MORGANTOWN - As it turns out, maybe Rich Rodriguez isn't the only former high-profile West Virginia coach who needs a hug every now and then.

Isn't John Beilein deserving of one on the scale of the "group hug'' in the old Mary Tyler Moore Show?

And Rodriguez? Well, he fights for seven months, dragging - if not personally then at least collaterally - two institutions and more than a handful of reputations through the muck along the way. In the end he loses on every legal front and doesn't get his buyout reduced even by one of those pennies Gov. Joe Manchin famously swore that WVU would fight for.

His reward is that Michigan, the same school that stranded Beilein on his $1.5 million island, not only ponies up more than 60 percent of the money Rodriguez owes ($2.5 million of the $4 million buyout he agreed to pay Wednesday), but appears ready to cover his legal costs to boot.

A hug? Shoot, Beilein will be lucky if he isn't in therapy after this.

There are only two possible reasons I can see why Rodriguez settled the matter of his buyout clause and agreed to pay the $4 million.

He realized there was no way he could win a lawsuit for anything substantially less than the $4 million, and his bosses at Michigan finally realized that this thing was hitting too close to home.

Bet on a dead-even combination of the two.

Why else does Rodriguez fight tooth and nail for seven months and then resolve the matter in barely a day unless the handwriting was on the wall or there was a gun to his head?

"Let's just say there were a variety of factors that were coming together all at the same time,'' WVU attorney Tom Flaherty said Wednesday.

Indeed. But the speed with which it was resolved was astounding. It was like sitting in a dentist's chair for two hours - hearing the constant whirring of those instruments of torture they use, being poked and prodded and injected - and then the dentist comes in and spends all of 20 seconds pulling your tooth. (Yes, as the philosopher Kramer once said, I'm an anti-dentite.)

But it really was that quick.

According to Flaherty, one of the key components in reaching a settlement was when Rodriguez's attorneys suggested Charleston lawyer Frank Fragale as the mediator in the case. The two sides were under a court order to begin mediating the dispute by Aug. 1, although initially that appeared to be little more than a step in the process.

"They came up with the mediator, not us. ... [But] I've know Frank for 40 years. I trust him. I respect him,'' Flaherty said. "He's probably one of the top five or 10 mediators in the state.''

Flaherty described Fragale's initial involvement as "non-traditional'' in the sense of how mediation usually works.

"We talked about the particulars back and forth and I told him of the strength and the resolve of the university's position,'' Flaherty said. "He then went back and forth between the two of us over probably the last week or 10 days and came to see me on Monday. We talked a little bit more and he asked for my cell phone number and said, 'I may be calling you back today.' ''

Isn't John Beilein deserving of one on the scale of the "group hug'' in the old Mary Tyler Moore Show?

Really, think about it. The guy leaves West Virginia for Michigan, goes through an awful first season there, loses the majority of his fight with WVU over his own buyout clause and then writes the first of five $300,000 checks to his old employer. His new bosses, meanwhile, made it clear right from the start that Beilein's $2.5 million buyout (later negotiated down by a cool mil) was his cross to bear and his alone.

And Rodriguez? Well, he fights for seven months, dragging - if not personally then at least collaterally - two institutions and more than a handful of reputations through the muck along the way. In the end he loses on every legal front and doesn't get his buyout reduced even by one of those pennies Gov. Joe Manchin famously swore that WVU would fight for.

His reward is that Michigan, the same school that stranded Beilein on his $1.5 million island, not only ponies up more than 60 percent of the money Rodriguez owes ($2.5 million of the $4 million buyout he agreed to pay Wednesday), but appears ready to cover his legal costs to boot.

A hug? Shoot, Beilein will be lucky if he isn't in therapy after this.

There are only two possible reasons I can see why Rodriguez settled the matter of his buyout clause and agreed to pay the $4 million.

He realized there was no way he could win a lawsuit for anything substantially less than the $4 million, and his bosses at Michigan finally realized that this thing was hitting too close to home.

Bet on a dead-even combination of the two.

Why else does Rodriguez fight tooth and nail for seven months and then resolve the matter in barely a day unless the handwriting was on the wall or there was a gun to his head?

"Let's just say there were a variety of factors that were coming together all at the same time,'' WVU attorney Tom Flaherty said Wednesday.

