I certainly support Michigan Football as an avid fan, but this Rich Rodriguez saga just smacks of all the disgusting aspects of big time sports. Money, money, money. I know that is where it has all gone and it is reality, but I don’t have to enjoy it. Especially when one of the last bastions of “purity” - Michigan Football - has to be dragged through it all (in quotes because the ‘old’ Michigan was driven by money, just on a different scale). All’s well that ends well? Well, I am not so sure that Michigan forking over $2.5 is ending well, but suckers like me paying for seat licenses, tickets, and sweatshirts are footing the bill. Even bigger suckers will be stepping up to the plate to buy boxes, club seats, and whatever Michigan decides to hawk. The entire sports and entertainment world is vile, but we keep coming back and throwing our money at them.
Money aside, the manner in which RR left his alma matter is questionable at best, despicable at worst. He may be a great football coach, but I do not like the way he went about his business. Why anything surprises me anymore, well…surprises me! Not much is sacred anymore, but it is what it is.
It sure will be nice when we actually start playing football instead of hearing about lawsuits and conditioning programs. Well, maybe on week two it will be – after ESPN inundates us all with App State lowlights.Go Blue!
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6 comments:
Candyman - next year when you are paying your annual "donation" to the athletic department, try not to think about the fact that $2.5M of UM $ is going to Morgantown - you may throw up all over your checkbook. Disgusting
I think it also can go back to the entire endowment conversation. All of this is chump change compared to the endowment and the returns it generally gains. Probably contracted a bit in the last year in this market. Sheesh.
Seven weeks from today, college football season begins. Bring it on. I'm tired of all the offseason stuff too. However, unlike you, I don't have a problem with the buyout that M is paying to WVU. No matter what coach they would have hired - Miles, Ferentz, etc - if they were under contract to another school/team, the AD probably would have had to pay some sort of buyout. I would prefer an excellent coach with a buyout to a mediocre coach with none. Hiring a coach just because he's cheap is something the Lions would do (Marty Mornhinweg?). Michigan hired the best man for the job and tried to negotiate the buyout down to a more reasonable number, but couldn't. Nothing wrong with that, in my opinion. Go Blue!
Sorry but this entire storyline is ridiculous. Happens EVERY DAY in the business world. All they did as Assman sugeests was try to renegotiate a contract. didn't work. ITS NOT a big friggin deal. WVA adn the media played it up supreme simply as a smear campaign. Alos, Michigan is as muc to blame a RR. They should have just paid what they agreed to pay in the beginning, or quietly negeotaited another figure and had it taken care of WHEN they hired RR. Maybe Mich wanted the publicity as well? who knows? A wise attroney once told me --to paraphrase--"that I doesn't really matter too much whats said about you but that something is (good v. bad press). In three months everyone will forget why they know your name-but that they will know it and it will bring you more clients than all the advertising you can pay for.
This really NEVER was a story.
If you sleep with pigs, you get dirty. For right or wrong, Michigan never slept with pigs before. RR signed his contract at WVU, so he should stand by it like a big boy and pay it. Speculation on my part, but I would think Michigan grew tired of the bad publicity, RR wasn't about to let it go, so Michigan was forced to the table to make it go away. Was this also contived?
The issue still remaining is when RR takes his game to the next opportunity and how that all goes down. He signed a similar buyout in Ann Arbor - do you really believe he will gladly stand up with a check on his way out? He may, only because some Jerry Jones out there will have writen the check for him. One can always argue that a party (WVU in this case) did not hold up to their end of an agreement, especially when it is relatively subjective.
Lawman - don't incriminate your profession even more by agreeing that bad publicity is better than no publicity (true in many cases, granted). Michigan get plenty of opportunity to get their name out there - they don't need the bad pub to get some pub. Hershey does not want a Kit Kat recall to get some publicity...
Wow. I'm late to the game here, but let's not go overboard, Candyman. Michigan's latest basketball coach came in and was able to get WVA to back off on his buy-out. Now RR doesn't get this concession (fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me) and it's dirty pool?
All coaches have contracts. All pretty much have to break them in order to go elsewhere. This is obviously known and accepted.
Also, Michigan has not hired a football coach in the 21st century. This is no different than anywhere else, and actually better (want to be OSU when they fired Earl Bruce or ND when they fired Willingham and tried to bring in George O'Leary?).
I don't see this as moneyball. I see this as WVA being sorry losers and RR being able to extricate himself from what sounded like a pretty bad situation.
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