Rodriguez’s contract extended after turning down Tide
Friday, 8 December 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez received a one-year contract extension through January 2014 after turning down Alabama’s job. Terms of the new agreement were not released today.
“The main reason I’m staying are the reasons to stay,” Rodriguez said this evening in Morgantown, W.Va. “There certainly weren’t any reasons not to go.”
Rodriguez said neither he, nor his agent Mike Brown, agreed in principle Thursday to accept the job, as was reported by several media outlets, including The Birmingham News.
“That was false,” Rodriguez said. “I know Mike and he’s a professional and he would have never done that, and I certainly didn’t. I don’t know where that came from, and I don’t believe anybody at the University of Alabama ever gave that impression. I think that’s one of those things somebody throws out there and takes the ball and runs with it.”
Rodriguez said he was “pretty open-minded to everything” once he began talking with Alabama athletics director Mal Moore on Tuesday in New York. He said he decided today to stay at West Virginia while consulting with his wife Rita throughout the day.
“I couldn’t tell you I was leaning heavily one way or the other,” Rodriguez said. “When I talked to Mal, and I think they understood that, that any coach would do due diligence and look at the situation. And that’s all I did.”
Rodriguez said he did not speak directly with Moore until after West Virginia’s regular season ended and praised Alabama for being “first class.” Rodriguez declined to discuss specifics of the discussions. He said Brown was in Tuscaloosa on Thursday to assess the job possibility, not finish a deal.
“As a football coach, you follow college football, you certainly know the tradition and everything that goes on with the University of Alabama,” Rodriguez said. “It didn’t matter where you grew up.
“When something like that (opened) and you’re talked into possibly going down there ... are you kidding me? Some of our folks may be critical of me listening and talking to them. But again, the tradition and everything they do is so well respected in our profession. I felt I had to do it.”
Jon Solomon
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