MY fellow West Virginians, our long, state nightmare is over.
That's paraphrasing an honest-to-goodness Michigan Man, one of the most famous football players in maize and blue history - the late President Gerald Ford.
The former Wolverine center and linebacker (1931-34) used similar words in his Oath of Office speech to describe the scandal-driven resignation of Richard Nixon.
Go ahead and say it: The coincidental Michigan connection from then to now is something only an Ohio State fan might have appreciated until the last seven months.
The resignation of native son and football Coach Rich Rodriguez from his alma mater's sideline to go to Ford's alma mater has gripped, intrigued and disgusted the Mountain State like Watergate once did our nation.
A lawsuit over a $4 million buyout in his WVU contract that "Coach Rod" balked at paying only led to more rancor.
It was a titillating news story that never stopped, until an out-of-court settlement was reached Wednesday ... and that likely came only because Michigan administrators didn't want to be subpoenaed. So, the school will pay $2.5 million by the end of this month.
Hey, you get what you pay for.
Settlement doesn't mean compromise. WVU will get the $4 million it wanted, the number Rodriguez signed off on 11 months ago as the richest coach in Mountaineer history - and the same number he signed into a buyout in Ann Arbor.
Now, it's Michigan's turn to scream. After all, it's paying most of the freight for Rodriguez's no mas move.
From the start, this one was headed to a one-sided settlement. Rodriguez is sharp enough to know he had less chance to win than he did during his 2001 debut season at West Virginia, which ended 3-8.
As for the "liquidated damages clause" that much of this was about - how Rodriguez's exit would diminish the Mountaineer program? How much has WVU suffered, really?
Not a lot.
OK, it lost a marquee coach who's 45 and a rising national star, replaced by a 56-year-old homeboy lifer in Bill Stewart who won the Fiesta Bowl but still is trying to win over many Mountaineer hearts.
As for winning over the national pundits that regularly lick Rodriguez's Nikes, Stewart couldn't care less about wooing New York than Jane Lew, as long as he wins games.
Immediately after Rodriguez's side-door exit, West Virginia ate 8,174 bowl tickets, costing $1.285 million. Truth be told, that number wouldn't have changed much had Rodriguez stayed. It was the cost of and distance of travel to Phoenix that created most of the WVU deficit.
MY fellow West Virginians, our long, state nightmare is over.
That's paraphrasing an honest-to-goodness Michigan Man, one of the most famous football players in maize and blue history - the late President Gerald Ford.
The former Wolverine center and linebacker (1931-34) used similar words in his Oath of Office speech to describe the scandal-driven resignation of Richard Nixon.
Go ahead and say it: The coincidental Michigan connection from then to now is something only an Ohio State fan might have appreciated until the last seven months.
The resignation of native son and football Coach Rich Rodriguez from his alma mater's sideline to go to Ford's alma mater has gripped, intrigued and disgusted the Mountain State like Watergate once did our nation.
A lawsuit over a $4 million buyout in his WVU contract that "Coach Rod" balked at paying only led to more rancor.
It was a titillating news story that never stopped, until an out-of-court settlement was reached Wednesday ... and that likely came only because Michigan administrators didn't want to be subpoenaed. So, the school will pay $2.5 million by the end of this month.
Hey, you get what you pay for.
Settlement doesn't mean compromise. WVU will get the $4 million it wanted, the number Rodriguez signed off on 11 months ago as the richest coach in Mountaineer history - and the same number he signed into a buyout in Ann Arbor.
Now, it's Michigan's turn to scream. After all, it's paying most of the freight for Rodriguez's no mas move.
From the start, this one was headed to a one-sided settlement. Rodriguez is sharp enough to know he had less chance to win than he did during his 2001 debut season at West Virginia, which ended 3-8.
As for the "liquidated damages clause" that much of this was about - how Rodriguez's exit would diminish the Mountaineer program? How much has WVU suffered, really?
Not a lot.
OK, it lost a marquee coach who's 45 and a rising national star, replaced by a 56-year-old homeboy lifer in Bill Stewart who won the Fiesta Bowl but still is trying to win over many Mountaineer hearts.
As for winning over the national pundits that regularly lick Rodriguez's Nikes, Stewart couldn't care less about wooing New York than Jane Lew, as long as he wins games.
Immediately after Rodriguez's side-door exit, West Virginia ate 8,174 bowl tickets, costing $1.285 million. Truth be told, that number wouldn't have changed much had Rodriguez stayed. It was the cost of and distance of travel to Phoenix that created most of the WVU deficit.
Stewart makes less than half ($800,000) of what Rodriguez would have if he didn't leave Morgantown, but in the exchange, the Mountaineers have a higher-paid - and much better and more cohesive - football staff now.
WVU's Mountaineer Athletic Club fundraising surpassed last year's $13.8 million total. West Virginia's record football season ticket sales of 38,013 last season are likely to be matched for 2008, too - because that's maxed out in a 60,000-seat stadium.
The surprise to me is that Wednesday didn't come sooner. I didn't expect the University of Michigan to allow its aura and tradition to be soiled over and over every time Rodriguez opened his mouth about his former employer and home state that he eventually came to call "f--ing special."
If that didn't cause enough discomfort in Ann Arbor, obviously the real possibilities of subpoenas for campus leaders did.
There were a lot of quiet celebrations Wednesday on major college campuses across the country, too.
WVU getting what it wanted - and what the contract stipulated - in a big buyout on a marquee coach's deal might aid the next school and the next after that when a coach wants to leave for something sweeter.
Rodriguez needs to win big with the Wolverines - like Rose Bowl or BCS National Championship Game big. He's now on the hook for more than a six-year, $15 million contract that puts him in the top 15 nationally among major college coaches (and behind only Iowa's Kirk Ferentz and OSU's Jim Tressel in the Big Ten.)
The maize and blue nation isn't likely to be thrilled that the school will be paying $2.5 million of the WVU buyout, plus picking up his legal fees in a battle in which he was armed with his ego and a legal stance that didn't have nearly the legs of one of those octopi that Rich's new neighbor Red Wing fans lob onto the ice at Joe Louis Arena.
On game days?
If Rodriguez thought the 'Eers' vocal unhappiness during and after last December's program-altering loss to Pitt put him in a funk, wait until he hears 107,000 grousing campers in the Big House, whether it's against the Buckeyes, Spartans, Fighting Irish or another Appalachian State.
Rodriguez is not a Michigan Man, and it's going to take longer for him to become an adopted son after this embarrassment. Then, another West Virginia native - Fairview's Fielding Yost - and Buckeye State-born Bo Schembechler weren't Michigan Men, either ... and they surely did more than OK on the UM sidelines.
Rodriguez won't owe WVU the first of his three $500,000 payments for a $1.5 million portion of the settlement until Dec. 31, 2010. By then, he will have coached three seasons in Ann Arbor.
By then, Michigan will know if it's happy with Rodriguez, and WVU will know what, if anything, it has really lost other than a giddy innocence that seemed to follow the guy's zone blocking and no-huddle spread option to glory.
Hey, Michigan got what it wanted in Rodriguez. WVU got what it wanted in $4 million.
Cue up that great fight song, "The Victors" for both sides, OK?
