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(UWIRE) MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Rich Rodriguez will clarify his actions to West Virginia University's lawyers in the $4 million buyout feud next week.
The former head football coach is scheduled to give his deposition about his contract with the University on April 21, according to Alex Macia, general council for WVU.
Lawyers for the coach will depose Ed Pastilong, WVU director of athletics, and Craig Walker, President Mike Garrison's chief of staff, on Friday in Morgantown.
Both sides had hoped the proceedings would be completed quickly, but rescheduled depositions mean the discovery process will likely stretch into the 2008 football season.
"Hopefully, discovery will be completed by early fall and we can brief the court by mid-autumn," Macia said last week.
Though the depositions have been scheduled, there is no resolution to how or even if the information Rodriguez and Pastilong give under oath will reach the public.
Jeff Wakefield, a lawyer representing WVU, asked Judge Robert Stone to rule that the depositions be open only to the parties involved in a hearing in Monongalia Circuit Court on April 3.
Wakefield also asked that the recordings and transcripts of the depositions be kept private, citing concerns that video deposition might end up on YouTube.
Marv Robon, lawyer for Rich Rodriguez, said he would fight the plaintiff's request to withhold transcripts.
"We have nothing to hide," Robon said. "We think that this is a case involving a public institution, and I don't think that the court should impress a gag order on the media."
Judge Stone agreed with WVU's request to close the depositions because lawyers "would have to rent the football stadium and hold the depositions there" to accommodate the public interest, the judge said.
But Stone said the decision was not tantamount to a gag order because the parties being deposed still are free to talk to the media.
Stone asked Robon to submit a written position, and he would make his decision about the transcripts and videos at a later time.
Macia did not know late Monday if a decision had been finalized about whether a record of the depositions would be released.
"I do expect to have some sense of what their position is by or before Friday, though," Macia said.
Robon said he was unavailable to comment on Monday but will release a statement addressing the deposition Tuesday.
(C) 2008 The Daily Athenaeum via U-WIRE
