https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/pac12/2018/01/02/arizona-wei...
Beyond the on-field performance, however, the school also has been dealing with a troubling allegation behind the scenes that led school officials last fall to hire an outside law firm to investigate Rodriguez for potential workplace misconduct, according to the people with knowledge of the probe. Though no misconduct was determined by the probe, which Rodriguez cooperated with fully, a former administrative assistant subsequently has threatened to file a lawsuit against him.
I can't begin to explain how happy I was this waste of space didn't become the head whistle at Tech. He is not a good coach, he isn't a good person and doesn't care about his staff or players.
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Dance party!
So he is available to be the 10th coach for us now? The stars are aligning for a CFP run in 2018!
I heard about this on the news this morning, and this gif was playing in my head the entire time, thanks for making my visions a reality!
Oh so there are some truths to the rumors we're switching to the 5-5-1 defensive formation next year?
I think he has some #METOO stuff dogging him as well. If you win, you might survive that stuff, but he ain't winning.
I'm sure some Michigan fans are already claiming it
I thought I heard back in the day that he knocked up a cheerleader at WVU. Perhaps I'm thinking of someone else. I doubt big time college football is much different than Hollywood or Capitol Hill.
Turns out that was just her uncle/brother that did that but he looked a little like Rich Rod.
Guess he gave her the Richard Rod
his name literally translates to dick dick
only Four legs in nearly 3 hours? This comment is highly underrated.
It should honestly go plaid.
He was never a serious candidate for the coaching job at VT. I'm going to have to start collecting a nickel for every one of you that takes sports writer gossip seriously.
Yes and thank god for that. Would have been a disaster hire- even before this incident- he is not a "fit" at VT.
...and, he's gone.
www.flighttracker.com for those needlessly worrying.
Didn't like him when he was at WVU and I haven't seen any reason to change my opinion since then.
So they basically kept him on just so he could coach in the bowl for them? Unless they had financial implications for firing him before the bowl vs. after the bowl (THEY PROBABLY DON'T IF THE FIRING IS JUSTIFIED), this is questionable timing by Arizona, as well.
If you're claiming morality, you fire him immediately, regardless if he has remaining games to coach in the year. Period.
The statement from the University said they will be honoring the separation terms of his contract, so I'm guessing that means he will indeed get bought out.
It also says that the investigation into the harrassment claim didn't finish until 12/28 and that the claims were unsubstantiated based on the available evidence, so I don't think they're really trying to frame this as a "moral high ground" firing either.
Far easier to pay him off and get rid of him than fight it out trying to prove a moral clause case. Heck, there might be insurance policies for him and the other questionable coaches. I am looking at you Petrino..
I came as soon as I saw the news to see if Fireman had started his celebration thread yet. I was not disappointed.
More information, straight from the University of Arizona:
Would be interested to see what the lawyers on the board have to say about that letter. Seems to be asking for a lawsuit from RR. "Aware of" is not the same as evidence, especially if his lawyers settle with her with non-disclosures which seems to be the direction she has been heading. Then the university has essentially unmasked RR as some sort of sicko with nothing but an "awareness" of evidence.
I'd really like to see these things get fully aired out in court. Who is wrong who is right. Unfortunately there is the morbid somewhat disgusting rubbernecking we all do. RIght now it just seems there is tons of innuendo, tons of talk from the #metoo crowd, but when the rubber meets the road, it all gets settled the same old way it always has. I guess RR won't get rehired. Not like he needs the coin. If he didn't do anything wrong I hope he litigates the f out of it. If you have an AA, and you do almost anything forward, you are kinda asking for trouble. Power imbalance thing.
#feelsbadforkidsgettinguniversityjustice and still feeling the #metoo movement
The way I read it was that the university was investigating a sexual misconduct claim, and found something else that concerned them. That issue may or not be directly related, and doesn't have to be a harassment issue.
Basically this. It means they couldn't find anything that would be considered (at least on its face) "for cause" justification so they're just firing him and paying the buyout in order to avoid the possibility of litigation.
