The Charleston Gazette's Dave Hickman recently wrote a column that revealed new U-M and former West Virginia
football coach Rich Rodriguez contacted Oklahoma's Bob Stoops before the Mountaineers faced off against Stoops' Sooners in this year's Fiesta Bowl. Here's an excerpt from the column:
Speaking of Rodriguez, apparently last week wasn't the first time since his exit from West Virginia that Rodriguez had a little extra time on his hands, be it to sit in on depositions or make a few phone calls.
Apparently, during that much-ballyhooed interview that aired over the weekend, Rodriguez off-handedly mentioned that he had talked to Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops "a few days before'' the Sooners played West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl.
Huh?
The coach who was already by that time embroiled in a bitter dispute with his former employers at West Virginia was just chit-chatting with the coach who was about to face his former team? While he was up to his neck in trying to hire a staff and recruit at Michigan and while Stoops was 24/7 involved in coaching his team against the Mountaineers, they just happened to hook up on the phone?
"I didn't divulge any secrets,'' Rodriguez said when he apparently realized the possible implications of such a conversation - or at least how it might be skeptically viewed.
Don't you have to wonder, though, just what he's doing even taking - or making - that call?