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Alabama AD Greg Byrne responds to Rich Rodriguez’s candid plea for UA-Jacksonville State game
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Alabama AD Greg Byrne got a good laugh out of Rich Rodriguez’s comments about his program’s hopes of playing the Crimson Tide. However, don’t expect UA to schedule Jacksonville State any time soon.
Rodriguez got the attention of the college football world when he candidly expressed his desire for Jacksonville State to receive a big payday playing Alabama, even if it meant a lopsided defeat in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Earlier this month, Rodriguez was asked on his radio show about his Jacksonville State team potentially playing Alabama. Rodriguez had quite the answer.
“If (Alabama wants) to pay me $2 million, I’ll be down there on Saturday and Sunday, I’ll play them twice, get $4 million and help our budget,” Rodriguez said. “They can beat our brains in for a couple million dollars, for sure.”
Rodriguez even addressed Byrne by name. Byrne was the Arizona athletic director who hired Rodriguez as the Wildcats’ football coach.
“Listen, Greg, we’ll go down there for $2 million, and if you want to do the back-to-back, we’ll go for $4 million and have a great time,” Rodriguez said. “I’ll even sing ‘Roll Tide’ for them, if they want.”
Nick Kelly of AL.com recently had the opportunity to ask Byrne about Rodriguez’s comments.
“Rich has got a great sense of humor,” Byrne said, per Kelly, who notes the Alabama AD offered a “hearty laugh” to the Roll Tide comments.
While Byrne was amused by Rodriguez, don’t hold your breath for an Alabama-Jacksonville State game. Besides Auburn, Alabama has not played an in-state opponent since 1944. Byrne isn’t looking to shake things up.
“We have a scheduling model we’re comfortable with at this time,” Byrne told Kelly.
We’ll see if Rodriguez ups his offer with more signing performances, perhaps “Rammer Jammer.”
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