I think this is their way of saying, "we looked into it, there wasn't enough to fire him for cause, but we're just going to play it safe, pay him, and move on to the next coach." Also they may have wanted a new coach due to football performance anyway.
They couldn't find anything because the witness/accuser refused to cooperate. Sounds like they did find other things that they really didn't like.
Right but what I'm saying is it probably wasn't enough to fire him for cause just enough that they knew they wanted to get out.
Exactly. This is a "we are pretty sure he is a scum bag and sexist pig, but technically we couldn't find video or direct witness testimony on that, so we will pay him and move on and hope he doesn't sue us".. I'm guessing their law team looked heavily into that last point of "can he still sue us" before they canned him. If he were 12-1 in the playoffs, they would have stuck with him if this was the only complaint.
SInce they are not firing for cause and agreeing to pay his contractual buyout, I don't believe he has any grounds to sue.
I'm assuming the OP maybe meant that RR would sue for defamation. [incredibly weak claim and would be very dumb of RR to pursue it, but he "could"]
I don't think that exposes UA to any type of legitimate litigation. Two things they're trying to do there, 1) is explain why they're getting rid of richrod. They lay out the factual timeline of what happened, and state that they're firing him without 'cause'. My understanding of these kinds of contracts are that they are essentially 'at will' meaning that we can fire you at any time, and you can quit at any time, within the requirements of the contract (buyout/payout). So they're canning him 'for no reason' and are going to pay the man for terminating the contract early. The actual reason they give which is 'we don't like the direction and culture of the program' could mean anything from 'not winning as much as we'd like' to 'gave UA's biggest booster a dirty look one time' to 'making questionable promises to recruits' to 'smacking secretary's asses' to 'holyfuck we're about to get baylor'd'. All of which would be proper reasons for firing him as long as they pay out the money (with the caveat that the last two, if really substantiated, would result in a 'for cause' firing where they don't pay him).
2) Lay out why there was no action regarding the person that made the initial allegations that resulted in the investigation in the first place. It reads to me as "well, we looked into this, and holy shit we spent a lot of money doing it, but by god she wouldn't cooperate and there's just nothing that we can actually go on there, so this is why we're not doing anything about it".
he just lost a lot of money in his structured bones credits.... wow.
Someone go to the urban dictionary and put his picture as the definition of "shits the bed"
Man this really sucks for all the kids that signed there during the early signing period
The NCAA needs to build a fix into the early signing period. One of the knocks on the early signing period that I heard was that schools would wait to fire coaches (position or otherwise) until after the early signing period was over. The NCAA will need to allow these kids out of the early LOI if the coach leaves or gets released if they choose to.
Counterpoint: meh.
I think that this is the best possible example of "choose the school, not the coach".
I can't picture any player choosing Arizona because of 'the unmissable opportunity to play for Rich Rodriguez'. I know there are plenty of coaches that still cash that chit. RR ain't one of 'em.
I'd be shocked if this news is a dealbreaker for their incoming recruits...
Well there goes his chances of ever being a coach at VT
/s
I know Fireman will disagree, but I give RichRod a lot of credit here for admitting and owning a mistake he made in the past. He seems like a normal guy that is not perfect, just like everyone of us.
The part that caught my eye.
"who is not affiliated with the University."
Wonder if she had been would they have tried to flip it on her as being the one in the wrong.
I would think that phrase was included to indicate that this wasn't a situation like Petrino had at Louisville.
Admitting and owning a mistake is doing so before being publicly shamed and called out for said mistake. He like Tiger Woods and Kobe aren't sorry they cheated they are sorry they got caught. He who shall not be named also is trash for many other things before I even found out he cheated on his wife and used school employees to help him do so.
And I say remove the beam from your own eye before complaining about the speck in your neighbor's.
Dude's aren't "scumbags" or "sexist pigs" for infidelity. (Not quoting you, Fireman... I just read that earlier up in the thread.) I refuse to judge guys like Kobe, Tiger, Shaq, or any other celebrity or athlete who strays down the cheating path, because I don't know what I would do if I had the same choices in life that they have... access, loads of cash, and women LITERALLY throwing themselves at them.
