Posted on 01/15/2008 10:40:13 AM PST by redrunner
Just heard from a Michigan official that Rich Rodriguez' attorney will be issuing a statement later this afternoon responding to today's report out of West Virginia that former Mountaineers football coach Rich Rodriguez and his staff may have shred player personnel files and other documents prior to coming to the University of Michigan.
The Charleston Gazette story cites unnamed sources claiming that:
According to the source, the files in Rodriguez's office that are now missing included everything from records regarding summer camps -- financial and otherwise -- to data on boosters, recruiting and most everything related to activities within the program during Rodriguez's seven years at WVU.
Most disturbing, though, is the absence of all of the players' personal files, which included, among other things, contact information, scholarship money awarded, class attendance records and records on personal conduct and community service, be it positive or negative.
If Rodriguez shred public documents - and many, many university documents fit this description - his actions wouldn't just be wrong, they'd be potentially illegal.
On the other hand, it's fairly common practice in almost all businesses for departing executives to shred and/or remove documents that they believe were confidential and/or document methods that could be considered trade secrets.
Either way, it doesn't ever look good to have your name linked with shredding and missing documents. Whether this story is true or not, at first glance it adds to the image many critics in West Virginia are painting of Rodriguez as a slick opportunist.
Has a coach ever been so hated after leaving a program?
The LSU guy would have been better?
It probably was a bad idea to sue Rodriguez. He can hurt them more than they can hurt him.
‘eerGate? What’s a West Virginia shredder? A hungry goat.
Typical for a U of Michigan team.
IOW, I was surprised he didn't bolt to MU.
Nick Saban for leaving Michigan State for LSU, and then leaving LSU for the dolphins.
You would think that the WVU athletic director would have put a pad lock on Rodriguez’s door when he to the UofM job... I think the AD might be in some hot water...
Sign this Rodrequez guy up with Chertoff in the Homeland Security Office. He’s got potential!
That Rod would have similar is questionable, but I don't really follow this stuff too closely. Based on last Friday's events, Coach Rod has some hockey skills to learn.
Rodriguez' attitude when Mallet decided to leave was pretty poor. He basically said "good riddance...he's not on our team anymore, so I don't care about him". Mallet is a drop-back QB who came to Michigan because that was their system. Rodriguez runs a spread offense with a running QB, not Mallet's style. Mallet had to look out for his own future, it was the right thing to leave if he dreams of playing in the NFL. Rodriguez could've patted him on the back and said "best of luck", I'll help you out finding a new university. But, no, he chose to be a jerk about it.
Last I checked, the coach is > the players. Many players can learn new things and become better players. Many HS players have been given new positions to the player’s great advantage. Who knows the particulars. True UoMI players would have stayed and adapted.
Coach Rod: Genius, but a bit of a hot-head.
He will likely own the Big 10. He’s an outstanding coach.
Doesn’t it seem that all the Division I coaches in memory are dirty?
I’ve just come from a Notre Dame site (ndnation.com) where they are gloating, but Lou Holtz was always covering his tracks (see the overwhelming first-hand testomony in “Under the Tarnished Dome”).
I say all this as a ND alum.
The Golden Domers might be gloating now, but we should keep our excitmnent in check until the Irish beat the Wolverines again... (Which should happen on September 13...) Go Irish...
Word.
I thought that was SOP. I was wrong.
Yeah, you guys have to beat Michigan State first. We’ve owned ND for several years.
Word here is that Mallett alienated a lot of his teammates and has maturity issues. Rod basically didn’t want anyone on his team that didn’t want to be there, and wasn’t going to hold a nineteen-year-old’s hand through the process. Manningham and Arrington are gone because they will be playing on Sunday—not because of any new coach.
Given what is going on in West Virginia (death threats to coach’s children, vandalism of his home) I’ll bet Rodriquez and his coaches are happy to land somewhere civilized.
Actually... ND plays U of M on 9/13, then MSU on 9/20... So... the plan would be to beat U of M before we beat MSU... Yep... your from MSU... I love college football...
