Alabama finnaly got a decent coach. The SEC will never win another national championship again. Even though the SEC is the greatest conference in the country. Too many good coaches now. They will beat each other up year after year. Cant imagine adding another top 10 caliber team which Bama will be shortly.
This is actually quite funny
Original Story:
Alabama, Rodriguez Appear Close To Decision
Metro News: The Voice of West Virginia
Greg Hunter
Morgantown
Pat Forde, ESPN.com college football and basketball columnist, reported on Friday’s “The Dan Patrick Show” on ESPN Radio that he expects West Virginia University football coach Rich Rodriguez will receive an offer from the University of Alabama this weekend to become the Crimson Tide’s next head coach. That offer will apparently be made sometime after WVU’s regular season finale against Rutgers Saturday night.
Forde’s revelation follows other media reports in the past few days which indicate that Alabama has now centered its attention on Rodriguez, after first approaching and then being spurned by current Miami Dolphin coach Nick Saban and current South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier.
Reportedly, Tide officials are ready to offer Rodriguez a guaranteed, seven-year contract worth over $3 million per year. The 43-year-old Rodriguez made $1.1 million last year at WVU, his fifth as the head coach of his alma mater. A native of Grant Town, W.Va., and a 1985 graduate of West Virginia University, Rodriguez signed a new seven-year contract with WVU this past summer calling for him to receive a guaranteed salary of $900,000 per year plus bonuses, and that guaranteed salary would increase by $50,000 each year over the life of the contract. There are also a variety of bonuses available, including an additional $75,000 for a Big East regular season title, $75,000 for a BCS bowl appearance, $25,000 for a non-BCS bowl appearance, $150,000 for a national championship and $10,000 for satisfactory evaluation of the team’s academic achievement, as well as various other incentives.
Rodriguez’s current contract at WVU also includes a hefty buy-out clause. If either the University or Rodriguez would terminate the contract prior to Aug. 31, 2007, the buy-out would be $2 million. That buy-out decreases to $1.5 million after Aug. 31, 2007.
Despite that buyout, several sources within the West Virginia athletic department have indicated that Rodriguez has said he is ready to accept the Alabama job, if offered, and that he’s already talking to members of his staff about accompanying him to Tuscaloosa.
To this point, most of the negotiations between Rodriguez and Alabama have apparently been done between agents and other third parties, so it does not appear that Rich has sat down with Alabama athletic director Mal Moore and reached a definite agreement. But all signs indicate negotiations are moving in that direction. There is time for either side to change their mind, but to this point, it appears likely that Rodriguez will become the next head coach at Alabama. An official announcement could come as early as Sunday or Monday.
If indeed Rodriguez does depart WVU, the Mountaineers will then quickly have to go into their own search mode, looking for a new head coach. Already the names of candidates are swirling; current LSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, who is a native of Clarksburg; current WVU assistants Jeff Casteel, Calvin Magee, Bill Stewart and Rick Trickett, former Mountaineer assistants/players Duke Henshaw, Terry Bowden, Doc Holliday, Steven Dunlap and Bill Legg are some of the names mentioned who have West Virginia ties, but of course, there also figure to be candidates without ties to the state.
If West Virginia winds up searching for a new football coach, it appears that Mountaineer officials don’t want to make a rush to judgment. WVU officials have admitted that in the men’s basketball coaching search after Gale Catlett’s retirement in 2002, they pulled the trigger too quickly on Dan Dakich after being turned down by Bobby Huggins. Obviously Dakich’s here-today, gone-tomorrow act left many at WVU shaken, and even though John Beilein’s hire turned the potentially disastrous situation into a rose, the lasting impression on West Virginia officials is they don’t want to rush into another decision which is so important on so many different levels for the Mountaineer athletic department.
http://www.wvmetronews.com/index_forsub.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=17521
Original Story:
Alabama, Rodriguez Appear Close To Decision
Metro News: The Voice of West Virginia
Greg Hunter
Morgantown
Pat Forde, ESPN.com college football and basketball columnist, reported on Friday’s “The Dan Patrick Show” on ESPN Radio that he expects West Virginia University football coach Rich Rodriguez will receive an offer from the University of Alabama this weekend to become the Crimson Tide’s next head coach. That offer will apparently be made sometime after WVU’s regular season finale against Rutgers Saturday night.
