Arizona Football: Rich Rodriguez and his family fighting back against allegations

The litigation filed against Arizona Football former head coach Rich Rodriguez by his former administrative assistant Melissa Wilhelmsen isn’t the only litigation that may be filed in court.

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He said, she said, he said, she said. It seems there is not much proof or agreement from anyone involved just yet that Rich Rodriguez is guilty of anything, in fact, the family is building their case with witnesses that his former administrative assistant, Melissa Wilhelmsen, was very close to the family and actually benefitted from Rodriguez’s influence.

in the last 48 hours, former Arizona Wildcat and safety Jared Tevis came to Rodriguez’s defense and has tweeted out several statements supporting his former coach. Other former players have stood up for Rodriguez and his character as well, like BJ Denker and Will Parks. Today it was Rich’s children, Raquel, a senior and Arizona cheerleader, and Rhett Rodriguez who is a freshman quarterback on the Arizona Football team who spoke out.

According to the children, their dad’s former assistant was closer to the family than it seems and they feel really upset because they thought she was family. Raquel posted a text conversation she had with Wilhelmsen after she resigned.

Arizona freshman quarterback Rhett Rodriguez, Raquel’s brother and Rich Rods son, quoted Raquel’s tweet and gave his two cents.

The part of this that makes not much sense is why Wilhelmsen wants so much money. She filed a $7.5 million harassment lawsuit with the Attorney General.

Most women who have come out recently with claims against politicians and entertainment executives, even chefs like Mario Batali, were only looking for acknowledgment, apologies, and for them to have some type of punishment. They weren’t going after getting millions of dollars.

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Honestly, we have no idea what really happened or how hostile the environment was, and we could suppose and we could throw out TMZ type possibilities, but we won’t. At this point, there was enough for our new AD Dave Heeke to let go of Rodriguez and we will have to trust he made the right decision including results on the football field. But Heeke let Rodriguez go without cause, so there has to also be a reason for that as well.

But the plot thickens, and Rodriguez wants to restore his reputation, as anyone would. Just today, the Arizona Diamondbacks Ken Kendrick (a 15-year friend of Rodriguez) and team President Derrick Hall came to his defense, according to Craig Harris and Anne Ryman of the Republic. Apparently, there was a security job that Wilhelmsen wanted her husband to get, and needed Rodriguez’s “strong recommendation” which he gave.

The school’s investigation into Wilhelmsen’s claims was completed on Dec. 28, and the assistant did not participate in the investigation and would not turn over communications and documents as proof. Rodriguez says he is guilty of having an extramarital affair, but not any other claim.

Rodriguez is planning to file a countersuit for extortion against his accuser according to 247Sports reporter Jason Scheer, but no date of filing was given.

"Sources tell 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s John Gambadoro that the accuser, Melissa Wilhelmsen, had attempted to extort “multiple millions” from Rodriguez and only filed her $7.5 million notice of claim after he refused to pay."

This is just the beginning, so says Greg Hansen, it seems the Athletic Department is being sued now. Greg Byrne has left a legacy of sexual misconduct issues what with Elliott Pitts, Orlando Bradford, the Track Coach, and more. So this is not on Heeke, but it looks like we will have to brace ourselves for more.

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It will be hard to ignore the drama, but we are going to try to just stick to the facts as much as possible. There are two sides to every story, especially in work situation between and man and a woman, the truth is usually somewhere in the middle. We feel for all parties involved and hope for the best outcome so everyone can be at peace and be able to make a living to support their families. Bear Down never meant so much as is does for everyone at this moment.