ANN ARBOR—University of Michigan Athletic Director Bill Martin today issued the following statement announcing the resolution of the dispute between West Virginia University and Rich Rodriguez, the new head coach of the U-M football team, regarding the terms of the coach?s buyout upon leaving WVU:

?We are tremendously pleased to have been able to hire Rich Rodriguez as head coach of the University of Michigan football team. With his enthusiasm, integrity, and creative strategies he has already begun to make his mark on the program, and we are looking forward with great excitement to the coming season. To help Rich focus on the challenges ahead, we have worked with him to resolve the dispute between him and West Virginia University over the terms of his buyout.

?Although he continues to disagree with the validity of the terms, Rich and the rest of us at Michigan felt that it would be best to get this distracting issue behind us. Accordingly, Rich has agreed to pay $1.5 million out of his own pocket in three annual payments of $500,000 beginning in January, 2010. U-M Athletics will contribute $2.5 million in a single payment made by the end of July, 2008, for the total of $4 million that WVU sought. Separately, Athletics has agreed to pay Rich?s attorney fees. A financially self-sustaining unit at U-M, Athletics will cover all payments from its reserve funds, which are annual operational surpluses from such sources as sponsorships, licenses, and media rights payments.

?This situation is now resolved, and we are ready to move onward to a new era of Michigan football. Go Blue!?