MORGANTOWN, W.Va., Feb. 27 (UPI) -- West Virginia University sued ex-football coach Rich Rodriguez for $1.5 million for breach of contract for leaving the school for a similar job at Michigan.
Before the suit, filed recently in Morgantown, W.Va., Rodriguez offered his former employer $1.5 million to settle the contract dispute, which triggered a $4-million buyout clause.
WVU attorneys argued that his counterclaim offer was $2.5 million short.
The school maintains that when Rodriguez left Morgantown in December to take the job at U-M, he broke his contract. Rodriguez claimed that he signed with West Virginia under false pretenses, expecting certain verbal promises from the administration to be kept.
"Binding, written contracts are not unenforceable just because a party does not like its terms in hindsight," wrote WVU attorneys Tom Flaherty and Jeff Wakefield.
Rodriguez succeeds retired Michigan coach Lloyd Carr.
On Jan. 29, he filed for a $1.5 million letter of credit, saying that he owed WVU that amount.
