Rich Rodriguez (official thread of last laughs)

[HailToMichigan]

Called Pryor before telling his players....verry classy guy....

Ugh, I've gone over this.

What's he supposed to do? Call all the players individually I suppose - and then be trashed for not telling them face to face. Visit all their houses and rooms one by one? Stick a note in the mailbox, maybe?

Rodriguez called a meeting. You don't just gather 90 football players on a Sunday morning and say "meeting in 5 minutes, be there."

Whatever. Nothing on you personally, but I can't expect much objectivity from a WVU fan on this subject.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Ugh, I've gone over this.

What's he supposed to do? Call all the players individually I suppose - and then be trashed for not telling them face to face. Visit all their houses and rooms one by one? Stick a note in the mailbox, maybe?

No. You tell you fucking players first...you know them, the ones who committed to you years earlier and have busted their ass for you. You don't disrespect them by "getting around to telling them" after you perform phone-fellatio on your top recruit. The players ARE you team...recruits MAY become your team. He treated his players like week-old garbage. Why? Because they aren't his any more and he doesn't give a shit...if he did care for his players, he would've told them first and would've stuck around to coach the bowl game. Instead, he kicked their collective asses to the curb and left them high and dry.

 

[OH10]

Ugh, I've gone over this.

What's he supposed to do? Call all the players individually I suppose - and then be trashed for not telling them face to face. Visit all their houses and rooms one by one? Stick a note in the mailbox, maybe?

Rodriguez called a meeting. You don't just gather 90 football players on a Sunday morning and say "meeting in 5 minutes, be there."

Whatever. Nothing on you personally, but I can't expect much objectivity from a WVU fan on this subject.

Here's the point he's trying to make: From the moment RR knew he was taking the Michigan job, there was one player he cared about more than anyone else, and he didn't wear a WVU jersey or even a Michigan jersey. He stopped caring about those WVU players the moment he took the job. And since he's taken the job, he hasn't started caring about the players already at Michigan. It's not as if he's got an empty cupboard there.

His actions are speaking loud. It's Pryor or bust for RR.

 

[Muck]

Whatever. Nothing on you personally, but I can't expect much objectivity from a Michigan man on this subject.

Fixed it for ya.

 

[HailToMichigan]

No. You tell you fucking players first.

How? How would you do it?

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

How? How would you do it?

Uh, call a meeting the first available school day. If I were to accept the job on a weekend, I'd tell the AD and university president--in person--first, even on a Sunday. I'd then delay public announcement until I had the chance to gather the players and staff on Monday and tell them. After that, I'd schedule a presser for the next day to make the public announcement and call kids I've been recruiting--including commits--to tell them I'm moving.

It's clear as glass that Dick Wadriguez didn't give a shit about his (now former) school or players in the way he handled things...

 

[sandgk]

How? How would you do it?

HailtoMichigan ... let me demystify this story - removing (hopefully once and for all on this board) the myth of logistical difficulty in Rodriguez getting all his players together in one spot.

There was a regularly scheduled practice called for that day - something which Rodriguez knew, for he had made the damned schedule. The practice was called for early afternoon. All players on roster were required to attend.

Simple point being that Rodriguez knew where and when to find all the WVU squad together in one place on that Sunday.

So how would Rodriguez do this?

Walk into practice - call all the already available players into the nearest adjacent room (locker, film, study area or other).

Announce to players what he should already have told to his employer when handing in his letter of resignation - and then get on the telephone on his own time to talk with recruits as an employer of TSUN.

This nonsense about gathering players from points hither and yon might play on Stadium & Main but please don't use that particular myth (for such is what that certainly is) in support of RR's actions on BP.

 

[billmac91]

How? How would you do it?

I don't understand what is so hard about this? You just don't place that call to Pryor until you've held the meeting. Even if it means waiting a day to call to Pryor.

All he does, is not give "phone-fellatio" to Pryor until he's had the opportunity to address his former squad.

And if you don't think it mattered to those guys in the locker room, read the reports that Pat White had to be restrained b/c he was so emotional.

How'd you like to learn your coach is leaving the program from an 18 year old high school kid, that just spoke to him on the phone, and then broadcasts it to the country through a recruiting website?

It could have/should have been handled much differently, and I think DRod would be the first to admit it if he could.

 

[billmac91]

Just to add a piece to my previous post, I think the biggest back-fire on Rodriguez was Pryor letting the cat out of the bag. I dount Terrelle knew what he was doing at the time, but he created a fire-storm for DRod, that I'm sure DRod didn't/doesn't appreciate.

I don't think there's much he can say at this point, when his next 4 years are riding on the kid that outed him tot he public, before he was ready to make the announcement.

 

[HailToMichigan]

Uh, call a meeting the first available school day.

Good. I'm glad you see things my way. RR didn't even wait til the first available school day. He told them in a meeting the day of, which happened to be a Sunday.

If I were to accept the job on a weekend, I'd tell the AD and university president--in person--first, even on a Sunday. I'd then delay public announcement until I had the chance to gather the players and staff on Monday and tell them. After that, I'd schedule a presser for the next day to make the public announcement and call kids I've been recruiting--including commits--to tell them I'm moving.

