Un-fucking-believable

[Pell City Tiger]

Coach's accountant: U-M should pay
He says if Rodriguez loses $4 million court fight with West Virginia, school should pay up.
Fred Girard / The Detroit News

If Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez loses his $4 million court fight with his former employer, West Virginia University, his accountant has a firm idea of who should pay the money: Michigan.

The school should, "as an inducement to netting (Rodriguez) as a coach, make him whole on the transaction," including any taxes involved, his CPA, David A. Hammack, of Maumee, Ohio, said in a memo.

"This would mean not only fronting the $4 million payment to WVU, but also grossing it up for Rich, since the $4 million would be part of his first-year compensation," Hammack wrote to Rodriguez's financial adviser, Mike Wilcox, on Dec. 13.

Michigan officials did not deny that possibility exists.

Representative Bruce Madej said in an e-mail he could not "say for certain" athletic director Bill Martin has ruled out making such a payment for Rodriguez.

The memo surfaced in discovery materials Rodriguez's attorneys sent to university attorneys as part of the lawsuit, and obtained by The Detroit News.

Reached at his office Thursday, Hammack refused to discuss the memo.

At issue is a $4 million buyout clause in a contract Rodriguez signed with West Virginia. School officials sued Rodriguez in December. The coach claims university officials lied to him and broke other verbal agreements.

Rodriguez's six-year contract with Michigan has not been completed. A letter-of-intent between the parties calls for Rodriguez to make $300,000 in base salary, $2.2 million in other compensation, up to $300,000 in performance incentives, just under $2 million to pay nine assistants, and for him to own and operate the school's summer football camp. Other perks include insurance and retirement benefits, and two cars.

The records obtained by The News also contained telephone logs of Rodriguez's agent, Mike Brown, that nail down who made the first contact, and when.

The records show Brown talked to Rodriguez on Dec. 7 and 10, and to the coach's wife, Rita, on Dec. 11, about the "deteriorating relationship" with West Virginia officials.

Right after the conversation with Mrs. Rodriguez, at 11:09 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 11, Brown made his first call to Martin.

Martin wasn't there. The records show Brown tried to reach Martin unsuccessfully 17 times over the next several days, leaving a message each time.

In between, Martin and Brown did talk to each other enough to come to a deal, nailed down in a face-to-face meeting among the coach, his advisers, Martin and U-M president Mary Sue Coleman.

The logs show the final call to Martin, at 11:56 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 16. Notes of the call read: "Informed Bill Martin (Rodriguez) was accepting offer to become Michigan's head coach."

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080509/SPORTS0201/805090373/1131

[Jumbo]

I hope they make him pay.

[Snaggletiger]

Nowhere else in the world is a contract NOT a contract more than in sports. 

[Jumbo]

Nowhere else in the world is a contract NOT a contract more than in sports. 

UWV has every right to collect this money, correct?