In late September, a week or so before quarterback Khalil Tate was discovered sitting on the UAβs bench, Rich Rodriguez and his wife Rita drove to Culinary Dropout, Tucsonβs new βitβ restaurant, for a rare night out during the football season.
It was a summit of Tucson power brokers. The Rodriguezes were seated with congresswoman Martha McSally, UA president Robert C. Robbins, UA athletic director Dave Heeke and financier Humberto Lopez, who was one of RichRodβs few connections to the Tucson business community.
The ambitious and engaging Robbins, who stood on the turf at Arizona Stadium and helped to lead cheers during the season opener against NAU, talked about a plan in which he would build an alumni center and hotel on property adjacent to the schoolβs sand volleyball facility, one of the four gateways to campus.
The message was not a subtle one: Robbins expected excellence in football and on every corner of the campus. He was building, not treading water the way in which Arizonaβs football program had evolved.
A few weeks later, the chummy relationships changed.
The UA Office of Institutional Equity began an investigation of Rodriguezβs behavior and the work environment in the football program. Thereβs more: the parent of a former UA player told me Friday that his son participated in a campus investigation with the Office of Institutional Equity last February. The player was asked about Rodriguezβs treatment of players.
At that time, Heeke was still the athletic director at Central Michigan and Robbins was CEO of the Texas Medical Center.
The February investigation was triggered by comments the former player made during an exit interview with former UA athletic director Greg Byrne, who, before he left for Alabama, did not extend Rodriguezβs contract for what is often an automatic roll-over through five years.
In effect, the clock on RichRod was ticking when Heeke and Robbins assumed their positions at the school.
When Rodriguez was fired Tuesday evening, the school announced it would pay him $6.28 million to go away rather than fire him for cause and let the attorneys slug it out.
This strategy seems baffling.
βIf you used that same money to hire a law firm to defend a βfor causeβ termination, it would be worth it from the standpoint of institutional integrity β even if the UA lost,β said Bob Bockrath, former athletic director at Alabama, Cal and Texas Tech, and the No. 2 man in the Arizona athletic department from 1981-91.
βThe same old problem comes up β there is so much money in intercollegiate athletics that so-called senior administrators, presidents and ADs, never have to make a hard decision. Just pay off and move to the next chapter.
βWhat is wrong here? Who wrote an employment contract that didnβt include provisions for standards of moral conduct that would not allow conduct like his to warrant termination βfor causeβ?β
For better or worse, it has become common to throw money at problems and move on.
Arizona State fired football coach Todd Graham for, it appears, the high crime of being βaverage.β Graham was paid about $12 million to go away.
RichRod, who lost 19 of his last 31 games at Arizona, wasnβt even average.
One prominent UA booster said the payoff to RichRod has given him pause to reconsider his financial support of the athletic department.
βIβd offer a million for him to go away and let RichRod fight it,β he told me. βNow Iβm wondering how they are using my donations. Right now, I am at a total stop until I get some answers. Iβm sick of the glad-handing bull. We need a new culture, thatβs for sure. This secrecy bull β¦ the basketball and track stuff, I feel like Iβm part of some third-world university program now.β
Robbins and Heeke have a lot of rebuilding to do to restore faith in the UA athletic program, probably more so than any time in school history.
In the Byrne years, 2010-16, Arizonaβs two most high-profile football boosters, Jim Click and Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno, removed themselves from involvement. Both had been visible game to game on the sideline during the Mike Stoops years.
Neither made a move to support RichRod, nor did he engage them.
In addition to hiring a suitable football coach, one of Heekeβs top challenges will be to cultivate Click and Moreno, and other donors of note who have stepped back.
Heeke hired the search firm DHR International to help him vet potential head coaches. Thatβs another expenditure that doesnβt seem necessary. Previous UA athletic directors, from Cedric Dempsey and Jim Livengood to Byrne, did the great majority of their staff acquisitions through good, old intuition, research and footwork.
Has the business of college football changed that much? DHR said that paying six-figures for its services is necessary. Without a search firm, DHR says βitβs like building a stadium without an architect.β
To the contrary, many of the top names in Pac-12 football didnβt require much of a search at all.
UCLA discovered Terry Donahue on its staff. Oregonβs Mike Bellotti and Chip Kelly were hired from within the UO program. Utahβs Kyle Whittingham spent 11 years on the Utes staff.
Unfortunately, Arizona doesnβt have an assistant coach who seems capable of taking charge. RichRodβs staff is mostly stocked with those from lesser programs. He did not surround himself with the type of assistants, from Rich Ellerson and Duane Akina to Sonny Dykes, who once defined Arizonaβs top seasons.
You donβt necessarily have to hire a name. Arizona discovered Jim Young on the staff at Michigan and Larry Smith at small-time Tulane. Washington Stateβs two-time Rose Bowl coach Mike Price came from little olβ Weber State.
The leagueβs top coach, Stanfordβs David Shaw, was part of Jim Harbaughβs staff. Both of those men were hired away from the University of San Diego Toreros.
Unlike the trend of college football, it doesnβt always have to be a money-grab. A coveted seat at a hot spot like Culinary Dropout doesnβt always lead to success.