Now if a trial by jury of one's peers demonstrates that somebody used their power or influence to coerce an underling into a sexual relationship; that's a whole 'nother ball of wax.
I think that yes, judging others morals are dangerous and nobody is perfect or without sin typically. But that can be true AND a married guy that cheats on his wife regularly that has young kids, etc. is in fact a scumbag- both can be true. Not all affairs are equal, I get that, but if you cheat regularly and its not a one night stand/drunken vegas scenario or something, that is a pretty scumbag thing to do by most moral/socially acceptable standards.
No way.
Infidelity is something that should be decided upon privately among those involved. I have seen infidelity swing both ways and without being one of the individuals involved you never know exactly what happened. There is WAY TOO MUCH public moral judgement on this IMO. That same guy that cheats on his wife that has young kids may not be getting any affection at all from his wife. Conversely a wife that cheats on her husband that is constantly away on business or whatever may feel severe loneliness. Shit happens in relationships. They're messy. Nobody save those involved or a court in a divorce proceeding should judge.
The non-scumbag thing to do would be to get a divorce if your spouse is not intimate or affectionate enough with you. The very conversation might save your marriage and is the right thing to do. Yes, this is between husband and wife, but thinking and acting with the "little head" when it impacts young kids lives, etc can most certainly be "scumbag" worthy.
so you think divorce doesn't impact young kids lives? argument lost already dude.
never as easy as you are suggesting. you just proved it.
You missed my point totally.. but, of course divorce "impacts" young kids..but far less so if mature, selfless "adults" are involved. I would argue all day long that having your stuff thrown on the lawn and losing all trust from your childrens mother because of cheating and lying is far worse damage on the kids. She will use that against you the rest of your life.. as opposed to a reasonable divorce with shared custody. and AGAIN.. you can be a bad guy, a scumbag cheater but also be a football coach and deserve due process in the hiring firing process. You can also be a bad guy to your wife and be a good dad. Its not one for one.
I can't miss your point if you fail to make it.
You are assuming WAY TOO much. Relationships aren't a movie. Not every case of infidelity results in a wife throwing clothes on the lawn. I have seen relationships get stronger after infidelity. I have seen them break apart. I have seen the partner being cheated on silently allow it to happen. I have seen a lot of things that don't fit into your assumptive norms.
Your inability to understand this is exactly why people not involved should not judge.
Assumptive norms? I would guess that 98% of people are not "ok" with cheating. If you polled people on their wedding day and asked them if they would be OK with their spouse cheating on them- ever, I'm guessing that answer no. The people that justify adultry as "normal" are typically single people.
read again. never said any of this.
your assumptions are on how relationships actually are. not on whether or not people will say cheating is wrong.
The assumptions I'm making are 1. Most are not ok with their spouse cheating and lying. and 2. Reasonable, honest communication and even potentially divorce is less scummy than cheating. That is all.
these are your points of argument. Which btw, nobody is arguing against. Your assumptions are what you wrote in your previous posts.
Yes infidelity can be a scumbag thing to do. I'm not arguing that cheating is socially acceptable. I am arguing that nobody knows the details of a relationship other than those involved, so despite your personal views don't judge someone else's improprieties in their relationship.
Exactly. For all we know, Rich Rod's wife may have given him a pass for his infidelity.
Good Post, I agree with this. We are on the same page
Inserts "That escalated quickly..." GIF.
Off season doesn't have to be rough. We have NFL Playoffs to Olympics to College roundball to Spring practice to NBA playoffs to grillin' season to summer camp. We're going to make it guys...
ooo, can we please get into an argument about morality? Those are always a blast. /s
something, something... minimize button. jk
no worries. i'm not going there. message heard loud and clear from the boards.
How does the morality shake out if your
fanswife keeps giving you the proverbialfreehall pass?Morality aside, if you're getting a hall pass, that likely means she's already put her pass to use.
Bill Burr does a pretty damn funny bit on this. Definitely strong language though and don't want to ruffle feathers with a direct link.
Fuck that, link that fucking shit
Ok, I will preface this by saying I do not defend this jerk as a whole. However, in this particular case, it reads as though he has been owning up to this privately for some time. No person famous or otherwise is obligated to air dirty laundry publicly.
