Rodriguez to Meet with Alabama AD Today

Or so the rumor goes. Both are expected to meet today in New York at the National Football Foundation. Rodriguez is there to escort senior line backer Jay Henry who is a finalist for the Draddy Trophy, which is college football's academic version of the Heisman trophy.

While there, Rodriguez is expected to meet with Alabama athletic director Mal Moore. This could be real big, or it could be nothing at all. A trip over to Hire Bob Stoops (hat tip to emailer Boss) shows that airplanes are going here, there, and everywhere. Exactly who is on those planes remains a mystery but they're doing a pretty good job of piecing that info together.

As for my fellow Mountaineer fans, I want to throw a couple things out. "Why won't Coach Rod just come out and say no?" First, I could be mistaken, but I believe he can't turn down a job he hasn't been offered yet. I think that that would somehow be in conflict with his current contract with West Virginia. I believe schools have to contact WVU AD Ed Pastilong before they can speak to Rodriguez. If he turns down the job before Alabama asks permission, that could imply that things weren't done above the table so to speak.

Second, what sort of agreement does he have with his agent? According to my legal adviser, there could be wording in Rodriguez's contract with his agent that he can not refuse a job before it is offered. An agents job is to provide the best options for employment to his client. Regardless of what the client is most happy with or what the client wants to do, the agents job is to explore the possibilities and present them to the client. If Rodriguez cuts that possibility out before it is even offered, then he has just denied his agent the possibility of more money without hearing the offer. And the longer this goes on, the one person that stands to gain the most would be Rodriguez's agent, Mike Brown. The longer this goes on, the more free publicity he gets.

It's all speculation on my part, but I wouldn't mind hearing from some lawyer types or sports agents on the matter. At any rate, it is something to think about. I know we all, as Mountaineer fans, would like nothing more than to know Coach Rodriguez is going to stay in Morgantown, but it might not be that easy just yet. Sometimes you just have to wait.