Rich Rodriguez, the former Michigan head coach we all love to know, has been fired from Arizona.
This decision comes on the heels of a sexual harassment allegations, which the University of Arizona addressed in a statement:
"In October 2017, the University’s Office of Institutional Equity retained outside counsel to investigate allegations of sexual harassment against Mr. Rodriguez, after a former employee in the Department of Athletics alleged that Mr. Rodriguez harassed her on multiple occasions. Like all University employees, Mr. Rodriguez is entitled to a fair investigation and due process and at no time has the University believed that Mr. Rodriguez posed any danger to a member of the community.
"The law firm of Cohen Dowd Quigley was retained by the Office of Institutional Equity to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the allegations made by the former employee, and that investigation began in October. After her initial report to the University in October, the former employee retained counsel and declined multiple requests from the University to participate in the investigation into her allegations. In addition, she was unwilling to turn over communications that she alleged provided support for her allegations and recently filed a notice of a financial claim against Mr. Rodriguez.
"The investigation, which concluded on December 28, 2017, found that the original specific harassment allegations against Mr. Rodriguez could not be substantiated based on the evidence and witnesses available to it. However, Arizona Athletics did become aware of information, both before and during the investigation, which caused it to be concerned with the direction and climate of the football program.
Rodriguez responded shortly after on Twitter, calling the claims "baseless and false" but did admit to, and apologize for an extramarital affair.
— Rich Rodriguez (@CoachRodAZ) January 3, 2018
Despite all of this, Bruce Feldman reports that Rodriguez was not fired for cause, and that the decision to move on was exclusively a football one.
One thing we do know is that Rich Rod will not be on the Arizona sidelines next season.
