[bigboydan]

Why can't I say I'm shocked by this at all.

West Virginia University said Tuesday it will investigate the disappearance of player and football program files found to be missing from the former office of ex-Mountaineers coach Rich Rodriguez.

Paperwork detailing every player on West Virginia's roster, as well as the program's activities over the past seven years, went missing between Rodriguez's resignation as coach to take over at Michigan and the team's return from the Fiesta Bowl, the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette reported.

A Michigan spokesman told ESPN's Joe Schad that because of an ongoing lawsuit, neither Rodriguez nor the university would comment on the Gazette's report. But Mike Brown, Rodriguez's agent, said he would speak on Rodriguez's behalf later Tuesday.

And a source close to Rodriguez told Schad that Rodriguez will say that any discarded documents were "personal notes" and that many of the items cited in the newspaper report as destroyed are still on file at West Virginia.

After returning to work about a week ago, the staff at WVU's Puskar Center found that most of the files that had been stored in Rodriguez's office, as well as the players' strength and conditioning files in the weight room, were gone, the Gazette reported.

"It's unbelievable. Everything is gone, like it never existed,'' a source within the athletic department, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the Gazette. "Good, bad or indifferent, we don't have a record of anything that has happened.''

According to the source, the missing files include all of the players' personal files, which encompass contact information, scholarship money awarded, class attendance records and personal conduct records, the Gazette reported.

"If a player spoke to a school or did public service, we don't have a record of it,'' the source said, according to the newspaper. "If he broke a rule or missed class, we don't have a record of that, either. We don't have anything. All the good things these kids have done over the years, there's nothing -- not a picture of somebody speaking to a class, nothing. Why would somebody do that?''

According to the report, multiple sources said several people in the Puskar Center reported seeing Rodriguez and at least one of his assistants, video coordinator Dusty Rutledge, in Rodriguez's private office shredding paperwork on Dec. 18 -- the day he returned from Ann Arbor after being named Michigan's new head coach. Those who say they witnessed the action said they either paid it no mind or did not know what was being destroyed, according to the report.

The newspaper reported that it could not reach Rodriguez or West Virginia athletic director Ed Pastilong for comment on the report.

West Virginia and Rodriguez are in the midst of a messy legal battle over his departure from Morgantown. The university is trying to recover $4 million from Rodriguez for leaving with six years remaining on his contract. Rodriguez, in turn, said West Virginia breached the contract by not fulfilling all of its terms of the deal.

[Louisvillekid1]

You just beat me to this, Rich Rod took all those papers

[BadNina]

Boy am I glad he didn't come to Alabama.

[Junkyard Dog]

he always came across as a slimeball to me

[clonecat]

West Virginia is bitter

[BadNina]

It's never easy when a family splits up.

[Doc JS]

Originally Posted by clonecat

West Virginia is bitter

WVU is bitter because RR stole or destroyed all those player records???

[clonecat]

They are bitter about him leaving and every piss and crap he takes on a daily basis. They need to move on.

[rjt721]

Originally Posted by BadNina

Boy am I glad he didn't come to Alabama.

Yeah, because Saban is all class.

[BadNina]

Originally Posted by rjt721

Yeah, because Saban is all class.

The honeymoon isn't over yet. Check back with me on that one this time next year.

[Doc JS]

Originally Posted by clonecat

They are bitter about him leaving and every piss and crap he takes on a daily basis. They need to move on.

Well...he did have a 4 milliion dollar buy out that he's trying to weasel out of. And if he stole stuff that was wasn't his, WVU has every reason to be pissed.

[ChuteBoxe]

Damn, that's pretty foul shit for the new Michigan coach to do. Rodriguez has big shoes to fill, and this isn't the way to win supporters in Ann Arbor.

[BadNina]

Other than hamper with the next coach, what would be the point in taking those files?

[Willie Bee]

Originally Posted by clonecat

They are bitter about him leaving and every piss and crap he takes on a daily basis. They need to move on.

My thoughts exactly. Though I don't like it when anyone slinks out of a contract early, I've got no sympathy for West Va. Why would you let someone who has just screwed you around like that have access to any office on campus or to be on campus cleaning out his office without an escort of some type?

[astro61200]

Anyone ever met a WVU fan before? If not, you arent missing much

Atleast not as many teeth as they're missing

[BadNina]

I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you aren't a big WV fan.

[bigboydan]

Here is the latest and great info on Rich Rodriguez.

I didn't think that WV would carry this matter as far as they have.

n an act of good faith, former West Virginia football coach Rich Rodriguez has offered to pay the school $1.5 million to buy out the final six years of his contract, according to a letter of credit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Clarksburg, W.Va.

Rodriguez, who was hired as Michigan's coach on Dec. 16, filed the letter of credit "in the spirit of compromise and as an act of good faith to assure West Virginia University that if this Honorable Court makes an award against Defendant, said monies will be paid," according to the court filing.

Tom Flaherty, an attorney representing the university, said WVU "has no interest in resolving this for $1.5 million."

"The university has lived up to all its obligations under the contract, and the university expects him to live up to the $4 million that is owed," Flaherty said.

Marv Robon, one of Rodriguez's Ohio-based attorneys, said a judge will ultimately decide how much, if anything, Rodriguez owes his former school. Robon said he is prepared to file a response to the university's lawsuit by Monday's deadline. Robon said he requested an extension to file the response -- beyond the Feb. 6 national signing day for college football to avoid negative publicity for both sides -- but West Virginia's attorneys declined the request.

"When I file something, I'm going to hurt them and I don't want to," Robon said. "I have no ax to grind with that university, but I have to protect the interests of Rich and his wife Rita. The other side is so hell bent on what they want to do -- a burning-the-bridges kind of thing."

WVU sued Rodriguez last month to collect on a $4 million buyout clause in the contract he signed Aug. 24. Rodriguez's attorneys have disputed the coach owes his former school that much. Rodriguez claims he was pressured into signing a one-year extension at West Virginia and claims university president Mike Garrison promised to lower the amount of his buyout.

"The perception is the coach is trying to get out of this and not pay West Virginia anything," said Ethan Davis, another one of Rodriguez's attorneys. "We're certainly willing to pay something, but the $4 million is absolutely oppressive and unfair."

In the latest court filing, Rodriguez's attorneys wrote: "The amount of the Letter of Credit is equal to the maximum liquidated damages provision [penalty] at the date of termination provided in the first amendment to the original Employment Agreement. In any event, the amount of the letter of credit exceeds the first payment that Plaintiff claims is due."

Former Mountaineers basketball coach John Beilein, who was hired as Michigan's coach last April, paid West Virginia $1.5 million to buy out the final five years of his contract. The amount was $1 million less than the penalty called for in Beilein's contract, which ran through the 2012 season.

[BadNina]

Let's say WV wins this suit. Will this stop coaches from bailing on long term contracts? Will this stop universities from offering extentions? Or will it make them more likely to offer one so that they can fire for sorry seasons, etc. but the coaches are more stuck?

[clonecat]

Obviously Rodriquez is going to have to pay more than the $1.5 million, but if they let Beilein out for less than his buyout, I would have to think a judge would rule somewhere in the middle. I guess Rich is going to have to pay between $2.5 and $3 million. I think he would have had to do the whole $4 million if they did not let Beilein out of his contract for less.