Yeah sounds like he admitted this to his family awhile back, not just because this report came out.
http://footballscoop.com/news/rich-rod-releases-statement/
Man...kind of sucks for him based on his statement but anyway he has the experience to Land somewhere else..
I think he is going to have to do a Lane Kiffin and go to a G5 school to build his reputation and resume back up. I don't see a P5 school hiring him as a head coach anytime soon.
Maybe a 10th coach at a big school.
You calling us a G5 school???
I think the bigger issue is his resume. He hasn't produced the same results since leaving WVU.
So I came across this article this morning which includes the Notice of Claim from the lawsuit from the former assistant...
https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2018/01/03/read-the-allegations...
Now I'm not saying I believe or disbelieve anything in there. I'll let you draw conclusions yourself. It is however an interesting read (in a disturbing way) nonetheless.
What an asshole.
My dislike, well prob more than dislike, previously was not on Fireman's level, but was pretty deep. Something was off. My dad and have discussed things in the past...stuff he's heard having connections at Marshall and throughout West-by-god. But this is very disturbing and unfortunately confirms my vitrol towards this slug.
You can say that again. It felt like the start to the script of a Lifetime movie.
I need a shower after reading this.
With holy water...
Can somebody provide cliff notes?
She claimed to be part of an inner triangle of secrets, was held hostage in her position, forced to cover up a marital affair, and had sexual advances on her. It reads very bad.
I do wonder why she would not cooperate with the investigation. Would that be legal advice perhaps?
I think the concern would be that the investigators would supposedly be asking her questions to find out about RichRod, but would be also collecting information to defend AZ while doing so. She really has nothing to gain to cooperate with the school.
I would never cooperate with an "investigation" being led by a law firm hired by an organization I had an issue with. That's almost as bad as going to HR when you have an issue. You always have to keep in mind who pays whom. The only lawyer you should be talking to once an issue like this arises is your own.
If cooperating resulted in him being fired for cause, then less money available for her to get in a civil case. Or maybe "dick dick" got to her and negotiated a deal. It is in both of their interests for him to collect the $6M severance money.
dick dick lol
I'm no lawyer but after reading that it certainly seems like the school would have enough to show cause for firing Rich even if only half of that is remotely true. Even if it can't all substantiated it seems like there would be enough to negotiate a reduced buyout. The fact that is not happening makes me think there are some people at the school are going into CYA mode to hide some of their own wrong doing. Some of those people may have a whole lot more to lose than Rich Rod, by having the all the dirty laundry aired out.
Every time a WVU fan would tell me that Rich Rodriguez threw that game against Pitt back in 2007 that ultimately cost them their trip to the National Championship, I wouldn't believe them. As time passes, though, and Rich Rod continues to Rich Rod, I am starting to believe that their might be some truth to it. Of course, he couldn't help that Pat White got hurt in that game, but for a team that put up over 40 points a game that season and then to only score 7 (Pitt took a safety on the last play of the game to make it 9) at home against a team that was 4-7 on the season, that is strange to me.
A recent trend in the G5 schools, especially in the CUSA, is to hire failed P5 coaches no matter what issues they've had in their past. Last season, Butch Davis and Lane Kiffin were hired to lead FIU and FAU respectively. Rich Rod isn't a very popular guy in the state of West Virginia. He is one of our own unfortunately and spent half a decade at WVU, so we are more than familiar with him and the way that he is. I don't think Marshall would hire Rich Rod in a million years, especially with how the team has performed under Doc Holliday, but I wouldn't put it past any of the other schools in the conference given the success that FIU and FAU had last season. If Rich Rod does in fact end up at another CUSA school and ends up having to coach a game in Huntington, things could get very interesting. Plenty of WVU fans in the Huntington area would be willing to spend $10 on a ticket just to let Rich Rod know how they feel, and he isn't too popular amongst Marshall fans as well. The chances of him being hired right away are slim in my opinion, but I am totally interested in seeing this scenario play out some day.
We're talking about this guy right?