West Virginia University v. Rodriguez: Aberration, or Symptom of a Larger Problem?

(Editor's Note: This story was originally published at westvirginia.rivals.com)

by Brian Welch

Whether it’s Average Joe or Governor Joe Manchin, it seems that West Virginia University football fans are up in arms these days over the antics of sports agents such as Mike Brown, who has accused WVU of unethical behavior and racial discrimination in defense of his clients, former Mountaineer coaches Rich Rodriguez and Calvin Magee.

But in the midst of the sordid legal drama unfolding between Brown’s client and the university, WVU law professor andré douglas pond cummings believes that the Rodriguez quagmire is merely symptomatic of big-time collegiate athletics gone awry on a much larger scale.

A former sports agent himself, cummings once represented a number of National Football League players before deciding to focus on his passion for teaching the law. He says that while sports agents have definitely contributed to the increasingly money-driven world of big-time college football, universities must share the blame for the high turnover rate of college football coaches and their distrust of athletic directors and university administrators.

“I think there is a kernel of truth that agents contributed to the mercenary nature of college coaching,” cummings said. “A good agent will gather information, and will know what other coaches are making. With that information, they are able to manipulate opportunities. I think a good agent does what’s in the best interests of his or her client. If making more money is in the best interest of the client, I don’t think there is an ethical problem with an agent urging a client to breach a contract, if in fact they have made provisions for breaching, which can appear in the form of a buyout clause. Nowadays, all contracts have those provisions; that’s the name of the game now.”

However, cummings says it is important to remember that that these buyout provisions often work in favor of the university when a coach fails to live up to inflated expectations.

“Universities and their presidents are just as much to blame in that coaches get terminated for doing well, but not well enough. The University of Nebraska fired Frank Solich in 2003 after a 9-3 season. Their athletic director at the time, Steve Pederson, said, ‘I will not allow the University of Nebraska football program to slip into mediocrity.’ Interestingly enough, they’ve slipped into mediocrity anyway. Many coaches are graduating players and running clean programs, but if they’re not winning enough, they’re getting canned. That’s why so many coaches head for the big money while they can get it.”

According to cummings, the true victim in the power struggle between universities seeking better records and higher revenues, and coaches seeking more job security and higher salaries, are collegiate student-athletes.

“With the kind of money that is afoot, I think there are real problems with universities profiting hundreds of millions of dollars while student athletes are essentially given a scholarship and a stipend,” cummings said. “It’s problematic that in places like Morgantown, number 5 and number 10 football jerseys fly off the shelves, while the players that represent those numbers basically scrap to make their ends meet.”

Instead of fighting tooth and nail over every last dollar to be made, cummings thinks that coaches and universities should allocate more resources to the student-athletes that make the billion-dollar system possible.

“I haven’t studied the issue enough to make the argument that student-athletes should be paid, but I do know that some student athletes have trouble making it to funerals, flying home for the holidays, and buying suits for the NFL draft. I think the NCAA needs to figure out a way to share some of the funds with the players that are responsible for it. Scholarships and stipends are wonderful opportunities for student-athletes, but universities are making millions upon millions based upon their efforts, and the student-athletes don’t see any of that.”

Although he doesn’t profess to know the details behind the dispute between Rodriguez and WVU, cummings says that the former coach should honor his obligation to pay the buyout clause included in his contract.

“Don’t forget that if Rodriguez had gone 2-10 this past season, he very well could have been out the door. I know that had we terminated Rodriguez for poor performance, we would have paid the $2 million dollars we owed him on the termination clause. That’s why he, or someone, should pay $4 million for his breach of the contract.”

Still, cummings doesn’t expect the occurrence of scenarios such as that involving Rodriguez to dissipate anytime soon, and he doesn’t know if the current state of affairs can ever be repaired.

“My guess is that a lot of people would say there’s nothing to be fixed,” cummings said. “We as fans have an insatiable appetite for our teams, and we will for the rest of our lives. I’m a USC fan because I grew up in Los Angeles, and I care about the program. The media proliferation covering our teams allows us to feed that appetite and follow our teams from anywhere in the world, so in many ways, that’s a good thing. But at the same time, it ensures that collegiate athletics will always be more about money and less about the athletes.”

(Photo by Tony Ding/Associated Press)