Rodriguez Likely Staying @ WVU

Take it away EERHole:

RR is staying. He met with Eddie P earlier and issues have been resolved. Unless some other issue arise, he will be the coach at WVU next year. RR has a long way to go to restore my trust. But, the first step is the biggest.

To say that Rodriguez has a long way to go to restore MY trust is a vast understatement. I’m not sure he’ll ever fully do that. But, if this is true (and it likely is), we at least have a fighting chance in the Fiesta Bowl.

[EERHole @ Scout]
[MGoBlog]

Apparently, Rodriguez Is A Child

I have always been critical of Rich Rodriguez’s seemingly inability to accept criticism. In his mind, he is above any negative statement from the fanbase or media. This cements that:

Meanwhile, a longtime friend of Rodriguez, who spoke confidently, said he could understand if the coach were interested in the Michigan job. The friend complained how some Mountaineer fans reacted after WVU lost the Pitt game, ending chances for a national championship.

Some fans booed and criticized Rodriguez, while kicker Pat McAfee, who missed two field goals in the game, reportedly received death threats.

Oh my god, they booed? You mean we complained after losing as a 28 point favorite, at home, to our biggest rival, in a game we had to win to go to the National Championship? You gotta be shittin’ me. I figured we’d give him a big pat on the back. Good job Rich. Good job.

Take your ball and go home to Michigan.

[Metro News — HT: APH]

Michigan, Rodriguez Meeting In Toledo

Once I got over my initial reaction of this news, here is my take:

LET HIM GO!

There’s no way this is a play for more money. There’s no way this is a play for facilities upgrades. We already went through all this last year. We’ve given all we can give. This is Rodriguez simply wanting to “upgrade” over West Virginia. There’s not much we can do about that. The draw of your alma mater is only so much. For Greg Schiano, the home-state team is plenty. For Rodriguez, I guess not.

This isn’t going to stop. Even if he doesn’t accept the Michigan job, the same thing can and will happen next year. And the year after. He’s here now, but he may as well be gone. Maybe not Michigan, but somebody else.

Just let him go.

UPDATE #1: Kudos to Ed Pastilong.

“I don’t know anything about it,” WVU athletic director Ed Pastilong told the Gazette. “The only person who can clarify that is Rich Rodriguez.

“We recently put a strong contract in place with Rich. We made a strong commitment to him and he made a strong commitment to us.”

Mad respect to Pastilong if he holds his ground. We made a very strong commitment last year. If that isn’t good enough, too damn bad.

Update #2:

Update #3: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we have a WBGV correspondent at Hart Field (Morgantown Municipal Airport) as we speak. If Rodriguez was, in fact, on that plane, we should know soon enough.

Update #4: “No comment.” Thanks Rich, you’ve been a big help.

Update #5: Pastilong’s second statement:

“I think it would be unusual that he would be doing that without sharing it with us.”

It has come to this Rich. The day of the first Fiesta Bowl practice and you’re sneaking around the athletic department’s back. PS: I hate you.

Note: Stay tuned for updates…

[Sporting News]
[Charleston Gazette]
[Mgoblog]

Rodriguez and Pastilong: An Exclusive

Earlier today, in a secret meeting, Coach Rich Rodriguez and Athletic Director Ed Pastilong sat down to discuss the day’s events. Ever the attentive reporters, WBGV had a spy in the room. What follows is a word-for-word transcript:

Coach Rich Rodriguez (CRR): Hey, Ed, funny to see you here.

Ed Pastilong (EP): Really, why’s that?

CRR: Oh, no reason. We never get to talk these days.

EP: Yeah, we really don’t. Especially about you covertly flying to Toledo to meet with Michigan’s officials, you son of a bitch.

As Honest As I Can Be (PS: It’s Not Pretty)

In my conversation with Crimson and Cream Machine, I was asked about my individual faith in WVU’s passing game. While my answer is posted at their site, I felt it best to go ahead and display it here. It is as honest as I can be about our inability to consistently pass the football. If you have a dissent, or have any comments at all, leave them below.

Again, the question was, “How much confidence do you have in the West Virginia passing attack?”

Yes, WBGV Is The Most Important Thing Ever

When Coach Rodriguez sat down with his family and his thoughts last season, he had a simple choice: stay at West Virginia or leave to Alabama. This was a terribly tough decision — one that would not be made on a whim. So how, do you ask, did CRR come to the decision to stay at his alma mater?

Obviously, he consulted a higher power: this blog*.

