WVU’S PRESIDENT RESIGNS
One of the principals in the ongoing poop-fight over Rich Rodriguez’s contract buyout, Mike Garrison, is resigning as the president of West Virginia University. In addition to earning the enmity of football boosters by (in their eyes, at least) dicking around DickRod, he also handed out an MBA to the governor’s daughter. This would have been just fine if she’d taken the coursework and passed all the classes, which inconveniently for Garrison, she had not.
If you would like an MBA from WVU, Garrison should be in his office for the next few hours. Be sure to mention a fictional position of power potentially beneficial to him: we recommend calling with a fake accent and identifying yourself as “The Sultan of Glutan,” who is not only interested in financing a pro-smoking sci-fi picture starring Brad Pitt, but also has an open position at the University of Glutan waiting for him.
Football probably didn’t have everything to do with this, but to suggest the Rodriguez scandal didn’t have something to do with it would be as dumb as, say granting a university degree or admission to school based on the cheap calculus of political favors. (For more fun in this department, see the blowup referenced here at our own alma mater. Florida’s gay governor wants well-connected doctors, dammit!)
HT: TCOAN
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1
NewAZTiger says:
Someone’s sleeper sofa’s gettin’ burned tonite!
June 6th, 2008 at 11:26 am
2
Bobak says:
Great post until you started calling someone “gay”. I guess you think Boi from Troy is automatically an idiot, despite linking to him on the right.
June 6th, 2008 at 11:29 am
3
Bagger Douche says:
Regarding the linked article, I believe Crist promised admission into University Club.
June 6th, 2008 at 11:32 am
4
yoyofutbawl says:
Someone call Jethro Bodeen rat now. He could get his medical degree today and become the brain surgeon he always wanted to be. HOT DIGGETY DAWG!!!
This also explains why Doc Fogelsong quit as Prez in Starksville several months ago. Home cookin.
Don’t know what the Guv’s daughter looks like but his niece lives in CLT and is a pure 10.
June 6th, 2008 at 11:32 am
5
blon57 says:
Florida’s gay governor…
Apparently, Charlie has a girlfriend. And republicans, like Iran and A&M, are not gay.
June 6th, 2008 at 11:35 am
6
Orson Swindle says:
Bobak–
Perhaps you missed the irony of Crist constantly being referred to as “Florida’s Gay Governor” here, which we could actually care less about. Boi From Troy was our first big break blogging.
June 6th, 2008 at 11:40 am
7
Bones says:
“If you would like an MBA from WVU”
I’d rather get mine from University of Phoenix, thank you very much.
June 6th, 2008 at 11:48 am
8
blon57 says:
I need an MBA on my resume. Is it too late to contact Mike Garrison?
June 6th, 2008 at 11:52 am
9
Markansas says:
Between this and their Cinderella run at the Fulmer Cup, which is looking worse – WVU athletics or WVU academics?
June 6th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
10
Ryno says:
Orson,
Is TCOAN a good shot?
June 6th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
11
Johnny says:
Couches will be burned NewAZ!
June 6th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
12
Jester says:
WVU academiks…HA! Never heard of such a thing.
June 6th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
13
Jerrell Powe says:
a’ll setel fore sum kreditt howurs.
June 6th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
14
Anonymous IV says:
#5, but that does not rule out bisexual during the transition period.
June 6th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
15
The Conscience of a Nation says:
Yes, I am.
June 6th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
16
The Conscience of a Nation says:
(but that’s not me in the photo)
June 6th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
17
Q-tip says:
You’re a fool if you think this had to do with anything BUT the degree scandal. Why would WVU get rid of their President for supposedly lying to Rich? That wouldn’t affect the lawsuit at all, and if anything would just be doing Rich a personal favor. That is assuming that the man who requested the 4 million dollar buyout to begin with isn’t actually lying about what he claims was promised to him by Garrison.
June 6th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
18
NewAZTiger says:
#11: The Futon Clan ain’t nuttin’ to mess with.
June 6th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
19
LHGator says:
By the way, I have an MBA, and one could argue that all MBAs are awarded without having done any work at all.
June 6th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
20
Brian O'Blivion says:
You didn’t really equate calling in a favor to get someone connected admission to medical school to giving out a degree when the coursework wasn’t complete….did you?
What percent of admissions to every Ivy League school do you suppose got there because of connections? Shoot, my buddy got into Penn because of an influential uncle who wrote a letter, not because he had the grades or scores to get there. But his uncle wasn’t the governor, so I guess it wasn’t news.
June 6th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
21
Orson Swindle says:
Brian–
Yes, we did, since the candidate concerned was the first person ever admitted to Florida med without taking the MCAT.
June 6th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
22
Signal to Noise says:
Cocktails for any and all “Thank You For Smoking” references, Orson.
June 6th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
23
Brian O'Blivion says:
O – the article said it was a combined bachelors and medical degree program, so the MCAT may not have been the primary factor for admission, and we don’t know what the student’s other credentials were.
The bottom line is that student still had to work their butt off to pass the coursework and graduate once in the program, which is not in the same ballpark as giving out grades and credits for coursework they never did.
