Getting your Ducks in a Row???

Maybe... Coach Mal Moore is getting all of the details, legal issues, $'s, etc... for the contract compiled sooner rather than later for Rich Rodriguez. He was suppose to be headed to the Bama/NotreDame Basketball game; but came home to T-Town for some reason. Wonder what he is doing?

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BREAKING NEWS: Moore in Tuscaloosa, but no coach on the plane; Rodriguez meets with WVU athletic director.

By David Wasson
Executive Sports Editor

UPDATED 3:15 p.m. TUSCALOOSA | University of Alabama Athletics Director Mal Moore landed in Tuscaloosa Wednesday afternoon — without a coach or confirmation that he has offered West Virginia Rich Rodriguez a job as the new head football coach for the Crimson Tide.

“I don’t have anything for you guys yet,” Moore said from the passenger side of a car before driving away from the Bama Air terminal at Tuscaloosa Regional Airport.

“I think things are going well. We are just following our planned course of action.”

When asked whether he has offered Rodriguez the job to replace Mike Shula and become Alabama’s 27th head football coach, Moore said “I don’t want to comment on any of that right now. Just give me some time, here.

“Both sides are working.”

Rodriguez, who is in his sixth year as coach of the Mountaineers, was in Morgantown, W.Va., on Wednesday.

According to the Charleston Daily Mail, Rodriguez met for two hours with WVU athletic director Ed Pastilong. Pastilong said they discussed the upcoming Gator Bowl game against Georgia Tech on Jan. 1, 2007, among other matters.

Asked if the Alabama job was discussed, Pastilong said “I cannot talk about that, because it is a personnel issue.”

Pastilong indicated to the Daily Mail that the school may not be inclined to offer Rodriguez another raise after signing an extension in the summer that also included a raise to close to $1.1 million annually and a possibility of more than $400,000 in additional performance bonuses.

“We are like any organization or company. On June 30, we have to balance the checkbook, but we do realize we need to do everything possible to have a successful football program.”

Rodriguez’s contract includes a $2 million penalty if he leaves West Virginia before Aug. 31, 2007.

A source told the Daily Mail that, contrary to published reports earlier Wednesday, no Mountaineers assistant coaches had been pulled off the recruiting trail. Also, the University of Miami has not contacted West Virginia for permission to talk to Rodriguez about their vacancy.

Moore traveled from Teterboro Airport in suburban New Jersey to Tuscaloosa via a chartered Canadair CL-600 Challenger 604 jet. He was the only one on the plane to disembark in Tuscaloosa at 1:20 p.m. before it traveled to Montgomery later Wednesday.

Moore’s return to Tuscaloosa was not his original plan for this week. The UA athletic director was scheduled to fly from New York — where he was attending College Football Hall of Fame ceremonies, talking with people about the Alabama vacancy and meeting with Rodriguez — to Chicago today in order to watch the Tide’s fourth-ranked basketball team against Notre Dame on Thursday.

More on Alabama’s coaching search to come later Wednesday on www.tidesports.com, and in Thursday’s Tuscaloosa News.

Sports writer Tommy Deas contributed to this report.

Reach David Wasson at david.wasson@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0229.