So a year ago, there was that inevitable West Virginia fork in the road for Rodriguez. He was a bright, ambitious 43-year-old who had done great work at home – at two smaller state schools and then WVU – but now had to choose. Would it be the untold potential of Alabama, or the familiar, if possibly limited, life at home?

“By God,” he told his team on Dec. 9, 2006, “I’m staying at West Virginia.”

Staying in West “By God” Virginia was never a smarter choice.

Yes, that’s right ladies and gentlemen. You have WBGV to thank for Rich Rodriguez staying at West Virginia. Remember that forever and always.

* Sure, this blog may not have existed at the time, but we still feel we were influencing CRR just the same. And you should too.

[courtesy of Dan Wetzel at Yahoo]

Rodriguez Still A Mountaineer

Well, since the media has decided that CRR is a candidate for every single head-coaching job in America, I feel it is my duty to report when each of those vacancies is filled.

Today, apparently, is our lucky day, since Rich Rodriguez has turned down Texas A&M. Thanks to Milan Puskar and Steve Goodwin on this one, as they probably managed to negotiate a raise of only $3,000,000/year to keep CRR in Morgantown.

A&M Is Delusional, Part Infinity

Surely, they can’t be serious. As we all well know, the Texas A&M job might as well be available. Current head-coach Dennis Franchione is almost guaranteed to be fired/bought out at the end of the season. In that vein, Aggie Coach has begun the search in earnest. Now, while this site isn’t an official reflection of the A&M coaching search, it does reflect the ludicrousness of the entire fan-base.

Here are some of the “candidates”…

Jon Gruden
Jeff Tedford
Bo Pelini
Tommy Tuberville
Bill Cowher

..and last, but not least…

Rich Rodriguez

Here is what Aggie Coach has to say about CRR:

Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia: At age 44, Rodriguez is rumored to be at the top of A&M’s short list. Last year he was recruited ahead of Nick Saban by Alabama before turning down their $2 million per year offer. He took a laid back culture similar to College Station’s and lacking football program, turning it into a BCS contender. He is the right age and pedigree. WVU is on track again for another 11+ win season and BCS bid. Has the intensity to outrecruit the likes of OU’s Bob Stoops, LSU’s Les Miles and UT’s Mack Brown. He would be the biggest hiring news of the 2007 football season. See his bio here. Making $1.3 million, he is considered one of the top 5 most underpaid coaches. He turned down $2 million from Alabama last year. See another bio here and the YouTube.com video called “This is West Virginia Football.” He also has his own website at CoachRod.com.

I agree with all of these things. What I don’t see is why CRR would turn down Alabama, by far the biggest coaching job in the South, then run and take the Texas A&M job, which is automatically the the second-fiddle in its own state. Apparently, the only people that can see this happening are A&M fans.

If I were A&M, I would spend a little less time focusing on the 12th man and a little more time on the first 11.

[thanks to bringONtheEERS for the tip]

Louisville Game Recap

Forgive me father, for I am about to sin…

Well, that certainly was a steaming pile of dog shit, wasn’t it? Surely, none of us have witnessed a more poorly conceived effort than the one that CRR put together Thursday night. It’s like he popped a couple Xanax and lost all ability for creative thought (and consciousness). Seriously, what was that?

1. What was with the 71 consecutive Pat White runs straight up the middle? (I haven’t rewatched the game, so I don’t know the exact number). It’s like CRR’s play-calling shrinks significantly when we’re facing a test. At some point, you can tell he’s actively trying not to lose, rather than to win. To me, this is embarrassing. The last thing a top 10 program does is play not to lose, at home, to a 17 point underdog. You just don’t do it. You step on their throat from the word go and blow them out of the damn stadium. When we took the 17 point lead, that’s what should have happened. Instead, we played grab-ass for the next 15 minutes. What a fucking joke.
2. Where is Steve Slaton? Outside of the Sugar Bowl, has there ever been a worse big-game player in a Mountaineer uniform? Last year, he put the ball on the turf over-and-over against Louisville and then delivered a whopping 43 yards against South Florida. This year, he has averaged 62.3 yards in our three biggest games (South Florida, Rutgers, and Louisville). It’s obvious that Rodriguez doesn’t trust him in important situations, which is saying a lot when you’re talking about a former Heisman trophy candidate.
3. Don’t let Owen Schmitt punt. Just don’t. If you’re going to go for it on 4th down, go for it. If not, trot McAfee out there and let him punt. He is the fucking punter for God’s sake. I can’t get mad at Owen Schmitt as it’s his job to be a fullback, not a punter. This one, as always, falls on CRR. And while I’m at it, we were lucky to get 9 yards on that punt. It traveled 3 at the most.
4. Noel Devine must play more. There’s just no way around this. Everytime he touches the ball, the entire stadium holds its breath. Not because he might fumble, as is the case with Slaton, but because he might break a run or somebody’s ankles. He’s a game-changer, both with score and momentum. That kick-return was just another example of this. If Slaton is busy throwing up on himself in big games, give the kid a chance. He’s only the most heralded recruit in Mountaineer history.