The Notre Dame football program doesn’t have much in common with a Catholic education, and for that matter neither does the school itself.
They’ve been taking their cues from the secular academy far more than from the Gospels for a lot of years now. For instance, the faculty has very little interest in the mission of Catholic education, and in fact is usually hostile to it.
One good sign re the football team, though, may be the very fact that our offensive line was getting pushed around this year. When Holtz came in a big change was that his recruits were mostly using steroids whereas Faust’s kids mostly were not. The book “Under the Tarnished Dome” has lots of testomony from the players confirming this.
The board won’t let me reply to Redrunner at post 25, so I’ll have to do it here.
Rintenses’s reply is on mark. It simply states that until you beat MSU, don’t even think about beating michigan.
So, it could be several more years.
And you graduated from . . . . ;^}
Darryl Royal and Mack Brown?
Rodriguez made those comments only after having three separate discussions with Mallett re his intentions...if anything, Mallett was the one who acted badly becuse he didn’t have the guts to simply tell his coach about his desire to leave from the get go.
Arrington and Manningham are coming off showcase performances in a big win against Florida...they would be unlikely to improve their draft status by playing another year of college ball. Why risk a career ending injury to play another season of collegiate ball when doing so would have little impact on your professional future?
You seem to be saying that Darryl Royal and Mack Brown are not dirty?
I’ll leave that judgment to the expertise of those more familiar with the Texas program, but I’m not hopefull for these reasons:
1) How could anybody be competive in the old Southwest conference if they weren’t cheating? SMU death penalty, Oklahoma probation, most of the others probation, it seems probable that Holtz cheated at Arkansas (see “Under the Tarnished Dome”)
2) Mack Brown has had the highest ranked recruiting classes several times despite the fact that Texas was going nowhere before his appearance, and despite the fact that his main competion, USC, was demonstratably cheating it’s tail off. How did he do that?
3) How does a top academic university like Texas admit a horrible academic performer like Vince Young (see the intelligent test scores that the NFL administers at the combine.)
I checked the records... The last 6 years, ND & MSU are 3 wins each... (split decision) Before that MSU won 5 straight... (MSU bragging rights...) Before that ND won 8 straight... (The Holtz years...) Recap... since 1987 ND has won 11, MSU has won 8... Looks like the scale still leans towards the Irish...
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/SPORTS06/712230543&theme=COACHROD
“BY SHAWN WINDSOR
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Before the death threats to his brother’s children, before the letters to the editor that rage against him in his local paper, before the destruction of his mailbox, and the printing of anti-Rod T-shirts, and the affixing of mocking posters to his gate at the end of his driveway, Rich Rodriguez was the most popular man in West Virginia....”
Well. the good news for MSU is that we lost Smith. The bad news for ‘yoose guice’ is that you have jabba, the worlds greatest offensive mind in college coaching, who gives his team a - and I quote - “decided schematic advantage in every game”.
I know,even though you are laughing,it hurts - but until you lose him, I wouldn’t get my hopes up.
HAR!
I love Charlie... but it was a pretty tough year for the Irish (not to mention NBC)... If it doesn’t get better this year... Charlie might be done... we shall see...
I miss John L... he was entertaining... Dantonio is a good coach... he will do well @ MSU...
The sad part is those players have to give up a year of eligibility to move to a new team. Coaches, of course, move whenever they want. As for Rodriguez, he’s a real class act, alright. Michigan will rue the day.
I didn’t ask for a newspaper article that accepted the Rodriguez’ family’s claims without investigating them. I asked for a police report or outside validation.
yeah - nick saban.....
I just hadn’t heard anything specific bad about either of them. I’m a UT grad (undergrad degree) but waved my daughter off, as it’s just malignantly liberal. Still wear my ‘05 national champs tee shirt, though!
Colonel, USAFR
Keep trying to explain yourself Rich...lol.
Excuse me? Somewhere civilized? How rude! I've lived many places in my lifetime and West Virginia, BY FAR, is my most favorite!
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