Full Allegations Emerge on Rich Rodriguez's firing
EDITED (12:58PM)
By suggestion of other posters I have removed a college of excerpts which others felt trivialized the magnitude of the allegations.
I encourage all to read the full details before coming to their opinions. Appreciation goes to the others who have suggested ways to improve my post on this sensitive topic.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:24 PM ^
I read closer -- skimmed the first time -- I'm just asking all to remember that this is the initial version of everything from the side making the complaint and that a lot, not all, of the episodes in it are nothing more than "shitty person" vs "actionable offense" -- but I'll stop.
January 4th, 2018 at 5:46 PM ^
On stopping: you're doing it wrong.
January 4th, 2018 at 2:16 PM ^
You are entirely wrong. Entirely.
January 4th, 2018 at 3:10 PM ^
Surprisingly enough, most sexual harassers/predators ARE egotistical douches.
January 4th, 2018 at 12:46 PM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 12:51 PM ^
Truly. In an age when there is free porn widely available on the internet.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:42 PM ^
Really? Where?
/asking for a friend.
January 4th, 2018 at 3:07 PM ^
I wouldn't be surprised if more of this stuff is happening precisely BECAUSE it's more freely available.
January 4th, 2018 at 4:28 PM ^
The porn never says no; I don't think that works for a guy like this.
January 4th, 2018 at 6:39 PM ^
enough.
January 4th, 2018 at 12:57 PM ^
I'm sure part of it is a very high stress work environment (yes, even at Arizona. D1 coaching is a pressure cooker, some jobs moreso than others). Some guys just have very weird ways of coping and don't know how to handle the stress in a professional (or at least a discrete) manner.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:36 PM ^
Stressed people who don’t have severe personality disorders maybe eat too much or at worst pick up a drug/alcohol habit. At worst they are irritable and neglectful, but they don’t do the things described in that statement.
January 4th, 2018 at 5:08 PM ^
Totally agree. If you have a lot of work to do, the best approach is to focus on the work that you have to do. It sounds like he was using valuable time that could have been used productively to find ways to cheat on his wife and then have meetings to make sure the cover stories were consistent. It's like the old joke about the notice posted on the bulletin board: The Meeting of Conspirators will be in Conference Room A starting at 2:00 p.m. No wonder he didn't have time to coach the defense.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:57 PM ^
I have NEVER heard of someone "coping with stress" by morphing into someone who does the things described in these articles and statements - eating, drinking, exercise...people do those things to cope, but not this. What you are looking at here is a part of the person that Rodriguez essentially always was, a part that we're only discovering now through these allegations.
January 4th, 2018 at 2:28 PM ^
I think it's interesting that the one person specifically named in the letter as a co-harasser* was Dusty Rutledge, who's been with RR since Glenville. This shit's probably been going on for a very long time.
*At a lesser level, mind you--just verbal, no groping.
January 4th, 2018 at 2:53 PM ^
Isn't Rutledge the one who trashed our school at the end of Three and Out, calling us low class (something like that) for firing them?
Fuck that guy.
January 4th, 2018 at 3:16 PM ^
I don't really blame Bacon for being taken in, but he was imbedded with lying scum and maybe it's time to re-read Three and Out in the full understanding of that fact.
January 4th, 2018 at 3:43 PM ^
Thinking back to that book, how many times did Bacon write that a guy "just didn't like Rich," with no explanation given?
We may have our explanation.
January 4th, 2018 at 5:07 PM ^
This guy is the real fat bastard
January 4th, 2018 at 1:02 PM ^
Don't point fingers. You aren't the chick magnet you think buddy.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:03 PM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 1:52 PM ^
Maybe Rita had the change of life and RR wasn't ready to accept it.
January 4th, 2018 at 2:13 PM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 2:44 PM ^
I see two people saying something similar to that. Everyone else agrees that what RichRod (allegedly) did is disgusting and inappropriate. Christ, even Puten and Faux Mo has said its wrong! Stop trying to sound all high and mighty by saying that everyone here thinks she's just cashing in.
January 4th, 2018 at 5:22 PM ^
Let's be honest we all are fans of the sport and if anyone truly knows the inner personalities of football teams today we know that they are littered with people who make transgressions. If you support a team that has people that make criminal actions are you not a bystander? We all claim ignorance when these things come to the forefront, but who really knows what is going on behind the scenes. It must not "disgust" you all to support these teams that win that have members who make these heinous actions. Otherwise you would quit supporting them. If it wasn't for the fix that football gives you 12 Saturday's a year you would have no reason to support them.
January 4th, 2018 at 6:46 PM ^
he said "look at all the dudes". Even if "all the dudes" is 2 out of 50 (which is certainly low since dudes sympathetic to these kinds of actions are probably not going to out themselves in a discussion like this), that is too many dudes. There shouldn't be any excusing this kind of behavior.
January 4th, 2018 at 2:19 PM ^
Because other middle aged men let them. This is not a problem for women to solve, it's a problem with some men, and other men need to step up and fix. Zero tolerance. Don't laugh when you're disgusted. Don't go along to go along. Even tacit approval of this demented, disgusting shit is approval.