So that’s about it. If you saw me after the game, you almost undoubtedly told me a “win is a win.” I then undoubtedly wanted to punch you in the face. I came pretty close a couple times, too. If you want to be one of the best of the best, a win is never a win. Style points always count. Walk into the stadium, no matter who the opponent, and fuck them up. Easy as that.

Now, we need to get that memo to CRR.

Rodriguez’s Job Is Safe

In the latest update of the Coaches Hot Seat Ranking, we’re told that apparently Coach Rodriguez’s job is safe…for now. Rodriguez checks in at 106th out of 120 current Div. I-A head coaches (I’ll be damned if I ever call it the Football Bowl Subdivision).

Rodriguez trails some memorable names like Jim Tressel (120 out of 120), Steve Spurrier (119/120), Jim Leavitt (115/120) and Mack Brown (107/120). Personally, I believe Mack Brown will always be on a hotter seat than Rich Rodriguez, national championship and all.

Unfortunately for them, we also see some familiar faces towards the top of the list. Greg Robinson is in trouble (17/120), Mark Snyder is screwed (11/120), and Dave Wannstedt is just plain fucked (7/120).

Hey, at least he’s not Houston Nutt.

Ballhype – West BY GOD Virginia: Rodriguez’s Job Is Safe
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Down the Stretch They Come

Here is a thought-provoking email I received:

Was bored yesterday watching pro football and rewatched the USF game for some reason. As your (Note: That’s me) confidence indicated before the game, we really had no business losing to that team. Very painful to rewatch but for some reason I could not turn it off even knowing the train wreck that was coming. Turnovers and poor game plan the cause. Everytime we ran right at them, we had good to great success yet we only did it 4-6 times. Rod gets very stubborn against these guys for some reason. Same thing last year when he ran Slaton wide to the right seemingly 40 times for no gain. Most telling thing their D coordinator said after the game was that he did not change his game plan one ounce from last year. After the TD drive we gave up on their first drive in the 2nd half, we spent the rest of the half on their side of the field and had 10 points to show for it. I am telling you that ball never crossed our 40 again the rest of the game. That is 25 minutes of time spent on their side of the field and only 10 points.

I know everybody seems to think an 11-1 mark is all but in the books, but we have 4 damn tough games in the next month. This game this weekend will be a lot closer than Vegas is giving it credit for being. I will take 24.5 and Miss St any day. Then we go to Rutgers, play an improving and very dangerous Card team at home and finish up the stretch with maybe our second toughest road game of the season at Cincy. We could easily lose 2 games in that stretch if we do not play very good football.

Syracuse Game Recap

There isn’t that much to say about the game, except that this was WVU’s best overall performance of the season. However, I’m going to make you all suffer through a game recap (editor’s note: fuck!).

The defense stepped up and played a great game after initially looking pretty shaky. I think a girl would compare this defense to me after a night of heavy whiskey drinking. Initially, things are looking pretty sketchy but in the end I turn out to be a very solid performer.

Pat White went down with another injury but he has the heart of champion and should be ready to go against Mississippi State. As I noted during my halftime post, I was keeping track of CRR’s play-calling and I was extremely pleased. We had a balanced attack with the run and pass. CRR even took some shots down the field (9 to be exact).

I still think CRR plays it conservative because he doesn’t totally trust White’s arm, DUMB. Hopefully, in the coming weeks CRR will continue to open up the game plan and take shots down the field. To me, if you really believe in the spread offense you need to do it both horizontally and vertically.

Finally, his name is Reynaud, NOT ReynaRd, you damn idiot announcers.

CRR Statewide Softball-Line

If anyone listened to the Statewide Softball-Line this evening I hope you are as pissed as I am. I always thought CRR was a man but it appears as if he is just a little girl who can’t handle a tough question. I learned two things listening to the show this evening.

