I'm giving today's "Pat on the Ass" award to WVU's offensive coordinator Calvin Magee.



The Mountaineers' offensive coordinator couldn't walk out on his players with a Tostitos Fiesta Bowl game to be played against Oklahoma.

"I think it's the right thing to do to put closure on it," Magee said. "We went through a tough season together."

Special Honorable Mention goes to interim coach Bill Stewart who did a tremendous job preparing the abandoned players for their bowl game. Hes the only interim coach to win a bowl this season.

Magee showed a dedication not shown by 7 head coaches who ABANDONED the teams they coached this year for better jobs at other schools BEFORE their bowl games. The result - those teams were 1-6 in their bowls.

And to that, I'm giving a guy I played against in high school, Rich Rodreguez today's "Kick in the Ass" award. He doesn't even get a pic here! Here's how his story unfolds, and you won't hear this on ESPN.

Every year in his tenure, Rich held offers from other schools over WVU's head and leveraged salary raises. Last year before their bowl game it was an offer from Alabama. He demanded a raise, and upgrades to facilities at Mountaineer field. This got WV Governor Joe Manchin and others involved. What they came up with was a 70% salary increase, plus they solicited corporate funding and began improvements to what was already a super facility. After signing a new contract with WVU, Rich commented, "I want to be a Mountaineer forever. I'll be the coach here until they tell me to leave." And leaving early, by contract would mean he would have to refund WVU $4 million. After losing to Pitt a few weeks ago, Rich was asked to meet with athletic director Ed Pastalong and Gov Manchin. They told him they were disappointed in his effort and lack of attention he had given the team of recent, and that a man with a 70% raise should be doing a better job. They would later find out the lack of attention was due to being courted by Michigan. Once they found that out they were furious and told him more or less that if he wanted to leave feel free to do so. Because of that statement, Rich's attorney is claiming he doesn't owe them the $4 million, because they fired him, but that's not the case.

If you saw the Fiesta Bowl preview, Super Bowl winning QB Jeff Hostetler and former Coach Don Nehlen have been supportive of the team the last few weeks. It's a family atmosphere at WVU, which is why Rich was hired in the first place. He's a former player and grew up near Morgantown.

Anyway, couches are burning all over Morgantown tonight after their big win and I am sure "Rich Who?" t-shirts will be out soon.