Campus Confidential

By Adam Abramson

As much as it will pain some people on here, and part of me, I have to take Rich Rodriguez's side.

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, whom I guess is worried about the arrival of Rodriguez to the league, took park in the following exchange:

Reporter: Is there a gentlemen's agreement in the Big 10?

Tressel: I guess only between gentlemen.

All of this came after Purdue coach Joe Tiller called Rodriguez "a guy in a wizard hat selling snake oil."

And all of that came after two Michigan freshmen to-be, Michael Shaw and Roy Roundtree, switched their verbal commitments from Purdue and Penn State just before Signing Day, after Rodriguez arrived into town.

What did Rodriguez have to say about all of it?

On Jim Tressel's "gentleman's agreement" comments:

If not being a gentleman is recruiting the guy until the end, until the signing date particularly after he visits, guilty as charged, we're going to recruit him until the end. I know as soon as I took the job there was a guy that was committed To Michigan and he changed his recruitment and went to a Big Ten school, right? I didn't say that guy's not a gentleman, I just thought well, heck they must have been recruiting him all the way along and he jumped at the opportunity. You know, we're not going to break any NCAA rules. We're going to play by what the NCAA rules are but the first time I heard about any so-called agreement was after signing day.

I didn't get any memo from the Big Ten and a handbook that says "This is how you're a gentleman." I feel pretty proud about how we recruit, I tell our coaches you know, don't be a negative recruiter, state the facts and all that so you know if you're asking me if I'm going to change how we recruit in the future because of what somebody said? No.

On whether other schools have similar recruiting philosophies:

I could care less what anybody else says, all I can tell you is how we're going to recruit, I'm not going to audition for the job or try to fit a certain style or certain image I've been doing this long enough and I feel pretty proud of our track record and how we do things.

He's right. As much as he burned WVU, he's coaching big time football. There's a lot of rumors about shady acts as he was leaving Morgantown and heading to Ann Arbor, but the guy is trying to win. If anyone should be taking jabs, it should be WVU -- not the coaches of the Big 10.

This happens all the time. I can remember a similar squabble between Frank Beamer and Steve Spurrier a few years ago.

The days of gentlemen are gone. The days of big TV contracts, no-huddle, spread offenses and 75,000 people at spring games aren't going anywhere -- and everyone needs a piece of that pie.

It's time that the Big 10 lay down some of its "old guard" attitude towards the sport or it will become The Big Dinosaur.

Frankly, I think guys like Rodriguez and Ron Zook will jumpstart the conference into the direction it needs to go. And don't be surprised if the same can be said for Joe Paterno's successor, whoever that may be.