Updated: Star readers weigh in on RichRod's firing, Wildcats' coaching search

Letter: Rodriguez buyout is money for nothing

Re: the Jan. 3 article "UA fires coach Rodriguez."

About $6 million. That is how much the University of Arizona is paying Rich Rodriguez after firing him. That is almost 240 times the amount the university gave to the outgoing president as a bonus for simply meeting expectations.

About $6 million. Remember that number the next time someone tells you the U of A needs to keep the football team because of all the money it brings into the college. Remember that number when you think about the lack of full time teachers because they cost too much.

Can we please now admit we can’t afford this obsession with college football?

David Reynolds

East side

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

Letter: Will large buyouts make universities smarter?

Kudos to recently fired college football coaches Todd Graham and Rich Rodriguez for apparently having managed to extract $18.5 million in buyouts from ASU and the U of A after failing to establish consistently winning football programs at their respective schools as promised and expected. That the leadership of our state university system authorized such one-sided contracts permitting these outrageous and unconscionable windfalls is a scandal.

Are we about to discover that the newly-hired football coach at ASU has also entered into a contract allowing him to win a multi-million dollar “football coaches lottery “ when he is fired because of unsatisfactory performance? Will the U of A follow suit when it selects its new football coach by agreeing that if he is terminated for failure to perform he will be paid enough money to guarantee he will never have to work again? We’ll see.

Charles S. Sabalos

Foothills

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

Letter: Is transparency out of the question?

The lack of any transparency at the University of Arizona Athletic Department is staggering. On one hand, coach Rich Rodriguez is apparently exonerated from claims of sexual harassment and then he is fired by UA president Robert Robbins and athletic director Dave Heeke when claims that (they) were "caused to be concerned with the direction and climate of the football program." And Rodriquez wasn't fired for cause, witness he will receive every dollar owed in the future under his contract.

Utter nonsense. Insulting to any reasonably intelligent booster of the U of A. Some weeks ago I wrote our athletic director and asked for an explanation of why assistant coach Mark Phelps was suspended for two games. Obviously, no student privacy issues were in the picture. I never received a response. Piggy back this on our head basketball coach perpetually refusing to comment on, thereby stonewalling, all things that cloud our basketball future. You have to wonder what goes on there.

Arthur Balbirer

Foothills

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

Letter: Arizona men for the Arizona job

Re: the Jan. 4 column "With RichRod gone, bring ex-Cats home."

Columnist Greg Hansen speaks for the community and the alumni here. We encourage the university to invest in coaches with a true connection to Arizona and Tucson, who will focus on developing high character and high quality men and women. A reputable and ethical program is paramount; winning is secondary.

Edward M. Howard

Foothills

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

Letter: More than qualified for UA coaching job

Please consider this my formal application to be the next head football coach at Arizona. I recently retired and am looking for a challenging position that could pay me tons of money. I believe that I fulfill at least one of the qualities of the last three coaches at Arizona. Due to my complete lack of knowledge of complex offenses and defenses, I feel I could easily match or surpass the record of coach Mackovic.

Unfortunately I don't use profanity, so I wouldn't have the same sideline tirades as coach Stoops. Also unlike RichRod, I treat women with respect and common courtesy. I hope you won't hold these character flaws against me. I look forward to your prompt response. And so it goes... if the athletic director position should soon open up, please consider me for that job, too.

Charles Schultz

Northeast side

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

Letter: Where was the Star on Rodriguez?

Re: the Jan. 4 column "With RichRod gone, bring ex-Cats home."

I read columnist Greg Hanson's front page piece concerning the Arizona football program with interest. One question though: If the program was that toxic, that dictatorial, that demeaning, why didn't Mr. Hanson have the courage to write the article long ago? Should not real investigative journalism have addressed the issue while it was active rather than waiting till after the fact?

Fred Mueller

Green Valley

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

Letter: UA football shouldn't look to the past

Re: the Jan. 4 column "With RichRod gone, bring ex-Cats home."

UA athletic director Dave Heeke should not listen to Greg Hansen when choosing a head football coach for the Wildcats. Sentiment should have no place in deciding what it takes to win here and now. Both Ricky Hunley and Chuck Cecil, while superior players, were defensive coaches in the NFL. And why aren't they working there now? The UA already has a developing program on that side of the ball under a well-liked Marcel Yates.

Better advice is that of David Kelly of KOLD Sports, who suggested going after Mike Norvell of Memphis, a former offensive coach at ASU, whose program nosedived when he left. Both UA and ASU play on a fast, dry track conducive to wide-open offenses. All of Hansen's tear-jerking over Dick Tomey, whose best offensive weapon was the punt, forgets the reality that Tomey eventually failed.

Hansen should stick to writing historical vignettes and cheerleading. Remember, he wanted to scrap the baseball program in favor of Leo Golembewski's hockey team.

John Schmidt

Southwest side

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

Letter: U of A needs more than money

What kind of behavior does the U of A foster in its personnel when individuals such as Rich Rodriguez perpetuate the power tsunami that has flooded the university this week. Alleged hideaway books, co-conspirators who support his reign, football players who text their genitalia to his employees, have his staff cover up his affairs by lying, etc. Where does Rich Rod's moral compass point to? Where does the audacity to be a role model come from? Where is the sincerity to make amends to his wife and children?

