So Rich Rodriguez will pay
July 10, 2008 by Tony Baldwin
Filed under Sports Rumors
News has come out that new University of Michigan head football coach Rich Rodriguez has settled with his old employer and will return some of the money. Well, Rodriguez is returning all $4 million that was in question to West Virginia University. Not quite a true settlement.
Rodriguez won’t be paying all $4 mil out of his own pocket. His new employer has picked up most of the tab, forcing the Wolverines head coach to pay back $1.5 million to West Virginia. Michigan has also agreed to pick up the tab on Rodriguez’s legal fees. According to UM Athletic Director Bill Martin, this will help him focus on the season and not have this hanging over his head. Well, that’s good news for the football team. We all know that the Wolverines lacked focus in their first game of the 2007 season, so they better get ready for the Utah Utes!
They are laughing at us up in Ann Arbor. First, for them this settlement is pocket change. They did to us what every big entity does to the little guy. “If they want it, make ‘em wait, make ‘em work.” Well, they made us wait and they made us work. And in the end, we got no more than what we were asking for. Did we get less? Of course we did. Money plus time equals more money. Michigan and Rich Rod kept their money and, at least in Rich Rod’s case, will continue to keep some of it, thus generating more money. And how much did we have to spend in attorney fees and costs to get it? We try to console ourselves by saying Rich Rod never had a defense, but we know that $4 million was excessive and therefore a penalty, and unenforceable. Rich Rod and Michigan settled to avoid the distractions as football season approaches. They had budgeted for this from the beginning and finally settled because they had managed what they wanted to accomplish. They jerked us around, made us work, and made us wait.