'Smear' campaign irks Michigan's Rodriguez

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Rich Rodriguez wanted to focus on the future when he left West Virginia to coach Michigan's football team.

A month later, Rodriguez was compelled to talk about the past.

"There seems to be a campaign to try to smear me," Rodriguez said Thursday during a hastily scheduled conference call. "I haven't said anything until recently, when I felt I needed to defend all the false accusations.

"It has just gotten ridiculous over the last couple of days."

An investigation into missing files from Rodriguez's former office revealed the academic records of West Virginia football players are secure after a newspaper report raised questions about missing paperwork.

"There's so many inaccuracies and falsehood and innuendo, at some point, you get tired of getting beat up," he said. "It was that I erased academic files, then the next day, 'Oh no, that didn't happen.' The corrections are on page six (of the newspaper) and the lead story is on page one."

Rodriguez said he only removed personal papers, such as notes about players or his game plans.

"There was an implication that I had all these secret files and I was throwing them away, but it's simply not true," Rodriguez said.

Marv Robon, one of Rodriguez's attorneys, said when Rodriguez took over for the retired Lloyd Carr at Michigan, "there was not one piece of paper" in his new office.

The same courtesy should have been anticipated when Rodriguez left West Virginia, Robon said.

Since Rodriguez's departure, his relatives say they have been harassed and threatened. His mother, Arleen, said the coach's home was also vandalized, including a mailbox thrown in the yard. Dozens of groups devoted to her son's downfall have appeared on the Facebook social networking site.