NCAA Accuses West Virginia of Violations During RichRod Era

Last February the NCAA accused Michigan of five major violations under new coach Rich Rodriguez. At the time they also decided to backtrack and see if there were similar violations at RichRod's former school.

West Virginia AD Oliver Luck announced Thursday that the NCAA is accusing the Mountaineers of five major violations under Rodriguez and his successor Bill Stewart.

The cases against both Michigan and West Virginia involve non-coaching staff engaging in on-and-off-the field coaching activities, such as staff members monitoring and/or conducting skill-development activities with football players during the spring and summer. Michigan was also charged with coaches demanding that players work over the NCAA-mandated weekly time limits.

Michigan accepted four of the five allegations and self-imposed sanctions such as docking itself practice time this year, restricting the ability of the non-coaching staff to work, two years of probation and letters of reprimand in employees’ files.

Rodriguez will join new Michigan Athletics Director David Brandon next week in front of the NCAA Committee on Infractions. The Committee will determine if Michigan's self-imposed penalties are enough or if there will be further sanctions.

Michigan plans to challenge one allegation -- that Rodriguez "failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance," a charge that the NCAA also leveled against Rodriguez today in the West Virginia allegations.

Rodriguez is 8-16 in his two seasons at Michigan. The Wolverines are picked to finish in the middle of the pack this year in the Big 10. They open up with Connecticut and then travel to play Notre Dame in South Bend. How many wins Rich Rod needs to keep his job is unclear, and the new AD is not giving any public indication as to what he expects.

Accoding to the Columbus Dispatch, as of August 5th, 2010 it has been 2,448 days since Michigan defeated Ohio State. Odds are that Jim Tressel and the Buckeyes will put Rodriguez and the Wolverine fans out of their misery this coming November in Columbus.