Stewart: ‘The wounds need to heal’
In the three weeks since he was officially named West Virginia’s football coach, Bill Stewart has managed to keep himself busier than anyone has a right to be, recruiting both a new coaching staff and a new group of players. What he hasn’t had much time to do is worry about the public mess that has become his school’s fight with former coach Rich Rodriguez.
But don’t think for a moment that Stewart doesn’t know just about everything that has gone on, from the dispute over Rodriguez’s $4 million buyout to the mud-slinging that seems to include a new chapter every day.
And like virtually everyone else, Stewart has had enough of it. Tuesday night, though, he became one of the few principles involved to say enough is enough, at least without slinging more mud in the process.
In fact, if he slung anything it was rose petals.
“He’s the football coach at Michigan and I’m the football coach at West Virginia and that’s what we need to be doing,’’ Stewart told the Gazette late Tuesday night. “The wounds need to heal. We need to go on.’’
Stewart, of course, is not so naive to think that all of this can be dismissed with a snap of anyone’s fingers. He fully understands that there are issues that have to be resolved. First and foremost is the legal dispute over the $4 million that Rodriguez’s contract says he owes West Virginia for leaving for another job. That could drag on for months, if not longer.
But as for the he-said, she-said mess that has been created by all of the collateral issues — from Rodriguez calling WVU recruits, shredding files and generally leaving in a huff to new accusations from Rodriguez’s camp of racial prejudice in the search for his successor — Stewart said he wishes it would just all go away so that both universities can focus on the future rather than the past.
“Who is any of this helping? It’s certainly not helping West Virginia University or Michigan. It’s not helping Billy Stewart or Rich Rodriguez,’’ Stewart said. “I understand there are issues and a lot of them have to be dealt with. But hasn’t it just all gotten ridiculous? How did we get to this point?’’
While others certainly feel that way, Stewart said it without slinging any more dirt. In fact, he went out of his way to say he holds no ill will against Rodriguez and, in fact, remains grateful to his former boss.
Stewart recalled that in January of 2000, he was coaching in the Canadian Football League, had just spent a season as an offensive coordinator and felt he was on track to become a head coach in that league. He gave that up to return to his home state and become an assistant coach at West Virginia under Don Nehlen.
That could have been a big mistake when a year later Nehlen retired and most of his staff were left without jobs. But Rodriguez kept Stewart.
“I will always be grateful to Rich for that. He didn’t have to do that,’’ Stewart said. “That’s not to say it was a one-way street. I performed. I gave Rich seven years and I think everybody will agree we did some pretty good stuff. But in the end I have to go back to the beginning and realize that if he hadn’t kept me on the staff, I wouldn’t be where I am today.’’
Stewart said that every time he hears about a new accusation or another controversy he wishes everyone could handle it all as level-headed and as calm as his seventh-grade son, Blaine, and Rodriguez’s sixth-grade daughter, Raquel.
“The night before the Fiesta Bowl, or maybe the night of the game, Blaine text messaged Raquel and said he was worried his dad was going to get killed [by Oklahoma],’’ Stewart said. “Raquel sent a message back that said, ‘Don’t worry. He’ll be fine.’
“Then the next day after we won [WVU beat Oklahoma 48-28] and I got the job, he sent her another message that said, ‘If your dad hadn’t made my dad associate head coach he never would have gotten the job. Thank you.’ She sent a message back that said, ‘You’re welcome.’
“Now you explain to me, how is it that a seventh-grader and a sixth-grader can do that and the adults can’t get it right?’’
BRIEFLY: Stewart would not confirm it, but it appears that Wake Forest quarterbacks coach Jeff Mullen will be named West Virginia’s new offensive coordinator either today or Thursday. Mullen has been offered the job and has said he wants it, but the hiring still has to make its way through the university process.
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