For the past couple weeks the mood in town has been a weird
one to say the very least. Reports for the last couple weeks have been that
head football coach here at WVU; Rich Rodriquez would be offered and at some
points would become the next coach at the University
of Alabama.
Bama basically didn't get their first choice, or the second…and
some would say even their third before turning to Coach Rod. Now, they have to
turn to someone else yet again.
I have been on both sides of the fence with this situation
over the last couple weeks. At times I thought and felt that Coach was staying
put just because of certain things like how good of a team he has here compared
to the team in Bama and the fact that he would have a greater chance of winning
here than he would ever down there. Not to mention I never felt comfortable
saying that he would leave because of all the problems that Bama has had in
recent years with coaches.
The glove just didn't seem to fit correctly for him I thought.
And now more than ever it appears he doesn't even need to try it on.
And then I felt at times that he was good as gone. Not so
because of all the reports flying around the internet and on the news but more
so because of his actual words and expressions in news conferences and interviews.
His mood just didn't strike me as one of a coach who really wanted to stay and
was seriously looking at another team. I wasn't thinking this because he had a
terrible season. No, it was more so because he refused to answer the now two
million dollar question. Are you staying or are you going?
It was a simple question that just turned this whole
situation over on its back.
Now he is staying because for the lack of a better term, he
was a better poker player than most people will begin to give him credit for. He
never had a serious offers before and once he finally did it made him think
long and hard about his own situation here at WVU. A good situation but a
situation that many in the country felt he was underpaid. A situation that
others also believe needed to get a little better in terms of facilities.
Rod did what many good poker players do, put on a good face
and tried to up the ante as much as he possibly could to get what he wanted. And
he did just that with probably just a 3 of spades and an 8 of hearts. Nothing special,
but enough to get what he wanted. In a weeks time money poured in to get the
facilities he wanted and to get a contract with a little more dough.
Can you seriously blame him? No, but there is some patch
work to be done now. A lot of credibility and respect has been lost with fans
around the Mountain State.
And a lot of credibility and respect has been lost with the media around the
entire country. You can blame Rod for getting what he wanted and looking like a
total jerk in the process but at the end of all this you have to point blame
the media for everything in this situation. Not even a high percentage of the
reports were even remotely accurate during this whole situation.
Reports were correct about the offer of the contract and the
meeting between the sides and the fact that the two sides were interested in
one another. But the rest was erroneous. Dozens of newspapers and news
organizations reported last night that Rod had accepted the job while others
said he was going to be on his way to Alabama
to do so in person today. And other reports were said that he wouldn't even
coach in the team's New Year's Day bowl game with Georgia Tech.
The media showing was mostly pathetic with a story changing
every five minutes because someone got something wrong with initially. Even
ESPN can to be at blame because they too had false reports from some of their columnists
and reporters.
At the end, WVU gets to keep a good coach, not a great coach…a
good coach. WVU is shown to not be a stepping stone while Alabama
is shown to be a bargaining chip. Alabama
is now left feeling empty since they seemingly went all in with Rod.
Who will they turn to? Someone else or will they keep
trying? Who knows, but for now we do know what is certain. Coach Rod is
staying.
