Rodriguez-WVU lawsuit moved to federal court

The move gives the new Michigan coach time to
file a response.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia University’s lawsuit against Rich Rodriguez was transferred to federal court on Wednesday because the former Mountaineers coach had moved to Michigan when it was filed.

“We’re perfectly comfortable and happy to litigate this case in any court,” said Thomas Flaherty, a Charleston attorney representing WVU.

“This is not unanticipated.”

The move gives Rodriguez, hired by Michigan on Dec. 16, until next Wednesday to file a response.

The suit was filed in a local court on Dec. 27 to collect on a $4 million buyout clause in his contract.

Meanwhile, the university is continuing its investigation into missing records associated with the program under Rodriguez.

“What’s got to be determined is what exactly is missing,” WVU spokesman Mike Fragale told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “There’s a lot of things I just don’t know.”

Citing anonymous sources, The Charleston Gazette reported Tuesday that files kept in Rodriguez’s private office disappeared between Dec. 16 and Jan. 3, along with strength and conditioning records from the weight room.

The newspaper report claimed the missing documents included players’ personal contact information, scholarship payments and class attendance records, as well as strength and conditioning records and photographs that tracked players’ physical progress.

The files were discovered missing from the Puskar Center in Morgantown, where Rodriguez had a private office, after WVU coaches returned from the Jan. 2 Fiesta Bowl.

University spokeswoman Amy Neil said the WVU Office of Admissions and Records maintains grade and attendance records in a separate location, so no student-athlete’s academic career is at risk.

Mike Brown, Rodriguez’s agent, has said Moutaineers head coach Bill Stewart, as a former assistant, should have copies of each players’ strength and conditioning tests because multiple copies were made. He also said the university should have any records involving the finances of the summer camps it ran.

Penn St. players to stand trial

BELLEFONTE, Pa. — Two Penn State football players were ordered Wednesday to stand trial on refiled felony assault charges in connection with a campus fight last year.

Police said defensive tackle Chris Baker and linebacker Navorro Bowman beat up a man during a party in October.

District Judge Carmine Prestia dismissed the felony counts last month and ordered the players to stand trial on misdemeanor charges.

But the Centre County District Attorney’s office refiled the felony charges in late December, saying that Prestia erred.

Prosecutors also requested a new judge.

Hawaii hires McMakin

HONOLULU — Greg McMackin’s first head coaching job was with the Warriors of Aloha High School in Oregon.

Now, 40 years later in the land of aloha, he has come full circle.

McMackin was hired as Hawaii’s football coach Wednesday after serving as its defensive coordinator last season on a team that went undefeated until losing the Sugar Bowl.

He replaces June Jones, who left the Warriors to coach SMU less than a week after they were routed by Georgia.

McMackin agreed to a five-year deal that will pay him $1.1 million a season, making him the highest paid coach in school history.

He will earn 10 times his 2007 salary.