January 4th, 2018 at 8:37 PM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 9:44 PM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 12:46 PM ^
My take is.... is Dudek gonna get in trouble now? Multiple times he didn't report it. I know its hearsay based on what she said. I'd bet alot of money this is why he left.
January 4th, 2018 at 2:12 PM ^
he was one of the only empathetic people she still trusted in the department. RR and this Melissa were both adults and its not like Dudek witnessed a rape or an assault happening - the advances RR made weren't necessarily Dudek's thing to report especially if he only heard about them from Melissa, and as Melissa stated she didn't feel comfortably saying much about it at the time, she likely would not have wanted Dudek to say anything to superiors.
January 4th, 2018 at 2:56 PM ^
Iirc from my trainings on this stuff, because of Title IX Dudek (a university employee) would be a "mandated reporter" and have to say something about it, regardless of her wishes.
January 4th, 2018 at 3:05 PM ^
Even if it is just hearsay? I would totally understand if you witness something in person it would be mandatory to report, but its more complicated when it is just rumors and you don't have evidence to support it.
January 4th, 2018 at 3:10 PM ^
I'm not sure at what point it becomes "hearsay" and you don't have to report (or if there is a point at all), but in this case she told him directly that she was harrassed, correct? That's a lot more than just a rumor. Think about it in a different case, campus sexual assault. If a victim told a faculty member that they were victimized, the faculty member would be mandated to report - it wouldn't count as "hearsay" just because the faculty member didn't themselves witness the event.
January 4th, 2018 at 7:07 PM ^
I re-read the statement and she did talk to Dudek about it so he was directly aware and not just after she had left the position, so it wasn't just office hearsay. And Title IX does state that it is required to report both incidents witnessed and incidents that are heard about. But we do not have anywhere close to all the details regarding this situation, and have only heard the victims story.
January 4th, 2018 at 3:10 PM ^
And he would put his job at risk? RR controlled his career to an extent as well. Don't see McQuery coaching anywhere right now.
January 4th, 2018 at 3:16 PM ^
Legally - theoretically - he wouldn't be allowed to be fired by Arizona for coming forward about it. This is an odd case because Dudek/all coaches generally have to get new jobs at different schools every couple of years due to coaching turnover, and if they have a reputation as a whistleblower they could be blacklisted. But the way Title IX is written, the university isn't allowed to punish the person for coming forward. This is maybe an instance where the law doesn't work as well.
January 4th, 2018 at 4:24 PM ^
...if the blacklist is theoretical.
One of the things I'm wondering here is what will happen if Dufek or Ragle are deposed. Have times changed enough that they can respond fully without risking their careers?
January 4th, 2018 at 6:23 PM ^
Not necessarily if he was a non-management staff member similar to Melissa because of the possibility of a perceived threat to his employment or well being if he were to report the behavior. But Yes if he was considered "management" because of his higher level of responsibility as a manager to protect employees from harassment or other abuses.
January 4th, 2018 at 2:33 PM ^
They told her they were more concerned with the misappropriation of funds than the harassment.
If that's what you're getting from HR, and your request for a transfer is denied because "Coach would be pissed," how could Dudek have possibly helped? Other than doing what he seems to have done, that is, by being a sympathetic ear.
January 4th, 2018 at 2:40 PM ^
That looks more like a question than a take to me.
January 4th, 2018 at 12:49 PM ^
... gave it a quick read. Doesn't sound great, but I'm mostly surprised by how poorly written the document is given it is written by her lawyers. It read more like a gossip column, than anything professional.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:20 PM ^
Because it's the opening volley in settlement discussions. Melissa's attorneys took the cannon approach - where everything you can possibly assemble to launch, is launched. There is nothing subtle about the approach. "Here is how ugly we can make this" "You do not want to go to trial" and "Let's talk money."
January 4th, 2018 at 3:11 PM ^
It's the "holy hand grenade" approach
January 4th, 2018 at 11:45 PM ^
January 4th, 2018 at 1:46 PM ^
..."You can make all of this go away for 7.5 million dollars."
January 4th, 2018 at 2:20 PM ^
conclusion was pretty awfully done, it was literally just "Yeah, so society is really into taking down sexual harrassers right now so you WILL lose a trial and have to pay tens of millions so just pay the $7.5 million settlement." Pretty lame attempt at a scare tactic, but I'd bet RR ends up settling for like 2-3 million to avoid a trial.
January 4th, 2018 at 2:32 PM ^
The lawer is doing what the lawer is supposed to do. This is not a "legal" document, this is an opening poker bid.
You are not trying to win a case at this point, you are trying to scare the other side into avoiding a case.
You aren't going for "professional" here, you are indeed going for "emotional".
January 4th, 2018 at 3:21 PM ^
he could have put forth a much better effort than he did to validate the $7.5 million figure than just casually mentioning the social climate and how long emotional trauma can last. Obviously they will aim high initially, but at least provide a better concluding argument to maximize that settlement. From the details given I don't think they would get anywhere close to what they are asking for in a trial.
January 4th, 2018 at 12:49 PM ^