June 6th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
24
Not You says:
The Sultan of Gluton… aren’t they calling him the butcher of the South Pacific?
I mean… I can’t speak to that. In all my dealings with him, he’s been a sensitive, well adjusted man…
June 6th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
25
NewAZTiger says:
#19 – but you went to Florida.
*rimshot*
June 6th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
26
mastergator says:
Hey, you can’t call my Governor “gay”. Oh wait, on second thought, he is gay.
June 6th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
27
LHGator says:
#25 –
I grew up a gator, but my employer paid for my MBA from – and this is not a lie – Florida State.
June 6th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
28
iluvfresca says:
Rich had nothing to do with Garrison leaving, but Garrison (nee Governor’s Bee-otch) had alot to do with Rich leaving. Garrison was there to do the Gov’s bidding, and when Rich and his agent got to crazed, or in other words, to big for himself, Gov Manchin and others stomped on him — thru Garrison.
The whole shabang was really more centered around getting Huggins in.
Won’t mean a thing to Rich. Garrison’s depo is next week, tho
June 6th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
29
CouchBurnin'Girl says:
Proud day! Make all the jokes you want over this one… I’m just glad that fucker FINALLY resigned. This nonsence has been going on for months.
Makes you wonder what the BS on my degree actually stands for…
June 6th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
30
PW says:
23
Dude, he didn’t even take the MCAT. I’ll admit that I’m not familiar with the program (I believe the honors program he participated in at Northeastern was the one which didn’t require the MCAT, by the way) and you may be right that the MCAT might not have been a primary factor for consideration, but still…there’s no way it was such a non-factor that it need not even have been attempted.
I mean, I could see him slipping by with a low MCAT, but getting into what I would consider to be one of the better medical schools in the southeast without even taking the MCAT– over the objection of the 50-plus member selection committee– is mind-boggling.
June 6th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
31
Millon deFloss says:
What CBG said. Thank God he’ll be gone.
June 6th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
32
eponymous says:
if its a bachelor/med school combo deal, then isn’t he trying to get in right out of high school? who the hell takes the mcat at 18?
June 6th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
33
Brian O'Blivion says:
Orson and PW, the MCAT is not even a requirement for admission to that program. And if you click over to the selection process link on that page, it doesn’t even mention it as a factor.
So again, this was just an influential person recommending someone get admission to a school, which happens ALL the time.
June 6th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
34
PW says:
http://www.alligator.org/articles/2008/05/27/news/uf_administration/080527_kone.txt
It was definitely med school. I don’t think there was a bachelor’s program like UF’s Junior Honors program that some of my friends participated in (and I’m pretty sure they all had to take the MCAT too).
June 6th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
35
PW says:
Brian,
“He meets the high academic standards we have set for our medical students, and he is every bit as qualified as [UF’s} Junior Honors students who are so successful when they move on to our medical school,” he wrote.
So this kid wasn’t applying to the Junior Honors program, he was applying to the med school.
Still, I get your point that political connections availeth one much when it comes to admissions into university programs, but to scrap even the most basic requirement goes too far, no?
June 6th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
36
Brian O'Blivion says:
If that wasn’t the program he was applying for then why would the governor be recommending him for that program?
The governor sent a letter recommending the student to the university’s Junior Honors Medical Program, a highly competitive seven-year program that combines bachelor’s and medical degrees. The letter was sent before Dr. Kone became dean, and he says he never saw it.
Link.
June 6th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
37
PW says:
Looks like we have contradictory sources, but mine directly quotes the Dean himself, who says “[He] is every bit as qualified as our Junior Honors students…” which leads me to believe he was not applying to the Junior Honors program, but to the medical school itself.
June 6th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
38
Brian O'Blivion says:
You do realize that your source is a student run newspaper, right?
And that quote is just comparing the applicant to current program students who go on to the medical school. Meaning he is just as qualified as they are.
June 6th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
39
PW says:
I concede your point about the student newspaper (but didn’t TCOAN work for it? or am i thinking about someone else?).
Anyway, it seems odd to me that the admissions committee would’ve listed the fact that he hadn’t taken the LSAT among their reasons for recommending against his admission if he was only applying to the Junior Honors program and not the medical school.
June 6th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
40
PW says:
and by LSAT I mean MCAT
June 6th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
41
Brian O'Blivion says:
Crist’s letter was about his application to the Junior Honors program in 07, but the dean wanted to let him in this year to the regular med school. I agree, that’s not kosher. Here’s another story. If he had just got him into the junior honors program, there’d have been no issue.
June 6th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
42
blon57 says:
I just read the comments after the article on the UF med school blow up. Governor Tan In A Can Crist. Great reference.
Texans haven’t elected an ex-football player as governor…yet. Surprising. We do currently have two cheerleaders in top positions. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson was a UT cheerleader and Governor Rick Perry was a yell leader at A&M. Having a yell leader at the helm would explain the current state of affairs in our glorious state.
June 6th, 2008 at 4:52 pm