Indeed. But the speed with which it was resolved was astounding. It was like sitting in a dentist's chair for two hours - hearing the constant whirring of those instruments of torture they use, being poked and prodded and injected - and then the dentist comes in and spends all of 20 seconds pulling your tooth. (Yes, as the philosopher Kramer once said, I'm an anti-dentite.)

But it really was that quick.

According to Flaherty, one of the key components in reaching a settlement was when Rodriguez's attorneys suggested Charleston lawyer Frank Fragale as the mediator in the case. The two sides were under a court order to begin mediating the dispute by Aug. 1, although initially that appeared to be little more than a step in the process.

"They came up with the mediator, not us. ... [But] I've know Frank for 40 years. I trust him. I respect him,'' Flaherty said. "He's probably one of the top five or 10 mediators in the state.''

Flaherty described Fragale's initial involvement as "non-traditional'' in the sense of how mediation usually works.

"We talked about the particulars back and forth and I told him of the strength and the resolve of the university's position,'' Flaherty said. "He then went back and forth between the two of us over probably the last week or 10 days and came to see me on Monday. We talked a little bit more and he asked for my cell phone number and said, 'I may be calling you back today.' ''

That's when things heated up.

Around the dinner hour Monday, Rodriguez's attorneys - actually it was just one attorney, Sean McGinley - put an offer on the table that Flaherty described as "a very serious, good-faith offer to resolve the case. I presume Frank had some role in that.''

It wasn't the first offer floated by the Rodriguez camp. Flaherty said the first was made in mid-June.

"We just rejected it without a response,'' Flaherty said. He wouldn't discuss the specifics except to say that it was a seven-figure offer, the conclusion drawn from the lack of a response being that it was probably closer to $1 million than the contractually obligated $4 million.

"You would not be wrong in that assumption,'' Flaherty said.

This offer, though, was obviously different. Flaherty immediately called WVU general counsel Alex Macia and Board of Governors chairman Steve Goodwin and tossed around ideas about a response. Then, at the request of Fragale, from about 10 to 11:30 Monday night, Flaherty met with McGinley. Early Tuesday morning, the matter was discussed again in a conference call between Flaherty, WVU president Mike Garrison, Goodwin and Macia. Within an hour, a counter proposal was in Rodriguez's court.

That was the first of many proposals and counter proposals exchanged throughout the day. Suddenly, money wasn't an issue, at least not in terms of the amount West Virginia would receive. Rodriguez's Monday offer was for the full $4 million. Nor was who would pay the amount a consideration. West Virginia didn't care where the money came from.

What was at issue was the payment schedule.

"It was fraught with problems,'' Flaherty said. "Originally they wanted to spread it out over eight, nine, 10 years. That just wasn't acceptable.''

But through the series of proposals, the two sides got close enough that by 10 p.m. Tuesday, Flaherty and McGinley were meeting again. Roughly two hours later they were shaking hands on a deal. It wasn't until about 2 a.m. Wednesday, after discussing more of the particulars, that they finally adjourned the meeting. Ten hours later, the Board of Governors was voting to accept the terms.

With all of that in mind, why didn't it happen earlier? Why did it take seven months for Rodriguez to agree to pay the amount West Virginia wanted all along?

Well, that pressure from Michigan had to be mounting. As long as this was WVU v. Rodriguez, Michigan could stand to be an observer. But WVU was now trying to compel Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman and athletic director Bill Martin to testify in the case.

"I think it probably [had something to do with the settlement offer],'' Flaherty said. "We had a hearing scheduled at 3 o'clock [Wednesday] in a state court in Michigan on our motion for the issuance of subpoenas for them.''

What I've failed to understand all along, though, is why it went on as long as it did. Throughout the entire seven months, Rodriguez's side lost legal judgments at every turn and not once - despite agent Mike Brown's claim to do so - produced anything resembling a smoking gun. They based their defense on the claim that Rodriguez was lied to before signing his contract, which seems like it would be pretty difficult to prove. Why not simply get out the calculator and force West Virginia to prove there was actually $4 million in damages done by Rodriguez's exit? That's pretty much the route Beilein took, arguing that WVU didn't lose anywhere near $2.5 million because of his exit.

Then again, where would the intrigue have been in that?

Reach Dave Hickman at 348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.