The most important issue relative to Michigan/Rodriguez
The most important, and possibly most troubling question relative to Rich Rodriguez leaving West Virginia for Ann Arbor is Michigan’s role in this whole process. No doubt, Michigan AD Bill Martin knew about Rodriguez’s $4 million dollar buyout and the issue of the buyout had to have come up during their meeting in Toledo on December 14. From all that has been reported, Bill Martin is a pretty straight shooter, and it is hard for us to imagine that he did not address the issue with Rodriguez and who was going to pay that $4 million buyout when they discussed the Michigan job. Since we can assume very reliably that the buyout issue came up in that meeting, we are beginning to wonder if Rodriguez and his agent told Martin that no one was going to pay the buyout, because West Virginia did not live up to it’s end of the contract that Rodriguez had signed a year earlier. That certainly is a very plausible assumption, because there was clearly a well-orchestrated campaign by supporters of Rodriguez almost immediately upon his departure to Michigan to lay the blame for Rodriguez’s departure at the feet of the West Virginia administration. Two well-known West Virginia boosters were quoted in dozens of media outlets that the actions/non-action of the WVU administration was the reason for Rodriguez going to Michigan, and they had very specific reasons that Rodriguez and his supporters believed that the contract signed between Rodriguez and WVU was not honored by the school.
Bill Martin and Michigan’s role in this episode cannot be discounted, because our reading of Rodriguez’s contract is very clear, and Rodriguez certainly went into his meeting with Michigan knowing that he was liable legally and in fact morally, to pay the $4 million buyout if he ended up taking the Michigan job. In fact, if Bill Martin and Michigan signed off on this strategy for Rodriguez to challenge the buyout with West Virginia, then that raises some very serious and ethical issues on Michigan’s side of this transaction, because already by all accounts Michigan did not even ask permission of WVU to speak with Rodriguez in the first place. To complicate matters even more, it has been reported that University of Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman was at the meeting in Toledo with Rodriguez as well, and it is beyond belief that both Bill Martin and Mary Sue Coleman did not discuss the buyout issue before offering the head coaching job to Rodriguez.
Now let’s move from a hypothesis to a conclusion, and if this is a true conclusion the people at Michigan have as many questions to answer as Rodriguez. If Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman and AD Bill Martin discussed the $4 million buyout with Rodriguez and he told them that the buyout was not going to be an issue, because WVU had not lived up to their side of the contract, then that puts Coleman and Martin in the very uncomfortable position of negotiating with a potential hire certainly knowing that making that hire would put at risk the reputation of the institution (Univ. of Michigan) that they are working for. In business, and college football is certainly a business, you would expect a hiring company to act in a responsible way when it comes to hiring key employees away from competitors, and if there is a buyout involved in securing the services of an employee from a rival firm, one would certainly expect that Michigan would have been upfront in demanding that the buyout issue be resolved and worked-out before Rodriguez was hired by Michigan. To do anything different certainly raises some troubling issues for Michigan and why they believe they can just wash their hands of the Rodriguez buyout issue, when it is quickly becoming a very large issue for their new head football coach. This buyout issue is really important, because Michigan is a public university that is owned by the people of the state of Michigan, right down to the desks that Coleman and Martin sit at to conduct their business, and it is important that the people of Michigan know about the dealings of their public employees and how they acted in this case with Rodriguez. Did Coleman and Martin put the University of Michigan at risk by hiring a guy that they knew was contractually committed to a $4 million buyout if he took another job? If indeed Rodriguez’s buyout was discussed between Michigan and Rodriguez (and his agent) at their meeting on December 14 in Toledo, the scope of those conversations is certainly something that the people of Michigan have the right to know about. Private meetings are the domain of private companies, but when you are running a public university that his supported by the taxpayers, then you have an obligation to act in a manner consistent with the trust that the public places with it’s leaders.
With the filing of the suit against Rodriguez by the WVU Board of Governors to collect that $4 million buyout, we are assured that we are going to hear a lot more about this issue in the coming weeks, that is unless the case is settled out of court. If Mary Sue Coleman and Bill Martin believe that they are not involved in the issues related to Rodriguez’s buyout, then they are sadly mistaken, because they very likely will be asked to testify under oath about what went on in that meeting in Toledo, and it is beyond comprehension that public officials would not testify and tell the whole truth about this entire incident. If Coleman and Martin do testify that the $4 million buyout was discussed and that they took Rodriguez’s word that the buyout would not have to be paid because West Virginia had violated the terms of the contract with Rodriguez, then one would have to question the judgement of Coleman and Martin on this issue. There is just no way that it is acceptable that Coleman and Martin should have allowed the $4 million buyout to be unresolved before Rodriguez was hired, and if they really wanted to act in an ethical and above board manner, they would have addressed the buyout issue directly with West Virginia before they hired Rich Rodriguez. That is the way ethical and moral people behave in the marketplace, especially when the employee you are trying to hire is going to be so much in the public spotlight.
