Naturally a lot of people have been wondering what, if anything, the Michigan revelation Tuesday means for WVU. In truth, almost nothing because everything was about Rich Rodriguez, his associates and their employer.

But in time it may mean a lot or a very little … or nothing at all. Time will tell and only when the NCAA gets around to informing WVU what it thought of its February visit to campus.

Still, for the first time now we have some color to add to what had been a very black-and-white picture. There was nothing new Tuesday apart from Michigan admitting it was guilty of four violations — and, improbably, contesting a fifth that accused the school of not promoting an atmosphere of compliance. 

Then again, we kinda-sorta knew that already. But now we know for sure and whatever chance Rodriguez and the Wolverines had of freeing themselves of some or all of the blame and the black eyes and/or bruises is no more. That’s not major, but it’s not insignificant, either.

Of course, the NCAA was in Morgantown for a reason and we don’t need to again explain why. It should be fairly obvious — as should be the reality the NCAA would have never been in Morgantown if not for Rodriguez and his shenanigans at Michigan — and the only thing Tuesday did was show us what the scope of the NCAA inquiry was in a more official matter than we’d previously suspected.

Well, that and the admission, as opposed to the accusation, mistakes were made at Michigan. 

The misdeeds in Ann Arbor will be applied to WVU now to prove not if WVU screwed up — though that may be an outcome — but to prove if Rodriguez does, in fact, fail to promote an atmosphere of compliance. There’s intent and there are accidents and the NCAA takes the difference quite seriously.

If what happened at Michigan never happened at WVU, good for WVU, but still bad for Michigan. If it happened here — and even if WVU had nothing to do with orchestrating or masking the actions — then not good for WVU and really bad for Michigan.

Maybe it’s just me, but when Rodriguez’s attorney says he was unaware of rules and that he was not ignoring them, it makes me wonder if he was unaware — and not ignoring them! — at WVU. Seems a fair question to ask, yes? 

If so, they it’s also fair to ask what Tuesday means for WVU. Again, no answers and only speculation, but there some direction now, I believe.

And yet to me, the larger issue is what this could mean at all the other schools across America who are, I have no doubt, watching closely.  There’s a precedent at stake here.

If you’re naive enough to think Rodriguez can’t get WVU in trouble retroactively, please don’t think what Rodriguez and Michigan are accused of doing and condoning doesn’t happen everywhere. And don’t think the NCAA isn’t looking to crush people on this.

It happens because, in a sense, the NCAA allows it to happen. New Michigan Athletic Director Dave Brandon said his school and his people “made the wrong call based on the interpretation of a rule that in some cases was somewhat ambiguous.”  There are ways to bend the rules and still be within them much the same as there are ways to break the rules and not get caught.

And there’s also a way for the NCAA to discourage such behavior in the future. It involves coming down harder on Michigan than Michigan did on itself but also developing a consistency in policing and adjudicating these matters.

It beauty of all of this as it relates to WVU, of course, is in the role these “quality control” people played in the Michigan mess. You’ll remember learning after he left that when Rodriguez was waging his final tug-of-war at WVU he was insisting on, among other things, additions to his staff, which would include quality control people. The administration said no … and for reasons which now seem pretty clear.