Michigan football fan day attendees expect season of success for Rich Rodriguez, Wolverines

Walking down the line that formed at the table Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez would eventually occupy, one fan — nay, superfan — stuck out like Shaq in a middle-school basketball game.

A giant shock of curly maize-and-blue wig, a blue gladiator mask, maize-and-blue forearm shivers and enormous maize-and-blue striped suspenders. This is Fro Dough, no real name given, a superfan who has been a staple at football and basketball games in recent years.

“I’m just a big fan, and I go to all the football and hockey games,” Fro Dough said.

Fro Dough doesn’t let his passion get in the way of realism — with the apparent question marks on defense, he thinks the team will win eight games this season. That's enough, in his mind, for Rodriguez to keep his job.

“I think he’s a good guy,” Fro Dough said of Rodriguez. “You know, a change like this takes time.”

A like-minded, albeit less outwardly outrageous, fan, Brent Hall of Trenton, came with his family to meet coaches and see the finished Michigan Stadium renovations.

He’s thinks the team can win seven or eight games this year, and he’s backing Rodriguez — for now.

“I like the guy, and I think he’s a good coach and recruiter,” Hall said. “But I’m going to be ready for a new guy if he doesn’t win this year.”

Hall thinks the best chance to win immediately is “scoring a lot of points,” because of the problems on defense and, if his accuracy has continued to progress, Denard Robinson at quarterback.

These are, without a doubt, mild fan expectations for a Michigan team that’s less than two weeks from its season opener.

But not everyone in the Big House yesterday was as modest about the 2010 season. Tim Szatanski of Oscoda, who has been a life-long Michigan fan and whose daughter recently graduated from the school, thinks this is the year.

“I can’t see us losing to anyone; We’ll definitely beat Iowa and Ohio State,” Szatanzki said, later admitting that “Wisconsin has had our number recently, for some doggone reason.”

Furthermore, Szatanski is fully behind Rodriguez.

“I love him as a coach,” he said “I love that he spread it around, and I like that he’s not afraid to jump on a kid if he’s doing something wrong. .. I liked when he took (Tate) Forcier’s wings away, gives him a little humility.”

Behind Rodriguez, Szatanski sees the Wolverines achieving big things in the very near future.

“Maybe not this year, but we’ll definitely be competing or a National Championship next season,” he said. “All these naysayers, I say they can go back to their blogging.”

Andy Reid covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at andrewreid@annarbor.com.