Forde’s revelation follows other media reports in the past few days which indicate that Alabama has now centered its attention on Rodriguez, after first approaching and then being spurned by current Miami Dolphin coach Nick Saban and current South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier.
Reportedly, Tide officials are ready to offer Rodriguez a guaranteed, seven-year contract worth over $3 million per year. The 43-year-old Rodriguez made $1.1 million last year at WVU, his fifth as the head coach of his alma mater. A native of Grant Town, W.Va., and a 1985 graduate of West Virginia University, Rodriguez signed a new seven-year contract with WVU this past summer calling for him to receive a guaranteed salary of $900,000 per year plus bonuses, and that guaranteed salary would increase by $50,000 each year over the life of the contract. There are also a variety of bonuses available, including an additional $75,000 for a Big East regular season title, $75,000 for a BCS bowl appearance, $25,000 for a non-BCS bowl appearance, $150,000 for a national championship and $10,000 for satisfactory evaluation of the team’s academic achievement, as well as various other incentives.
Rodriguez’s current contract at WVU also includes a hefty buy-out clause. If either the University or Rodriguez would terminate the contract prior to Aug. 31, 2007, the buy-out would be $2 million. That buy-out decreases to $1.5 million after Aug. 31, 2007.
Despite that buyout, several sources within the West Virginia athletic department have indicated that Rodriguez has said he is ready to accept the Alabama job, if offered, and that he’s already talking to members of his staff about accompanying him to Tuscaloosa.
To this point, most of the negotiations between Rodriguez and Alabama have apparently been done between agents and other third parties, so it does not appear that Rich has sat down with Alabama athletic director Mal Moore and reached a definite agreement. But all signs indicate negotiations are moving in that direction. There is time for either side to change their mind, but to this point, it appears likely that Rodriguez will become the next head coach at Alabama. An official announcement could come as early as Sunday or Monday.
If indeed Rodriguez does depart WVU, the Mountaineers will then quickly have to go into their own search mode, looking for a new head coach. Already the names of candidates are swirling; current LSU offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, who is a native of Clarksburg; current WVU assistants Jeff Casteel, Calvin Magee, Bill Stewart and Rick Trickett, former Mountaineer assistants/players Duke Henshaw, Terry Bowden, Doc Holliday, Steven Dunlap and Bill Legg are some of the names mentioned who have West Virginia ties, but of course, there also figure to be candidates without ties to the state.
If West Virginia winds up searching for a new football coach, it appears that Mountaineer officials don’t want to make a rush to judgment. WVU officials have admitted that in the men’s basketball coaching search after Gale Catlett’s retirement in 2002, they pulled the trigger too quickly on Dan Dakich after being turned down by Bobby Huggins. Obviously Dakich’s here-today, gone-tomorrow act left many at WVU shaken, and even though John Beilein’s hire turned the potentially disastrous situation into a rose, the lasting impression on West Virginia officials is they don’t want to rush into another decision which is so important on so many different levels for the Mountaineer athletic department.
http://www.wvmetronews.com/index_forsub.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=17521
Revised story:
Rodriguez Vehemently Denies Alabama Connection
Metro News: The Voice of West Virginia
Greg Hunter
Morgantown
TO HEAR ALL OF THE "SPORTSLINE" INTERVIEW WITH WVU HEAD COACH RICH RODRIGUEZ DENYING THAT HE WAS READY TO ACCEPT THE ALABAMA JOB, CLICK THE "LIVE AUDIO" ICON AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE
West Virginia University head football coach Rich Rodriguez emphatically denied that he was on the verge of accepting the head coaching job at the University of Alabama
“I plan on being at West Virginia the rest of my career,” said Rodriguez, who called into Friday night’s “MetroNews Statewide Sport.” Earlier on Friday, WVMetroNews.com had posted a story that said several sources close to the West Virginia athletic department had indicated that Rodriguez had said he was ready to accept the Alabama job, if offered. That story was the topic of discussion during the show’s first segment, and Rodriguez called in shortly thereafter, vigorously denying the truth of the story.
“I don’t know what was said (on the show),” stated Rodriguez. “I was over here with my team at Lakeview for dinner, like we always have the night before a game, and my wife, Rita, calls me in tears saying, ‘You’re not going to believe what is being said (on the Sportsline).’ I asked her what was said, and she said, ‘They are reporting that you’ve already accepted the job at Alabama, you’ve already told your coaches, that you are telling your team tonight.’”
