Posted on 12/08/2006 1:11:19 PM PST by TheBigB
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez turned down Alabama on Friday, telling his players that he'll be back for his sixth season with the Mountaineers.
RodriguezRich Rodriguez has guided West Virginia to three Big East championships and four straight New Year's Day Bowl games, including the 2007 Toyota Gator Bowl vs. Georgia Tech.
A loud applause could be heard from inside the Milan Puskar Center at Mountaineer Field after Rodriguez told his team he would be staying at his alma mater.
"I fully respect his decision and wish him the best," Alabama athletic director Mal Moore said in a statement. "I want to remind everyone of what I said at the outset of this process: my only objective is to get the best person available to lead the Alabama football program.
"I remain determined to bring to our program a proven head coach with impressive credentials."
Alabama officials offered the job to Rodriguez on Thursday morning, but the definitive answer didn't come until more than 24 hours later. Reportedly, Alabama offered Rodriguez a $12 million, six-year contract.
West Virginia athletic director Ed Pastilong worked on a proposal to keep Rodriguez at the school, but details were not immediately released.
"It's a very good contract," said Stephen P. Goodwin, chairman of the WVU Board of Governors. "It's fair to the university. We're all tickled to death."
Goodwin said West Virginia wasn't trying to compete with Alabama's offer.
"We tried to make Rich the best offer WVU could make to keep him continuing on as a football coach. We didn't get into a bidding match. We couldn't have won that war," Goodwin said.
WVU sports communications director Mike Fragale said Rodriguez would hold a news conference later Friday.
Rodriguez has built West Virginia into a Big East power, winning the Sugar Bowl after the 2005 season and a share of three straight league titles. The Mountaineers are 10-2 and will play Georgia Tech in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., on Jan. 1.
Rodriguez signed a seven-year contract in June that pays him $1 million this year with $50,000 annual raises after that, and $600,000 in deferred compensation in December 2011 if he remained as coach.
Alabama fired Mike Shula on Nov. 26 after the Tide went 6-6 in his fourth season and lost its fifth consecutive meeting with rival Auburn.
The Tide had also made overtures to South Carolina's Steve Spurrier and Nick Saban of the Miami Dolphins, but both high-profile coaches opted to stay put.
Then, Alabama's attention turned squarely to Rodriguez, who had both the offensive pedigree and the track record for winning the Tide wanted.
It wasn't clear who the Tide will turn to now, though the university's original wish list also included Navy's Paul Johnson, Wake Forest's Jim Grobe and possibly California's Jeff Tedford.
There have been no confirmed interviews with any of them.
The once-mighty program is again left Crimson in the face in another coaching search. The Tide is seeking its fifth coach since Gene Stallings stepped down in 1996. Stallings is the only coach to manage sustained success since Bear Bryant's retirement after the 1982 season.
MAn Alabamans all but thought it was sure thing last night, they even interupted TV for the announcemenmt of the official acceptance rumor. He pulled the Houston Nutt with Nebraska trick.
College foo'ball ping. :)
No trick. Rodriguez had said he wasn't going anywhere, and he didn't. Maybe the delay was simply Alabama gave a surprising enough offer that Rodriguez was a little tempted, but it was unreasonable for anyone in Alabama's program to give anyone else the notion that the deal was going down.
Kudos to Roriguez for choosing his family, his current life, his players, and his word to them over Alabama's siren song.
Don't worry Alabama fans. You'll get a good coach. Pete Caroll was USC's third choice in 2000, and it worked out okay.
That shows you what working on your car will get ya....
Last I had heard (around 1PM) was that he had accepted the job.
Stunning news for Tide fans. Seems no one wants to get involved with Alabama boosters for no amount of money. They should go hire Bryant's son and be done with it or maybe Joe Namath or The Snake will take the job.
Jake Plummer??
Kenny Stabler
Rodriguez was the last really big fish left who made sense at the job.
Spurrier stayed at SoCar, now Rodriguez is staying at WVU.
Larry Coker??
They could probably hire Mike Price again if they want him :)
It was all just a ploy by Rod to get WVU to give him some more money. I'm sure they'll be few more presents under Rita's tree this Christmas.
Don Shula. :)
Please do not alter article titles. Also, the Chat forum has a Sports topic ideally suited for this kind of material.
GET RID OF MAL MOORE!!
LOL
Maybe not Don Shula, but DAVID Shula is available....
LOL
Ouch, that's gonna leave a mark.
I week ago I made the prediction that Charlie Strong would be the next Alabama coach. I could still be right.
Actually, Coach Rodriguez, through his attorney, accepted the contract last night. He agreeded in principal to become the new coach at Alabama. He backed out on it. If you or I went into a really great and big job worth millions of dollars, we would have hired an attorney also. That attorney would have negociated the contract, told you or me about the results, which we would have agreed to or not. He agreed. He then told the Alabama people he accepted those terms. Then he went home to tell his people his decision, got cold feet, and back out. Thus, it is Rodriguez who did the backing out. He might have told everyone earlier that he was staying, but in fact, he accepted the contract only to back out before signing it. Like the baseball player a week or so ago who accepted the Blue Jays offer, then backed out. The general manager of the Jays said he had NEVER had anyone back out after accepting. Same here with Rodriguez. I am not a Bama fan. But, the guy did tell Alabama he would take the job.
On that note, Vince Lombardi was about the SEVENTH choice for the Green Bay Packers job, if that tells you anything.
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