Richie Rodriguez, he doth protest too much.

I love this paragraph in the Mobile story today:

"I don't know exactly what the Alabama mystique is, but if anyone can handle it, he will," Don Nehlen, the former longtime head coach at West Virginia, told the Press-Register. "He's a heck of a football coach. He's so clever. That other outside stuff (pressure at Alabama), I don't think it will bother him. If you lose a game here, they're not too happy either."

Yeah, that's how I'd characterize Alabama fans reacting to losing: not too happy.

That's like saying, "I think we'll be fine if the bullet barely grazes the tiger but doesn't kill it, even at this close range. I smashed a wasp last night that didn't die right away, and it wasn't too happy either, but that worked out OK."

 

SportsCenter said Schad is reporting that it's a done deal...

Nice reporting job by Schad, who seems to be ahead of the pack on this one...

 

Unless, of course, he's wrong.

 

Which he apparently might be.

 

I will laugh and laugh if WVU's counter-offer is enough to get RR to stay.

 

RR seems to have this process down. That would be funny if he stayed.

 

I won't laugh. A lot of writers I like will be humbled by having the Rodriguez story wrong this morning, and that would suck. I've never seen so much misinformation distributed at the booster/trustee/administrator level in a coaching search.

 

Feel the same way. I thought AP and Tuscaloosa were wise to be cautious.

 

But if he has a change of heart over night, how is it the writers' fault?

 

It's their fault for jumping the gun without confirmation. Hell, even AP had 'Bama making the offer, but until he agrees to take it (none of that "agrees on principle, according to a source close to the negotiations" shit), you have to hold off. A lot of writers will have egg on their face if Rich decides to stay at WVU.

 

The longer this thing goes on ...

Well, you know.

 

I don't think this is a situation where Rod changed his mind. I don't think he committed in the first place.

It's telling to me that Cecil Hurt was very careful with his words this morning. "Expected" is a lot different than "accepted" ...