(Editor’s note – The story actually did not say that Rodriguez had already accepted the Alabama job, but in fact that he had told sources that he would accept if offered. The story did cite sources saying that some assistant coaches had been notified, but it did not contain any statement about Rich addressing his team. Semantics aside, Rodriguez denied the main contention of the story – that he was prepared to accept the Alabama job.)
“I said, ‘What are you talking about,’” Rodriguez continued. “She said, ‘Yeah, they are citing athletic department sources.’ I have no idea what anybody is talking about. I have not talked to anybody, they haven’t offered me anything, I didn’t even say I was interested. When all of these rumors came up, all I said was I don’t address rumors. It’s as simple as that. I plan on being at West Virginia the rest of my career, and I’ve got to hear this stuff, and I’ve got to have recruits hear this. I’ve got recruits here, and they’ve got to hear this stuff. It’s ridiculous. I don’t know what kind of journalism you have or what kind of sources you’re going through. I usually wouldn’t even respond, but when my wife calls me and I have recruits asking me, I’m thinking this has got to be nuts. We’re focusing on Rutgers. Everything this week has been focused on Rutgers. We’ve had a great week of practice, we’re going to honor our seniors tonight (with a dinner at Lakeview) and try to send them out the right way and have a great game tomorrow night. It’s as simple as that.
“I plan on being at West Virginia the rest of my career, so I don’t know whose sources you are quoting. Who is even making this stuff up? Where is this coming from? How can they say that?” asked Rodriguez. “I have not even talked to anybody in the athletic department this week. There is no truth to that whatsoever. The only people I’ve talked to have been my coaches, and the only thing we’ve talked about is our normal game week plan – about offense, defense, special teams, what Rutgers is going to do and recruiting. That’s it. Those are the only people I’ve talked to, so I don’t know where this is coming from. I did talk to Ed Pastilong (WVU’s director of athletics) on Monday. He called me about bowl scenarios and a situation in the Big East regarding non-qualifiers. He asked me if anybody (other schools) had call, and I said no. That’s it, so that’s what I’m talking about; this is not responsible journalism. It’s crazy.
“I know we have a lot of fans who listen to the talk show, and to be honest with you, I don’t want to address rumors, because all that does is feed it,” added Rodriguez. “But again, it’s very upsetting to me, the night before a game, to have my family and recruits and players to wonder what’s going on, when all week I’ve told them that nothing was going on. I don’t know why people would throw that out there. I don’t know why people would intentionally try to hurt myself or my program by this stuff. It’s not going to affect anything tonight or tomorrow, because our focus, I promise you, has been on Rutgers. We’ve had a great week (of practice), and we’re going to have a great night tonight to honor our seniors. If these are athletic department sources, they should be taken to task. If it’s somebody involved with us, that is supposedly a source and making that up, then they should be taken to task. That’s what I’m saying.”
Rodriguez was asked a final question by one of the show’s cohosts, Greg Hunter, who was the author of the original story about the WVU coach’s potential departure. “I want to pinpoint this down one time, if offered the Alabama job, would you accept?”
“Right now, I’m not even going to address that, Greg,” stated Rodriguez. “I’m going to repeat myself as clear as I can – I’m planning on being the coach at West Virginia for the rest of my career, if they’ll have me. That’s what I’m planning on doing. I don’t plan on calling and talking to anybody this week, I don’t plan on talking to anybody next week. I don’t plan on doing anything but what I can for West Virginia football. That’s the end of the story. That’s it.”
http://www.wvmetronews.com/index_forsub.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=17521
Rodriguez Vehemently Denies Alabama Connection
Metro News: The Voice of West Virginia
Greg Hunter
Morgantown
TO HEAR ALL OF THE "SPORTSLINE" INTERVIEW WITH WVU HEAD COACH RICH RODRIGUEZ DENYING THAT HE WAS READY TO ACCEPT THE ALABAMA JOB, CLICK THE "LIVE AUDIO" ICON AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE
West Virginia University head football coach Rich Rodriguez emphatically denied that he was on the verge of accepting the head coaching job at the University of Alabama
“I plan on being at West Virginia the rest of my career,” said Rodriguez, who called into Friday night’s “MetroNews Statewide Sport.” Earlier on Friday, WVMetroNews.com had posted a story that said several sources close to the West Virginia athletic department had indicated that Rodriguez had said he was ready to accept the Alabama job, if offered. That story was the topic of discussion during the show’s first segment, and Rodriguez called in shortly thereafter, vigorously denying the truth of the story.