It's clear as glass that Dick Wadriguez didn't give a shit about his (now former) school or players in the way he handled things...

Then again, maybe you don't understand after all.

RR flew in a private jet to meet with the Michigan brass on Friday. He flew to Toledo, rather than Ann Arbor. Yet word leaked out, somehow, of that, on Friday. He was being asked about it all day Saturday. Word got out Sunday morning that he'd accepted the job - not out of Morgantown, but out of Ann Arbor.

Given the 24/7 nature of the coverage surrounding Les Miles, Greg Schiano, Rodriguez, and the Michigan coaching search, how can you be so naive as to expect that the news could have stayed under wraps for a full 24 hours?

If he handled it the way you demand, he'd have then been criticized for waiting until the next day to tell his players, after they'd already been subjected to a full day of rumors and innuendo. He told them face to face just as the news was breaking.

Rodriguez, by the way, owes the university president nothing. When you leave a company, you tell your boss, not the CEO. Rodriguez probably ought to have contacted the AD first. However, as we've gone over a hundred times, the AD was not in the dark. He and Rodriguez spoke twice on Saturday. Sunday, Rodriguez called Ann Arbor to tell them he was accepting, and amazingly enough, not once did Ed Pastilong ever claim he was surprised.

Wait until the next day....pffft. Not in today's news cycle. The very day Bill Martin talked to Greg Schiano, we knew about it a couple hours later. That night, we knew Schiano had turned him down.

 

[Oh8ch]

I don't understand what is so hard about this? You just don't place that call to Pryor until you've held the meeting.

Bingo. What was the urgency to call Pryor? Did he think he was going to commit that day? Or did he just want to make it clear to Pryor that he was more important than his current players or his obligation to fulfill his existing contract?

RR violated his contract, insulted his players and potentially committed a recruiting violation in one swell foop.

And the worst of it is that if he lands Pryor he gets rewarded for it.

 

[sandgk]

Just to add a piece to my previous post, I think the biggest back-fire on Rodriguez was Pryor letting the cat out of the bag. I dount Terrelle knew what he was doing at the time, but he created a fire-storm for DRod, that I'm sure DRod didn't/doesn't appreciate.

That is strictly RR's problem isn't it?

I don't think there's much he can say at this point, when his next 4 years are riding on the kid that outed him tot he public, before he was ready to make the announcement.

Assuming your assessment about Dick Wadriguez not appreciating that fallout, maybe Pryor would be much better of not getting the brunt of any harsh words from the ex-WVU HC.

Easy way for him to accomplish that of course, Pryor - say goodbye Wad, Hello Columbus. Hell, Columbus would be the better choice for NFL aspirations anyway.

Besides which, Dick Wadriguez should really direct any harsh words squarely to himself, in the mirror, each morning as he shaves.

 

[HailToMichigan]

Bingo. What was the urgency to call Pryor? Did he think he was going to commit that day? Or did he just want to make it clear to Pryor that he was more important than his current players or his obligation to fulfill his existing contract?

RR violated his contract, insulted his players and potentially committed a recruiting violation in one swell foop.

And the worst of it is that if he lands Pryor he gets rewarded for it.

Convenient, isn't it? If OSU loses Pryor, you guys can convince yourself it's all because of a recruiting violation and general sliminess.

A charge which would never stick, by the way, and is grasping at straws. How can it be a recruiting violation for a coach under contract to School A to tell a recruit not to go to School A?

 

[sandgk]

Convenient, isn't it? If OSU loses Pryor, you guys can convince yourself it's all because of a recruiting violation and general sliminess.

A charge which would never stick, by the way, and is grasping at straws. How can it be a recruiting violation for a coach under contract to School A to tell a recruit not to go to School A?

Well, Oh8ch and others have raised this in the past, I agree it is not a violation for Rodriguez to tell a player he cannot play, should not or would be better of playing elsewhere other than School A (which for the purpose of relevance we shall call WVU).

What is not usual is for the WVU coach, still an employee of the same, before tendering his resignation to WVU, to call a recruit, during the Quiet Period (to be followed instantly by the Dead Period), thus using WVU's one allowed phone call to said recruit (Pryor) and in that call tell said recruit he is going to TSUN, are you with me.

That isn't an NCAA coaching violation.

That is unethical and slimy as hell.

That is also what is more commonly called acting as a Booster - in this instance on behalf of TSUN.

 

[CausticMick]

FWIW, I hop on ship with those who feel he should have told the team first. These are men he recruited, that stepped on the field and risked life and limb for the program each Saturday of the fall. The men who he encouraged and screamed at at the endless amount of practice, through blood, injury, sweat and tears. These are men who have experienced troubles and successes under his reign, guidance, and support (or lack thereof). Now he's been exposed as a selfish fraud.

You don't call an 18-year old recruit until after you tell the men with whom you should have built close relationships over the last 2, 3, or 4 years.

Dick-Rod is a POS, and he'll get his down the road. Karma is a bitch.