Legal matters are usually no laughing matter, but there is undoubtedly a degree of humor in West Virginia’s lawsuit against the Big East to leave the conference by June 30 of next year.
Just hours before the suit was reported and made public, WaveReport.com noted that former WVU coach Rich Rodriguez was a name being tossed around to potentially replace the fired Bob Toledo at Tulane (Rodriguez has ties to the school from his time there as an offensive coordinator).
Rodriguez was the focal point of a nasty lawsuit by WVU over the buyout they demanded he pay when he left for Michigan in December, 2007. Rodriguez is now a college football analyst for CBS, so naturally, the topic of WVU’s lawsuit came up on “Inside College Football”. Take a peek at Rodriguez’s response below (video courtesy of CBSSprots):
Okay, so that was only kind of awkward, but it was hilarious. And, really, there is a level of hypocrisy on WVU’s end and that’s the joke, nothing more.
But, side by side, it’s not completely the same. West Virginia sued Rodriguez under the belief that the institution had upheld its end of the bargain; that they had provided Rodriguez everything that was agreed upon in his contract. What WVU is arguing in their litigation against the Big East is that the conference did not do its part to keep Big East football a viable BCS conference.
WVU is insisting that they can’t be held to the 27-month waiting period because, in essence, the Big East breached its contract. Therefore, in WVU’s opinion, the bylaws are null. In fact, that’s one of the counts: material breach of contract.
The suit also cites numerous other inactions and issues, but that’s the big picture. Whether or not the school has a legitimate case is to be determined; a likely goal is to settle and move on.
The big picture of the last few months is that no one comes out of conference realignment smelling like roses. WVU’s lawsuit already is, and will to continue to be, a messy separation because the school is acting on what it feels is its best interest. But that’s not an isolated incident. Texas, Texas A&M, Pitt, Syracuse -- even the ACC and the SEC -- they all did what they felt was best for them and them alone.
All we can really do is laugh about the stink.