“I don’t know what was said (on the show),” stated Rodriguez. “I was over here with my team at Lakeview for dinner, like we always have the night before a game, and my wife, Rita, calls me in tears saying, ‘You’re not going to believe what is being said (on the Sportsline).’ I asked her what was said, and she said, ‘They are reporting that you’ve already accepted the job at Alabama, you’ve already told your coaches, that you are telling your team tonight.’”
(Editor’s note – The story actually did not say that Rodriguez had already accepted the Alabama job, but in fact that he had told sources that he would accept if offered. The story did cite sources saying that some assistant coaches had been notified, but it did not contain any statement about Rich addressing his team. Semantics aside, Rodriguez denied the main contention of the story – that he was prepared to accept the Alabama job.)
“I said, ‘What are you talking about,’” Rodriguez continued. “She said, ‘Yeah, they are citing athletic department sources.’ I have no idea what anybody is talking about. I have not talked to anybody, they haven’t offered me anything, I didn’t even say I was interested. When all of these rumors came up, all I said was I don’t address rumors. It’s as simple as that. I plan on being at West Virginia the rest of my career, and I’ve got to hear this stuff, and I’ve got to have recruits hear this. I’ve got recruits here, and they’ve got to hear this stuff. It’s ridiculous. I don’t know what kind of journalism you have or what kind of sources you’re going through. I usually wouldn’t even respond, but when my wife calls me and I have recruits asking me, I’m thinking this has got to be nuts. We’re focusing on Rutgers. Everything this week has been focused on Rutgers. We’ve had a great week of practice, we’re going to honor our seniors tonight (with a dinner at Lakeview) and try to send them out the right way and have a great game tomorrow night. It’s as simple as that.
“I plan on being at West Virginia the rest of my career, so I don’t know whose sources you are quoting. Who is even making this stuff up? Where is this coming from? How can they say that?” asked Rodriguez. “I have not even talked to anybody in the athletic department this week. There is no truth to that whatsoever. The only people I’ve talked to have been my coaches, and the only thing we’ve talked about is our normal game week plan – about offense, defense, special teams, what Rutgers is going to do and recruiting. That’s it. Those are the only people I’ve talked to, so I don’t know where this is coming from. I did talk to Ed Pastilong (WVU’s director of athletics) on Monday. He called me about bowl scenarios and a situation in the Big East regarding non-qualifiers. He asked me if anybody (other schools) had call, and I said no. That’s it, so that’s what I’m talking about; this is not responsible journalism. It’s crazy.
“I know we have a lot of fans who listen to the talk show, and to be honest with you, I don’t want to address rumors, because all that does is feed it,” added Rodriguez. “But again, it’s very upsetting to me, the night before a game, to have my family and recruits and players to wonder what’s going on, when all week I’ve told them that nothing was going on. I don’t know why people would throw that out there. I don’t know why people would intentionally try to hurt myself or my program by this stuff. It’s not going to affect anything tonight or tomorrow, because our focus, I promise you, has been on Rutgers. We’ve had a great week (of practice), and we’re going to have a great night tonight to honor our seniors. If these are athletic department sources, they should be taken to task. If it’s somebody involved with us, that is supposedly a source and making that up, then they should be taken to task. That’s what I’m saying.”
Rodriguez was asked a final question by one of the show’s cohosts, Greg Hunter, who was the author of the original story about the WVU coach’s potential departure. “I want to pinpoint this down one time, if offered the Alabama job, would you accept?”
“Right now, I’m not even going to address that, Greg,” stated Rodriguez. “I’m going to repeat myself as clear as I can – I’m planning on being the coach at West Virginia for the rest of my career, if they’ll have me. That’s what I’m planning on doing. I don’t plan on calling and talking to anybody this week, I don’t plan on talking to anybody next week. I don’t plan on doing anything but what I can for West Virginia football. That’s the end of the story. That’s it.”
http://www.wvmetronews.com/index_forsub.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=17521
