Let's Honor Jack Fleming

A friend of mine started a Facebook Group to have the press box named after Jack Fleming. So if you are on Facebook, click the link and join.

Thursday Coal Tattoo Is Going To Be Drinking A Lot More After This Week

It's what you do while no one is watching that sends you to church on Sunday.

GREG motherfuckin' IS motherfuckin' MS. I know it is a way too often used phrase, but if you don't go read those three posts the terrorist have already won! You wouldn't want that would you? WOULD YOU?!?!

Amazing that I have the stones to look anywhere else than WVU for something to talk about after the past couple days. I know! But just in case you didn't hear, let Orson tell you.

Assault doesn’t seem to cover this; nor does generic burglary charges. Therefore, we award four points for each charge, and a bonus point for, well, HOLY HELL IN FRONT OF A FIVE-YEAR OLD CHILD? That’s Killing Joke Joker territory, there.

Fuckity fuck fuck fuck! "Boy go get me a paper bag and some model glue. Don't ask questions! Just do it!"

UPDATE: It turns out that Washington left the team well before the arrest. So he obviously knew his time was limited at West Virginia and rather than disgrace the university, he went "lonewolf" and just disgraced himself.

On top of that, I ask you to remember yesterdays posts about a Pirates game gone wrong (don't they all?) and a baseball coach that has a problem getting along with people of other races. God, my only thoughts are the words of Colin Cowherd when he said, "you can tell a successful program by the number of arrests." And that's no justification in my book. It's just greasy, grimy, sloppy eggs.



I'm not one to make threats here, but seriously! Is anyone in charge in Morgantown? What has to happen for this stuff to stop? He's gone? Him too? (admit it, those aren't the two guys you were thinking) Unfortunately, number 2 is still with us.

I feel sorry for Villanova. I really do. I don't think any team in the history of the universe has ever had such a bad off season after winning a BCS bowl game as WVU. I mean, we're in a tie for the Fulmer Cup lead. That other thing that was in the news every fucking day of the week. Gas prices are $4 a gal. or better, and the season is still 30 days away. This will be bad. This will be the biggest release since John Holmes headed to that great porn shop in the sky. The Wildcats are probably going to feel like this when it's all over. And you better believe I'll be playing the part of John Cleese.

The season can't get here soon enough

But other than that, everything is cool.

Thursday Coal Tattoo

You owe more than you have? Better grab a shovel and head down to the mine, son.

Story from Detroit Rock City Free Press- Michigan to pay $2.5 of $4 million buyout.

Rodriguez will pay $1.5 million, spread over three years, beginning in 2010. U-M said it will pay the balance of the sum, $2.5 million, immediately and cover Rodriguez’s legal fees later.

A little disappointing in that most West Virginia fans would rather know that the total amount was coming straight out of RRod's pocket. But we'll take it. Right?

Why settle now? Apparently someone was not in the mood for being deposed or releasing documents.

Either someone just agreed to pay for him (unlikely as he probably has had at least partial backing all along), Michigan finally told him to pay (more likely since the upcoming depositions of Michigan President and A.D. were finally going to drag them into this), or Rodriguez wanted to settle for personnel reasons such as the upcoming season/wanting it to end/wanting to make West Viginians happy (no).

What's the net gain for West Virginia after all this is said and done? Don't look for a link to be appearing anytime soon. I have no idea, but I'll be talking with someone tomorrow that might know. Or at least have a good idea.

And who's the most pissed off person in Michigan right now? Probably John Beilein!

Beilein's first payment was made this past spring, and at the time he added a letter warning he might still contest it at a later date. A very obvious statement that if Rich Rodriguez was able to get out of his buyout, he would use that precedent to fight.

Rodriguez agreeing to pay, removes that possibility for Beilein. The fact that Michigan is also going to pay for over half the buyout plus Rodriguez's legal fees also has to gnaw at Beilein just a bit. It is just human nature. That total paid by Michigan could be close to $3 million by the time the billable hours are tallied, or nearly double Beilein's own negotiated buyout.

Michigan refused to pay any of Beilein's buyout to WVU, stating that was not their problem.

Sucks to be at a football school, huh?

There's a blog for pretty much everything, including the Rodriguez vs. WVU case. Wish I would have seen that sooner. But maybe my answer will come from there if things don't pan out tomorrow.

So now that this all seems to be in the bag, is this the end?

My biggest question is whether West Virginians will finally let this go. One headline today read: "Rich Rod Will Pay!" A degree of bitterness is understandable, but a football coach leaving for a higher-profile job should never be the top news story in the state for months on end. There will no doubt be celebration today, but it's time for everyone, from Gov. Joe Manchin on down, to move on already.

