Image: Tuscaloosa News
The Tuscaloosa News is reporting that Rodriguez has been offered the Bama job. Alabama's Scout.com site is reporting that Rich Rodriguez will not coach the Gator Bowl. That fact will be clarified one way or the other by morning.
The Miami Herald is reporting that Alabama offered Nick Saban a $10 year 57 million contract with a $7 million signing bonus. To me, that sounded like a gigantic pile of bullshit put forth by a sports agent looking to escalate pay scales across the profession.
Cecil Hurt, sports editor of the Tuscaloosa News, didn't buy it either. He appeared on Paul Finebaum today. He spoke with John McMahon (Alabama Trustee) who said that the report was a "complete and total fabrication." He added:
McMahon, who spoke to The Tuscaloosa News in a telephone interview, added that the report was “harmful to the University of Alabama and harmful to college athletics." "It is stunning to me that a responsible newspaper would report that,” McMahon said. “They obviously did not contact anyone at the University of Alabama because that report is totally and completely false."Hurt said the offer to Saban -- if it had been true -- would have "blown the roof" off the pay scale for college coaches. Hurt wanted to know "Is Bama willing to reset the pay scale?" The Bama trustee said no way. In fairness to Bama, the Miami Herald didn't really have a source of any validity. They quoted hearsay from players on the Dolphins.
Bama's rapid pace in working with Rodriguez is forcing Miami's hand. They have to decide how bad they want to get involved..
UA fans who want to get REALLY excited about RichRod should listen to Kirk Herbstreit's interview with Finebaum on the topic. You'll go nuts with glee.
PWD
6 comments:
About 3-4 days ago I was chatting with someone about Rodriguez and what a great coach he was. I agreed, without thinking. After a little thought, I have to say that he might be a great coach, but his record at WVU doesn't prove it. The best thing he can say is that he caught us flatfooted at the Sugar Bowl last year and hung on for the win. But in what has to be one of the easier conferences to compete in, he's managed to lose two games this year with what would appear to be better talent. We'll just have to see, I guess. If he does go to Bama, the SEC will definitely take the measure of a coach, imo.
Rodriguez's loss numbers in his first four years at WVU: eight, four, five, and four. Not an outright conference championship among them; he didn't win one until two years after Miami and Virginia Tech had booked from the Big East. I'm not saying he's not a good coach, or that he can't be a good coach in the SEC, I'm just saying that the notoriously itchy-trigger-fingered Bama fanbase is not automatically going to let him prove it just because he's Rich Rodriguez. If he spends four years winning 8-9 games a season, going to Cotton Bowls, and not beating Auburn every time, who's to say we're not gonna be right back here having this same conversation about some other supposedly hot-commodity coach?
Y'all just keep talking like that - we don't want RichRod to go anywhere! We’ve got a good thing going here and we’d like to keep it that way.
Regarding the Big East; where are Miami and Virginia Tech this year? Are they better off out of the Big East? (On the field I mean – the money is another matter.) And when you look at the numbers inside the conference, don’t dismiss so easily the level of competition – it’s better than what you think. Known only to those inside the Big East – it’s a tough conference! Consider the Louisville-Rutgers game; had Ohio State been on that field, that night, against Rutgers, they would have lost. Louisville didn’t beat themselves, they didn’t lose to the zebras; they lost to a team that played to a higher level than anyone outside of Rutgers could have dreamed possible. And then Cincinnati did the same thing the next week! Who’da thunk it? A Big East conference opponent might not bring their "A" game; they may show you a "Ueber A" game. Sure we’d like to see WVU dominate the conference, but it isn’t going to happen. Why? It is a tough conference, and it just gets tougher every year. Look at the performance from the beginning. Sure those early years against other conferences were disappointing, but the Big East has been steadily improving year after year. No flash in the pan here, the train is rolling. And in spite of the naysayers, didn’t miss the departure of what had been marquee schools.
Well, as they say, the poof is in the pudding, so let’s enjoy the Christmas season and just see how the Big East teams do. I predict they will match or exceed the other conferences and certainly will not be the worst performers. If they all win their bowl games, will you then give respect? Will others?
Oh, and one more thing, forget about the Florida State program – just you never mind that many didn’t even know they had a football team, until another WVU coach went there. IF RichRod joins up with the Crimson Tide, he could end up seated at the right hand of "Bear" Bryant – Lordy Lordy, I hope not.
You made some really good points there. I mean, West Virginia lost to a really talented South Florida team (the same team that lost to KANSAS earlier in the season). Oh yeah, lets not forget about Louisville, the Big East powerhouse (that lost to Cincinnati, a school that lost to Virginia Tech 29-13). But you're right, the Big East really is a good conference.
Another good point, the bowls really will show us how good the Big East is, since the competition is so tough... Louisville vs Wake Forest, Cincinnati vs. Western Michigan, Georgia Tech vs. West Virginia, Rutgers vs. Kansas State, and lets not forget East Carolina vs. South Florida. Let’s face it; the biggest competition comes from the ACC, which is definitely down this year (I guess losing 12 first-round draft picks didn’t contribute to that). I really wouldn't be surprised if the Big East went undefeated in their bowls... they'd still be a joke. The fact that a 2 loss Rutgers team is ranked higher than a 2 loss Virginia Tech team is appalling (especially considering the fact that both of Rutgers’ losses came later in the season and one of Rutgers’ losses came from a Cincinnati team that VT beat. Let's face it, the only reason anyone considers taking the Big East seriously is because the media wants to hold on to the idea of a tournament... or at least whine about it so that they can have a story besides the one about how much Terrell Owens wants to kill himself.
Anon - your post is 12:09....your post is asinine.
Florida is playing for the national title. But they lost to Auburn who lost to a UGA team that lost to Vandy. I mean so what?
He WILL coach the Gator Bowl! wahoo!
poor bama. GL Dogs!
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