MORGANTOWN -- Former West Virginia football coach Rich Rodriguez admitted in an April deposition that when he signed a contract amendment just prior to the 2007 season that he did not ask that a $4 million buyout be reduced or eliminated.

He did, however, reiterate his contention that he had been told by new WVU president Mike Garrison that the buyout would be reduced or eliminated should he choose to leave.

"I trusted what he told me,'' Rodriguez said.

The information is at the conclusion of a deposition that was taken on April 21 at a hotel near the Detroit airport and lasted from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. A transcript of the deposition was provided to West Virginia University attorneys Tuesday and was obtained by the Gazette.

Rodriguez, who left WVU in December to become the football coach at Michigan, is contesting the $4 million buyout that was a part of a contract amendment he agreed to in December of 2006 -- following a flirtation with the University of Alabama -- and was signed on Aug. 24, 2007, just prior to last football season.

The majority of the deposition concerns contract matters, with West Virginia University attorney Tom Flaherty quizzing Rodriguez at length regarding the specifics of his negotiations on not just the latest amendment to the contract, but to all versions of it dating back to his hiring in 2000. Many of the same terms are present throughout all of the deals, although the amount of compensation and other factors varied greatly.

The central conflict between the two sides is and always has been Rodriguez's contention that Garrison told him that he did not believe in buyouts, and that if Rodriguez signed the contract, he would not be held to the entire $4 million amount should he decide to leave.

MORGANTOWN -- Former West Virginia football coach Rich Rodriguez admitted in an April deposition that when he signed a contract amendment just prior to the 2007 season that he did not ask that a $4 million buyout be reduced or eliminated.

He did, however, reiterate his contention that he had been told by new WVU president Mike Garrison that the buyout would be reduced or eliminated should he choose to leave.

"I trusted what he told me,'' Rodriguez said.

The information is at the conclusion of a deposition that was taken on April 21 at a hotel near the Detroit airport and lasted from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. A transcript of the deposition was provided to West Virginia University attorneys Tuesday and was obtained by the Gazette.

Rodriguez, who left WVU in December to become the football coach at Michigan, is contesting the $4 million buyout that was a part of a contract amendment he agreed to in December of 2006 -- following a flirtation with the University of Alabama -- and was signed on Aug. 24, 2007, just prior to last football season.

The majority of the deposition concerns contract matters, with West Virginia University attorney Tom Flaherty quizzing Rodriguez at length regarding the specifics of his negotiations on not just the latest amendment to the contract, but to all versions of it dating back to his hiring in 2000. Many of the same terms are present throughout all of the deals, although the amount of compensation and other factors varied greatly.

The central conflict between the two sides is and always has been Rodriguez's contention that Garrison told him that he did not believe in buyouts, and that if Rodriguez signed the contract, he would not be held to the entire $4 million amount should he decide to leave.

At one point during the deposition, Flaherty asked Rodriguez to read the integration clause that was in the 2002 version of his contract and which also applied to the 2007 amendment. That's the clause that stipulates that the agreement contains all the terms and conditions and that "no other understandings or representations, either oral or written'' will change the written contract.

After Rodriguez read the section aloud, Flaherty asked, "As someone with both a bachelor's and a master's degree, you understand that paragraph, don't you?''

"I may have not understood it completely,'' Rodriguez answered.

Flaherty went on to question Rodriguez about what was originally a $2 million buyout in an earlier version of the contract and whether or not Rodriguez considered it good to have that in the agreement to protect him in the event he was fired. Rodriguez agreed.

But he also said he felt it was unreasonable that if he left the school that he should have to pay $2 million.

"Right,'' Rodriguez said. "Because that -- the market was not at that time. That was a -- if you study the market, that was not the norm.''

Download a PDF copy of Rodriguez's deposition (8.3 MB)

Download a PDF copy of Pastilong's deposition (4.4 MB)

Read more in Wednesday's Charleston Gazette.