I agree whole heartedly with that statement. This whole mess has been painful to watch. I'm 100% glad we got the money, and I suppose it's worth it. But I hope we learned something from it. Not just as West Virginia fans, but as fans of college football. I hope that we never put someone, be it a coach or a player, on such a high perch again. So we don't become so emotionally attached to anything but the school we root for again. I hope also that Arkansas, Alabama, and yes Michigan were taking notes. Because the silliness coaches have been getting away with over the past decade needs to end. I know at least someone in Tennessee was watching.

I applaud West Virginia for going after Rodriguez for breaking a contract extension that he’d signed just a year before bouncing for Ann Arbor. More universities need to follow West Virginia’s lead. I’ve long found it grossly unfair that players are held to their commitments and lose a year of eligibility for transferring schools, while coaches are basically mercenaries and are free to take any job they chose, regardless of contracts they’ve signed. West Virginia took this as a personal affront and they decided to go after their money and I don’t blame them.

OK, let's all go back to being fans of the game now!

Let's Go!.....................Mountaineers!

Our National Spotlight Nightmare Is Over: Rod Agrees To Pay Up

More later. Like after work later, but here's a story:

Former West Virginia football coach Rich Rodriguez agreed to pay a $4 million buyout clause and settle a lawsuit that the university filed after he broke his contract in December.

The settlement was reached on what had been a key deadline in the case. As part of the discovery process, a judge had given Rodriguez until the end of Tuesday to reveal whether the University of Michigan or anyone else had agreed to pay WVU on his behalf.

Flaherty said a document was produced, but he could not immediately divulge
its contents.

Adding pressure to Rodriguez was a lawsuit WVU filed in a Michigan court last week, asking a judge to order Michigan athletic director Bill Martin and President Mary Sue Coleman to testify in depositions. A hearing on that request had been set for Wednesday afternoon.

Fire Mike Parsons? OK!

When Rodriguez was being courted by Alabama a couple years ago, a lot of rumors were floating around about WVU's assistant AD, Mike Parsons. I even referred to him from time to time as "Richard Cranium." The reason being that from the outside looking in, you got the feeling that he was one of the major reasons that Rodriguez was looking around.

My thoughts about the man were later validated when I asked a friend that used to be student body president at WVU about Parsons. From what I understood, everything was a constant fight with this man. And if he treated Rodriguez with the same attitude he treated the student body, it's really no wonder Rodriguez is gone.

The way things work in the WVU athletic program is that Parsons is the deal maker, and AD Ed Pastilong is the hand shaker. So with the news that Ed Pastilong had no idea Huggins was getting a new contract this spring until 24 hours before the announcement was to go public, I just have to question whether it's time to clean house in the athletic department. But if that isn't enough for you, how bout this.

“I have counseled the athletic director (Ed Pastilong) that I think Mike Parsons should be fired,” said the lawyer via the deposition. “I’ve counseled the (university) president that I think Mike Parsons should be fired. ... I don’t think he’s good for the athletic department.”

Farmer’s thoughts on this were not just based on the radio network, but on Parsons’ entire performance, saying he created a “culture of no.”

“I mean if there’s a question, the answer from Mike Parsons is no,” Farmer said. “It’s not, well, what do we need to do to figure that out or is that a good idea, or a bad idea, (it) is no ... I think we could have somebody in that position in the athletic department that would be better for the athletic department.”

You see, West Virginia probably lost Rodriguez at least partially because of this guy. Put yourself in pre-Rod to Michigan days Mountaineer fans and think how that statement makes you feel. The same thing is also true for Beilein. We're all very happy with his replacement, Huggins. But to let the guy that resurrected the Mountaineer basketball program go the way they did is a black eye on the program in my opinion. And now it seems Parsons has been putting up a brick wall about the radio deal, I guess because he wouldn't be in complete control anymore. Costing the university money while he's at it. Let' s just get rid of the guy and move on. I can't imagine we could do any worse.

Oliver Luck to WVU Board of Governors

Thank Fucking God!

Now if we can just talk him into taking over the athletic department.

Luck, a member of the WVU Sports Hall of Fame, helped guide the Mountaineers to a 26-6 throttling of Florida in the
1981 Peach Bowl. His academic credentials included a magna cum laude degree in history and a law degree from the University of Texas.


While never professing interest in the position, Luck's name occasionally surfaces as a candidate for the athletic director's position at West Virginia. Current athletic director Ed Pastilong has announced a retirement date in 2010.