Actually, this is all very simple. If the Michigan officials took Rodriguez and his agent at their word that the buyout was not going to be an issue, and then they hired Rodriguez with that issue still outstanding, then shame on Michigan. Rich Rodriguez is an adult, and he knew exactly what he was signing last year with his new contract, and it very clearly calls for a $4 million buyout. If Rich Rodriguez really gives a damn about his home state and alma mater, he will end this issue immediately and either pay the buyout himself (through his own funds or borrowing it from his rich buddies) or ask that Michigan pay the buyout. If on the other hand Rodriguez doesn’t give a rip about his home state or his alma mater, he can allow this buyout issue to drag on, and we will all eventually find out just what was discussed in that meeting in Toledo, because when you put people under oath you tend to get the truth. As for Michigan, if they just took Rodriguez at his word that the buyout was going to just go away, then shame on the Michigan officials to allow such an ambiguity to remain outstanding on such an important hire for their university.
Either Rich Rodriguez or Michigan, or a combination of the two, should write a check for $4 million to West Virginia University. Not only is that the legal thing to do, it is the right thing to do, but if the parties involved in this transaction really want to drag both universities through the mud and drag out all of the dirty laundry that exists between Rodriguez and West Virginia, and what Michigan’s role was in the hiring of Rodriguez and what they knew about his buyout, then by all means proceed down this very treacherous path. We will tell you from experience though, the only people that win in these types of deals are the attorneys, because at the end of the day a lot of people are going to look very foolish on both sides of this transaction and a few people may lose their jobs because of their actions in this matter. Yes, there is a lot more at stake here than a measly $4 million dollars. Someone needs to write that $4 million check made out to West Virginia University, and quick.
Kudos on a well written article. No need to publish this on the blog. Just wanted to say it was well thought out. JWS.
This is the best and most comprehensive analysis on a subject I have seen in a long time. To the point and so very accurate. Good job guys.
Very, very well written. This website and those who write for it is by far the best in NCAA Football. You should be commended for the job you are doing!
Well written, to the point, and non-partisan. Thank you for the thought-provoking article, void of emotional investment in the situation.
I, too, thought the article was interesting. The contract, the lawsuit and Rich Rodriguez’s letter of resignation are available on the internet. One correction that relates to an interesting issue: Rodriguez just signed the contract in August 2007, seeming to me to make it difficult to argue he wans’t happy then. And it contained a provision that if he deemed the university to have breached the contract, he was to notify them in writing 90 days in advance. That was not done. His resignation came Dec. 19 in writing after he was announced as the new head coach at Michigan. I think the lawyers for WVU went to work on these contracts after John Beilein’s buyout was reduced from $2.5 to $1.5 million.
One additional thought: There is a legal premise known as “interference with contract” that could be targeted at Michigan itself. Although seldom used, it is aimed at third parties who interfere with contracts of two other parties. And Michigan also tried unsuccessfully, even during the football negotiations, to hire women’s soccer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown, whose team was defeated in the NCAA quarter finals by Southern Cal, the eventual national champion. Nikki said no.
Did you raise the same questions when Michigan hired John Beilein from WVU? I don’t recall such speculation nor do I recall UM officials being obligated to any buyout obligations between Beilein and WVU. Since you are hypothesising about was or wasn’t said in the meeting between Martin, Coleman and Rodriquez, maybe you should also consider the notion that Rodriquez might have said “it is my problem to deal with,” or perhaps Martin and Coleman told Rodriquez “it is between you and WVU.” Who knows, but to speculate that UM officials or Rodriquez and his agent somehow may have acted inappropriately is not fair to the UM officials and Rodriquez, especially when none of us were there. Just like the Beilein situation, this matter will be resolved between WVU and Rodriquez as it should.
THIS IS TERRIBLE NONE OF THIS MAKES SINCE.. all it is that rich rodriguez had a big ego we wanted more money he left his alma mater the school who ledt him have a chance as a walk on.. Mountaineer maniacs were behind him for 7 years win or loose and finally he just packs his bags and leaves.. we game him what he wanted last year when he wanted 2 leave for alabama andnow this year we didnt have the money for it.. NO MATTER WHAT ITS HIS LOSS theres no bigger rush that being a mountaineer.. If he wants 2 go to michigan for more money then fine they were terrible this year anyway and michigan well be terrible again next year. I dont understand how a man could leave his alma mater for any ammount of money.. LETS GO MOUNTIES
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