December 17, 2007 was a huge day in the world of college football. Rich Rodriguez was hired as the University of Michigan Head Coach, replacing the retiring Lloyd Carr, and he was going to take the team to new heights with his new coaching philosophy. The University of Michigan was ecstatic and people were praising Rodriguez as if he were the next savior. At the same time, about 350 miles away in Morgantown, WV, there were a lot of angry fans. Rich Rodriguez had left his team hanging before their Jan. 2nd Fiesta Bowl, appearance after an impressive 10-2 year, the best year in the school’s history. Rodriguez had built the WVU program up to a power house in only 7 short years and fans were left to wonder why he wouldn’t finish the job and coach the team into the BCS Bowl. In response, Rodriguez stated, “My focus is going to be on the University of Michigan. I don’t think it best serves West Virginia if I’m thinking about the Big House.”
Over the course of the next several months, all over the news were lawsuits and buyouts related to the coach. Almost immediately, Rodriguez went from a beloved WVU coach, to one of the most hated people on the Eastern coastline and beyond. Fans and the University were upset that Rodriguez left WVU, but were more upset at how and when he left. His reputation and credibility across the sport plummeted and has continued to plummet ever since. Even after the lawsuits were settled and Rodriguez offered to pay $1.5 million of the $4 million buyout package to WVU, there were still rumblings hate for the coach. The only way to improve on his reputation and prove that he deserved the head coaching job was to win big and win often in Ann Arbor, MI.
Fast forward to November of 2009. The Michigan Wolverines have just lost to rivals Ohio State 21-10 to end their season at a poor 5-7 and 1-7 in the Big Ten conference. In the two years at the helm of the Wolverines, Rodriguez has gone 8-16 and 3-10 in the Big Ten conference. On top of the poor record, the University has been involved in an ongoing investigation into several violations of an NCAA regulation protecting players against excessive mandatory practice. The rumblings of Rodriguez being the next great coach at Michigan have died down and instead, there are calls for him to be fired.
After the loss to Ohio State, the outgoing Athletic Director Bill Martin proclaimed support for Rodriguez and told the Detroit Free Press, “He will be our coach next year. You’re asking me today if he’s going to be our coach, there’s no if, ands or buts about it. He is our coach and he has my full support. He’ll be there next year. No question about it.” Given his recent history, however, if Rodriguez has one more sub-par year at Michigan, he will be looking for a new job. At this point, who would want to hire Rich Rodriguez as their next head coach?
[youtube width="455" height="253"]-bM5MHH6CNU[/youtube]
If you would like to read more from B-Dogg, visit his blog at www.sportsaholicbrian.blogspot.com.
Need More? Michigan Wolverines, NCAA, NCAA FB
.jpg){kind=small}
In your post, you write "violating several NCAA regulations". Aside from the excessive mandatory practice (which is bs), what other alleged NCAA rules violations are there?
http://www.freep.com/article/20090829/SPORTS06/90...
It was a wording mistake. It was referring to the several incidents of excessive practicing that broke the NCAA violation (according to the NCAA). BS or not, they are still being investigated. Thanks for the clarification.
I am aware of the freep article, I was just curious if I was missing something else. I agree the allegations need to be investigated, but it seems like the free press has it out for RichRod. Using anonymous sources for something this serious is kind of weak, and in these parts we kind of think these sources were players who left because they were buried on the depth chart and had an axe to grind. And really, what successful program doesn't push the limits of practice time? Thanks for the response.
to be fair, i do think Rich-Rod needs more time. he's been changing the program from top to bottom. he needs more time have his time to make this work. philosophy. recruiting. x's and o's. all of it. but this is a win now world we live in.
I agree on all fronts. There are plenty of top tier programs that push boundaries, but they haven't been caught, so it's not news. As joshqpublic noted, coaches are not given the opportunity to prove themselves anymore and especially in college, you need time to develop your own recruiting classes to move the program in a different direction. I was a huge fan of RichRod at WVU and thought he improved that program by leaps and bounds. That being said, regardless of if you love him or hate him, Michigan has won only a third of the games he has coached over the last two years.