The deep doo doo has hit the fan...

The Charleston Gazette Wrote:Rodriguez told to provide papers
June 24, 2008

MORGANTOWN - West Virginia University attorneys won a handful of decisions Monday in court proceedings against former football coach Rich Rodriguez.

Monongalia County Circuit Judge Robert Stone agreed to compel Rodriguez's attorneys to produce documents, including four draft letters between the coach and the University of Michigan, regarding negotiations between the two sides before Rodriguez agreed to become the Wolverines' coach in December.

WVU's attorneys want the letters as part of the record because they were written while Rodriguez was still the coach at West Virginia and apparently involve efforts by Rodriguez to stipulate that Michigan be responsible in whole or in part for the coach's $4 million buyout clause in his WVU contract.

West Virginia attorney Jeff Wakefield said part of the value of the letters is to show that Rodriguez was knowledgeable about the buyout and that he was represented by an attorney who was knowledgeable about it, as well.

As part of the dispute over the buyout, Rodriguez has argued that when he signed his last contract with West Virginia in August of last year he wasn't represented by counsel, Bennett Spire.

"Mr. Spire was an attorney who represented Mr. Rodriguez throughout the negotiations of the second amendment of the contract and one of the key things is that Mr. Rodriguez clearly had a lawyer who was advising him,'' Wakefield said after Monday's hearing. "They [Rodriguez's lawyers] are trying to say that his advice was limited. We don't believe that's true and so we want access to those communications."

"It will demonstrate, we believe, that Mr. Rodriguez was clearly negotiating with the University of Michigan, that he had this provision in his contract with West Virginia University that he needed to honor and needed to be paid.''

In addition to Spire's part in the negotiations with Michigan, Wakefield also contends that on Dec. 13, three days before he accepted the job, Rodriguez contacted his accountant in an effort to see what the tax ramifications would be if Rodriguez were to have the $4 million buyout paid by Michigan.

In his ruling on Monday, Stone gave Rodriguez's attorneys 15 days to put together a log of the transactions between Rodriguez and Michigan during the negotiations of the contract.

Wakefield also requested all of the contracts Rodriguez has ever negotiated in real estate and endorsements, an effort to show that the coach had experience in negotiating contracts and that he wasn't fooled into signing a contract that included the $4 million buyout.

I wonder what will be said to distract from these revelations. Just show me the money...

The noose is tightening around RR's neck, and his bank account is about to take a huge hit, a 4 million dollar hit.

Those attorneys aren't working for free, either.....

This couldn't happen to a "better" person.....

What a scumbag.....and what a disappointment....