First, we now know that CRR is the king of the blame game. He again threw all his guys, especially Jarrett Brown, under the bus saying that they just could not execute any plays. Not only did he throw Jarret Brown under the bus he backed up the damn bus over him again and found a Syracuse sorority girl to give him herpes.

If you did not catch the comment CRR said, the clock was not an issue at the end of the game (WHAT) because they were getting the plays in faster than any coaching staff in the nation. He said Jarrett Brown just could not call the plays fast enough once they were signaled to him. CRR I say BULLSHIT ASSHOLE, you screwed up and you screwed up big time with your play calling by failing to get the ball in the hands of your play-makers. (4 touches by Slaton and Devine in the second half)

Adjusting the game plan does not make you shitty a coach it helps you to win a national title. We will continue to come up just short year in and year out unless you learn to adjust the game plan and take some blame. MAN UP

The second thing we learned is that Tony Caridi is CRR’s bitch. While Tony is no Jack Fleming I still enjoy his play-by-play of the games. Tony man up and ask a tough question…PLEASE!

Things That Made Me Want To Throw My Shoe!

This weekend turned out to not be as bad as I had originally thought. Don’t you worry though I still wanted to throw a lot of shoes.

#1

CRR is one of the most arrogant and hard headed coaches in the nation. Have you noticed that he never takes any blame after a loss? It is always the players fault because they could not “execute” the heavenly play calls from the sidelines.

You know what CRR it is your damn job to call plays that give your boys a chance to “execute”. Throwing around 15 bubble screens (8 against press coverage) and not getting the ball to your playmakers does not give the players a chance to execute. It is time to get over yourself, start throwing the ball down the field against the Cover 0, and take some of the blame.

I could go on about how mad the “execution” comment by CRR made me but I need to move on (if only my high school girlfriend could do the same).

#2

How the hell do Florida and Oklahoma stay above us in the polls after losing to unranked teams? Both were more than two touchdown favorites, Florida was playing in the “The Wetlands,” and we lost to a ranked team at their place. Oh yeah I forgot that they are “traditionally” better programs so they deserve more respect and higher poll rankings.

Perception of tradition in college football is the biggest load of crap but I’m going to stop because that discussion is for another day and another bottle of whiskey.

#3

People already giving up on this team after one loss makes me want to throw both my shoes and one of Charley West’s. Does everyone forget CRR’s first season and the 19 multiple loss seasons under “The Don” Nehlen. As a fan base we all need to take a shot of moonshine, and get over it.

This Saturday I hope you all will sit down in front of your TV and cheer on the Mountaineers when they battle Syracuse Orange for the Schwartzwalder Trophy.

I’m old and my arm is starting to get tired so I’m going back to bed.

Somtimes You Just Gotta Say What The Fuck!!

Strapping young man seeking woman for one night of comfort. Must be hot, skinny, and willing to be spanked.

I am still drunk from last night so this may not be the most coherent post ever but here are some thoughts from last nights embarrassing loss.

Steve Slaton touched the ball TWICE in the second half. With one Heisman candidate on the sidelines CRR basically benched our other Heisman candidate and did not give him a chance to carry us to victory. Now we have NO Heisman candidates.

Devine only got FOUR touches the entire game. If we are not going to get the ball to our playmakers we might as well get ready for Canada come December.

This gets me to my main complaint from last night and it is with CRR. Every time they showed him on the sidelines he was jumping around like CoCo the Monkey. This is not the way a coach should carry himself when his team is trying to make a come back.

Go back and watch the Louisville game from two years ago CRR was calm, cool, and collected on the sidelines. This led us to the greatest comeback in school history. Friday night CRR looked like a damn scared idiot and his play calling is one of the main reasons we got beat. Throw the bubble screens when they play back not when they are using press coverage — JACKASS.

We threw the ball 18 times in the first-half and 20 times in the second half. The difference was that we put it down the field in the second half where we were guaranteed some positive yardage. So to those of you who were yelling THROW THE BALL in the first half, SHUT UP, and realize you have no business talking football.

I’m going to be an asshole here but Mike Dent’s play at center is the main reason we lost this game. During the first half our offense had no timing. Pat White had to be ready for the snap to end up anywhere but in his chest.

This rushed the read option, the bubble screens, and just fucked the offense in the first half. He cost us a touchdown, two first downs, and caused two turnovers (one of which led to a USF touchdown).

All I can say is don’t give up on this team. I have faith in these kids and in CRR. We can turn this around, end up in New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl, and drink ourselves into a stupor and just pretend we are playing for the National Championship.