RichRod Update

Note: if you didn't read my "Almost heaven..." post from January 18, start there to get brought up to speed.


The West Virginia Jihad. More coverage and analysis from Brian at MGoBlog:

"West F-in' Jihad: Day VII" - Monday, January 21, 2008

"West F-in' Jihad: Day IX" - Wednesday, January 23, 2008

The upshot. As Brian puts it:

Assumptions going forward: the shredding thing was much ado about precisely nothing, Rodriguez is neither Satan or Carr, and no one should particularly care about the outcome of the WVU-Rodriguez lawsuit.

The coach. Newly hired WVU football coach Bill Stewart couldn't agree more and said as much to The Charleston Gazette:

Stewart has had enough of it. Tuesday night, though, he became one of the few principles involved to say enough is enough, at least without slinging more mud in the process.

In fact, if he slung anything it was rose petals.

"He's the football coach at Michigan and I'm the football coach at West Virginia and that's what we need to be doing," Stewart told the Gazette late Tuesday night. "The wounds need to heal. We need to go on."

Seriously. Stewart has a job to do and wants to get down to business--something WVU fans would probably find in their best interest:

...as for the he-said, she-said mess that has been created by all of the collateral issues--from Rodriguez calling WVU recruits, shredding files and generally leaving in a huff to new accusations from Rodriguez's camp of racial prejudice in the search for his successor--Stewart said he wishes it would just all go away so that both universities can focus on the future rather than the past.

"Who is any of this helping? It's certainly not helping West Virginia University or Michigan. It's not helping Billy Stewart or Rich Rodriguez," Stewart said. "I understand there are issues and a lot of them have to be dealt with. But hasn't it just all gotten ridiculous? How did we get to this point?"

The simple answer... West Virginians are crazy. Unfortunately, irrational fan backlash is the price an institution must be willing to pay when it enters into a high-profile coaching search. Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News makes some great points to that effect:

People are so wounded in West Virginia, there allegedly has been vandalism to Rodriguez's property and threats to his family. Internet sites are finding all sorts of ways to defile Rodriguez, a West Virginia alum who plummeted from state hero to state heretic.

He knew some of this was coming, and Michigan should have expected it. There's no reason for athletic director Bill Martin or president Mary Sue Coleman to get squeamish now. If they have the stomach to authorize a $226 million renovation of Michigan Stadium, and the boldness to swipe one of college football's best coaches for $2 million-plus per season, they better have the strength to deal with the ugly side.

Martin declined comment Thursday, but Rodriguez said his boss backs him fully. Asked if he wanted to apologize to West Virginia for anything, Rodriguez sounded puzzled.

"Apologize for what?" he said. "I know their feelings are hurt. I changed jobs, this is America. I don't know what the agenda is, but I'd like for everybody to move forward."

...

Rodriguez was so ingrained at West Virginia, his departure was going to anger people no matter how he left, or where he went. If this makes folks in Ann Arbor uneasy, they're probably pining for a college football world that doesn't exist anymore. Four decades of promoting from within made Michigan one of the most stable programs, and one of the most insulated.

Bottom line. Feelings were hurt, poo was flung, rabid college football fans acted like rabid college football fans, Michigan knew what it was in for (or should have) when it entered the football arms race, the courts and lawyers will deal with the buyout, both fanbases need to move on and focus on 2008.