http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3197764 <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>West Virginia University said Tuesday it will investigate the disappearance of player and football program files found to be missing from the former office of ex-Mountaineers coach Rich Rodriguez. Paperwork detailing every player on West Virginia's roster, as well as the program's activities over the past seven years, went missing between Rodriguez's resignation as coach to take over at Michigan and the team's return from the Fiesta Bowl, the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette reported. A Michigan spokesman told ESPN's Joe Schad that because of an ongoing lawsuit, neither Rodriguez nor the university would comment on the Gazette's report. But Mike Brown, Rodriguez's agent, said he would speak on Rodriguez's behalf later Tuesday. And a source close to Rodriguez told Schad that Rodriguez will say that any discarded documents were "personal notes" and that many of the items cited in the newspaper report as destroyed are still on file at West Virginia. After returning to work about a week ago, the staff at WVU's Puskar Center found that most of the files that had been stored in Rodriguez's office, as well as the players' strength and conditioning files in the weight room, were gone, the Gazette reported. "It's unbelievable. Everything is gone, like it never existed,'' a source within the athletic department, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the Gazette. "Good, bad or indifferent, we don't have a record of anything that has happened.'' According to the source, the missing files include all of the players' personal files, which encompass contact information, scholarship money awarded, class attendance records and personal conduct records, the Gazette reported. "If a player spoke to a school or did public service, we don't have a record of it,'' the source said, according to the newspaper. "If he broke a rule or missed class, we don't have a record of that, either. We don't have anything. All the good things these kids have done over the years, there's nothing -- not a picture of somebody speaking to a class, nothing. Why would somebody do that?'' According to the report, multiple sources said several people in the Puskar Center reported seeing Rodriguez and at least one of his assistants, video coordinator Dusty Rutledge, in Rodriguez's private office shredding paperwork on Dec. 18 -- the day he returned from Ann Arbor after being named Michigan's new head coach. Those who say they witnessed the action said they either paid it no mind or did not know what was being destroyed, according to the report. The newspaper reported that it could not reach Rodriguez or West Virginia athletic director Ed Pastilong for comment on the report. West Virginia and Rodriguez are in the midst of a messy legal battle over his departure from Morgantown. The university is trying to recover $4 million from Rodriguez for leaving with six years remaining on his contract. Rodriguez, in turn, said West Virginia breached the contract by not fulfilling all of its terms of the deal.</div>
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/football/i...to_respond.html <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>UPDATE: 3:07 p.m. Just talked to West Virginia sports information director Mike Fragale who confirmed some aspects of The Charleston Gazette story: "We are investigating that files are missing from the Puskar Center," Fragale said via e-mail. "We will not have additional comment until the investigation is completed." So, yes, there are missing documents. And, despite what the original story said, there is an official investigation. That's ultimately a good thing for everyone involved, because it means there will be some official ruling on A) what's missing and, who's responsible. Still waiting for the statement from Rodriguez' attorney.</div>
http://sportstwo.com/NCAAF/Story/NCAAF/1613234 Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez's relationship with his former employer, West Virginia, continues to get messier, according to a published report on Friday. The Detroit Free Press said that Rodriguez felt obligated to resign from West Virginia because of the administration's actions - not because he received a better offer from Michigan. Furthermore, Rodriguez and his team of lawyers are suggesting the only way to determine his financial obligation to his old school is to open the books of the WVU Foundation - West Virginia's private fundraising arm - the report said. That was a key demand in the formal response that Rodriguez filed Friday in response to West Virginia's lawsuit over the $4 million buyout clause in his contract, according to the Free Press. The foundation is not legally obligated to open its books to public scrutiny under ordinary circumstances. "The only way to tell whether or not West Virginia University has been damaged is to see if its donations to the foundation have decreased and/or if other expenses have increased," said Rodriguez's lawyers, noting the Mountaineers hired assistant coach Bill Stewart to replace Rodriguez at a significantly cheaper salary. Earlier this week, according to numerous reports, Rodriguez filed a $1.5 million letter of credit with the court, arguing that was the most he could potentially owe under the contract in effect when he quit. Rodriguez's counterclaim reportedly also argued that the school lacked the authority to file the lawsuit, saying it should have first been approved by a formal meeting of the Board of Governors. The newspaper said that Rodriguez asked the court to make the foundation a third party to the lawsuit, citing recent news releases that claimed gifts to the foundation "were at an all-time high." He has repeatedly claimed since his departure on December 18 that West Virginia broke the contract by failing to honor a variety of verbal promises, including one to reduce or eliminate his buyout. The Free Press also reported the gradual disintegration of the relationship between Rodriguez and the Mountaineers' athletic department was documented in a series of e-mails written over a five-month period, showing that Rodriguez's relationship with the school went downhill months before he resigned.
Dick Rod, SMH Pay the money, Stop shredding the documents. And scUM, I hope he does the same to you guys in a few years.
