout in Rodriguez's contract is for $4 million and the fans of WVU expect nothing short of $4 million. No negotiating the amount and if it is not handled in this manner then maybe some additional changes need to be made in the athletic department.
You will have to take into account that his resignation is not effective until the day after the Fiesta Bowl. I would suspect this is in order that he can receive his bonus for the BCS Bowl Game. Rich, you have few peers of equal coaching ability, however, you have many in life with the same idea about integrity.
— Don B. Meadows
Princeton, W.Va.
Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV - Where is the integrity? Rodriguez move crushes WVU trust Linkback: http://4seasonschat.com/index.php/topic,10157.msg118957.html#msg118957
Topic: Where is the integrity? Rodriguez move crushes WVU trust (Read 1391 times)