Acknowledging that their side owes some sort of buyout, attorneys for former West Virginia University football coach Rich Rodriguez put up a $1.5 million letter of credit today in U.S. District Court as part of their response to the university's month-old lawsuit seeking $4 million from him.

Mr. Rodriguez's last contract extension, from an agreement forged in December 2006 and signed in August, called for him to pay $4 million to the university if he took another job, with a $1.3 million first installment due Jan. 18. When that date passed with no payment, WVU attorneys on Jan. 20 filed a second, breach-of-contract claim with the court in Clarksburg, W.Va. Mr. Rodriguez's legal team has said it will claim that the university breached written and verbal contracts with him.

In effect, Rodriguez's attorneys plan to argue that a second extension, signed last August, and its $4 million buyout are invalid.

However, university attorney Jeff Wakefield said this afternoon that WVU isn't wavering: "I can tell you our position is this: The amount owed by Mr. Rodriguez, under the clear terms by the contract under effect at the time of his resignation, is $4 million. That's our response to the filing today."

In court today, Mr. Rodriguez's team said the letter of credit constitutes what it contends is a fair representation of the total amount due according to the summer 2006 contract extension.

"Coach Rodriguez is a responsible person. $1.5 million is the amount owed by Coach under the first amendment of the employment agreement at the date of his resignation," in mid-December to move on to the University of Michigan, his legal team said in a statement. "This is a good-faith effort to move the process and communication lines forward so all parties can concentrate on their future endeavors."

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.