The answer is nowhere. When a university has a coach who runs amok in every capacity, it's time for the U of A to clean house, and ensure its departments are the very best. It's a place to learn how to be a leader, not learn how to be an anarch. Pity the football program that has taught absolutely nothing but absolute power and absolute corruption.

CHERYL TOWNSEND

Northeast side

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

Letter: The Triangle of Secrecy

Re: the Jan. 4 article "The accusations facing Rodriguez."

So much for Title IX at the University Sports Department! If this is all true, it appears that almost everyone was included in this sexual harassment, including the players. Yet no one reported it for fear of retribution. No wonder there's a #MeToo movement!

Evidently the UA's Office of Institutional Equity did not find enough wrong to terminate Rodriguez; however, the university had enough sense to terminate him anyway. Rodriguez should not receive any severance pay, contract or not!

Jacqueline Alger

Oro Valley

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

Letter: Severance for both Rich Rodriguez and Todd Graham

How can the University of Arizona and Arizona State University justify pay both Rich Rodriguez & Todd Graham severance packages $18 million? No coach is worth that much money. There are world renown physicians who NEVER come close to such a figure. That is criminal. Rich Rodriguez is a two-timing womanizer. He CHEATED on his wife and she should receive some type of restitution. Just pack our bags and leave.

Pete Monteverde

East side

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

Letter: No payday for Rich Rodriguez

I am tired of reading about large salaries paid to "educator" coaches, only to later learn sordid details of prolonged harassment . I wish the school would sue Rodriguez to recoup the salary (disgorge moneys paid under false pretenses).

Franklin Wyse

Downtown

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

Letter: Unlikely Rodriguez is the only problem

Problematic male behavior at the University of Arizona didn’t start with former football coach Rich Rodriguez’s comportment and didn’t end with his firing. These are not athletic department problems. They are part and parcel of a male-dominated institution in which athletics holds outsized influence through money, competition and physical power.

Examples abound among big men on campus: a former dean accused of sexual assault; a former assistant track coach accused of stalking; fraternities banned for hazing and alcohol violations. Likely there are many complaints to university officials about sexual harassment and discrimination against women in promotions and hiring.

After firing Rodriguez, UA President Robbins said he was “concerned with the direction” of the football program. The Star’s Greg Hansen said he knew of the coach’s “pouty, uncivil and mean-spirited behavior.”

Stop with after-the-fact explanations for enabling a bad actor. Robbins must lead an end to male dominance on campus, and journalists must report what they know when they know it.

Hilda Oropeza

West side

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

Letter: UA coaching position not for hired guns

Re: the Jan. 4 column "With RichRod gone, bring ex-Cats home."

Greg Hansen has once again asserted that it is time to hire an Arizona man to be the head football coach at the University of Arizona. I completely agree. It is time for the U of A to stop pursuing hired guns from parts unknown, with no connection to — or passion for — Arizona football or our community.

We have gone that route with our last three, mostly unsuccessful, football coaches, and it has obviously not worked out well. Chuck Cecil and Ricky Hunley are two of the best athletes and highly regarded individuals to come out of this university, and with the passion and loyalty that these men would bring to the program, I believe that if Dave Heeke has the courage and foresight to hire one of these men that our community would reward that commitment with greatly improved attendance and loyalty to the football program in general.

Dan Egan

East side

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

Letter: Rodriguez deserves apology from Star

The Star — and columnist Greg Hansen in particular — owe UA coach (Rich) Rodriguez a front-page apology. Coverage of his firing belongs in the Sports section and not two days running on Page One. Secondly, needless repetition of salacious, unfounded allegations are biased and unfair. Repeat a lie enough times and people accept it as truth.

Continuous repetition of unsubstantiated allegations amounts to character assassination, and coach Rodriquez deserves an immediate apology. What are we to make of the complainant’s demand for $7.5 million? Is she a disgruntled employee seeking her final payday? This amounts to extortion, and the people of Arizona owe her nothing.

Carl Formby

Northwest side

Letter: No apology necessary on Rodriguez reporting

Re: the Jan. 8 letter to the editor "Rodriguez deserves apology from Star."

The Star should be applauded for telling this woman's story. Do you honestly believe the woman accusing coach Rich Rodriguez would open herself to ridicule and possible harm unless there is some foundation? And what about the work-related phone calls at all hours of the night, etc.? I find it hard to believe these personal errands and after-hour calls are in the administrative assistant job description. If they are, shame on the U of A.

It's time to quit treating overpaid, self-righteous coaches like gods and hold them accountable for the jobs they were hired to do. For the coaches doing just that, I applaud you. YOU are the ones sending important lessons to young men and women. But the bottom line here? The U of A will avoid any inclusion or knowledge of a wrongful act. It's just business, baby. The good news is that a temperamental, pompous coach is gone.

Diane Hawthorne

Green Valley

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

Letter: UA football secrecy seems widespread

Re: the Jan. 4 article “The accusations facing Rodriguez.”

So much for Title IX at the university sports department! If this is all true, it appears that almost everyone was included in this sexual harassment, including the players. Yet no one reported it for fear of retribution. No wonder there’s a #MeToo movement!

Evidently the University of Arizona’s Office of Institutional Equity did not find enough wrong to terminate (Rich) Rodriguez; however, the university had enough sense to terminate him anyway. Rodriguez should not receive any severance pay, contract or not!

Jacqueline Alger

Oro Valley